Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas (January 21, 1922 – January 22, 1994) was an American actor of Greek descent.
Initially working as a radio host and television news and sports producer, he didn't begin acting until well into his 30s, but his movie and television career spanned more than three decades, with quite a few iconic roles such as Archer Maggott in The Dirty Dozen and James Bond's Arch-Enemy Ernst Stavro Blofeld in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). His most memorable TV role was undeniably the lollipop-chomping NYPD Lieutenant Theofilides "Theo" Kojak in Kojak.
He became the stepfather of Nicollette Sheridan after dating her mother Sally (meeting her on the set of On Her Majesty's Secret Service). He was also the godfather of Jennifer Aniston, having been friends with her father, fellow Greek-descended John Aniston.
Works with pages on TV Tropes:
- Cape Fear (1962) as Charles Sievers
- Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) as Feto Gomez
- Johnny Cool (1963) as Vincenzo Santangelo
- The Twilight Zone (1964, episode "Living Doll") as Erich Streator
- The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) as Pontius Pilate
- Battle of the Bulge (1965) as Sgt. Guffy
- Beau Geste (1966) as Sergeant-Major Dagineau
- The Dirty Dozen (1967) as Archer Maggot
- The Scalphunters (1968) as Jim Howie
- The Assassination Bureau (1969) as Lord Bostwick
- Mackenna's Gold (1969) as Sgt. Tibbs
- On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) as Ernst Stavro Blofeld
- Kelly's Heroes (1970) as Big Joe
- Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971) as Capt. Sam Surcher
- A Town Called Bastard (1971) as Don Carlos
- A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die! (1972) as Maggiore Ward
- Lisa and the Devil (1973) as Leandro
- Horror Express (1973) as Capt. Kazan
- Killer Force (1976) as Harry Webb
- Kojak (1973–1978) as Inspector Theo Kojak
- Capricorn One (1978) as Albain
- Escape to Athena (1979) as Zeno
- Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) as Capt. Stefan Svevo
- The Muppet Movie (1979) as El Sleezo Tough
- Cannonball Run II (1984) as Hymie Kaplan
- Alice in Wonderland (1985) as Cheshire Cat
- Faceless (1987) as Terry Hallen
Tropes in his works:
- Addiction Displacement: His iconic lollipops as Kojak were a way to help him quit smoking. Spain, the lollipop's creator county, still sells the promotional "Koyak" lollipops to this day.
- Baldness Angst: Inverted. In contrast to other balding actors, he proudly showed off his shiny dome with confidence and, other than a few early roles, never wore a toupee, on screen or in real life, giving him a very striking and unique look that his charisma helped him pull off effortlessly.
- Bald of Evil: Most famously as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Archer Maggott in The Dirty Dozen.
- Baritone of Strength: For his roles, particularly the villains, he made very good use of the deep, intimidating voice that years of heavy smoking gave him.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: His eyebrows were quite full, and his baldness made them stand out.
- Celebrity Endorsement: He was all over TV in The '80s as the spokesman for Players' Club, a service that provided members discounts at casinos, hotels and restaurants in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and other resort meccas.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting:
- In the DC Animated Universe, Lex Luthor's design was modeled on him in homage to his role as Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
- Frank Fontaine from BioShock was also modeled after him, but with a mustache and the villainous characters he is known for playing.
- One-Hit Wonder: He sustained a minor career as a music artist, recording five albums, some of which had him singing, while others had him doing Shatneresque recitations set to music. His recited version of Bread's "If"
, was a #1 hit in the UK in 1975 and also a fairly big hit in Australia, but not in the US. A 1981 (sung) version of Don Williams' "Some Broken Hearts Never Mend" was a big hit in several European countries, but beyond those he never had any other hits.