Facts about Telly Savalas
Telly Savalas Biography
Telly Savalas is best remembered as TV’s Kojak. The show ran from 1973-78; Kojak was a loose and tough-talking New York police detective known for his shiny bald head, lollipops, and signature line, “Who loves ya, baby?”
Kojak made Telly Savalas a ’70s superstar after he had spent years in scattered parts on TV and film, including the role of supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
The Kojak series ended in 1978, but Savlas continued to play the colorful detective in a series of TV movies throughout the 1980s. He also thrived as an unofficial spokesman for open collars, gold chains and the Vegas style, baby — most notably through his TV ads for the Players Club travel card.
Telly Savalas’s feature films include The Birdman of Alcatraz (1962, with Burt Lancaster), the war movies The Dirty Dozen (1967, with Savalas as the crude killer Maggott) and Kelly’s Heroes (1970, with Clint Eastwood), and Cannonball Run II (1984).
Extra credit
Some sources list Telly Savalas’s birth year as 1924. Who2 confirmed a birth date of January 21, 1922 through a 2009 correspondence with CMG Worldwide, which licenses the Telly Savalas name and image for his estate… His brother George Savalas also played a detective in Kojak… Telly Savalas was godfather to actress Jennifer Aniston, the daughter of his friend and fellow Greek actor John Aniston.
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Something in Common with Telly Savalas
- Actors born in New York (195)