[59][60] Savalas was close friends with actor John Aniston,[20] and was godfather to his daughter Jennifer, a successful TV and film actress. Savalas spent more than a year recuperating in hospital with a broken pelvis, sprained ankle and concussion.
Daughter Ariana sings and tours with Scott Bradlee's Post Modern Jukebox. Aristotelis Savalas (Greek: Αριστοτέλης Σαβάλας; January 21, 1922 – January 22, 1994) was an American actor and singer whose career spanned four decades. It was required viewing in Britain every Saturday evening for eight years. Saperstein) and Vince Conti (Det. [68] He had lived at the Sheraton in Universal City for 20 years, becoming such a fixture at the hotel bar that it was renamed Telly's. I enjoy every minute of it. In 1943, he was discharged from the Army with the rank of corporal after being severely injured in a car accident. "[34], Kojak aired on CBS for five seasons from October 24, 1973, until March 18, 1978, with 118 episodes produced. [37], Kojak was a bald New York City detective with a fondness for lollipops and whose tagline was "Who loves ya, baby?" In 1948 after his father's death from bladder cancer, Savalas married his college sweetheart, Katherine Nicolaides. Savalas was unhappy about the show's demise[42] but got the chance to reprise the Kojak persona in several television movies, starting in 1985. [After he graduated from college who then became disenchanted]: This bastard! Although Savalas and Sally Adams never legally married, she went by the name Sally Savalas. It was a small role and paid only $200, but I haven't stopped since. Before he was a successful actor, early in his career, he directed stage plays at a theater in Connecticut. He continued to appear in films during the 1970s including Kelly's Heroes (1970) (with Clint Eastwood), Clay Pigeon (1971), and several European features such as Violent City (1970) (with Charles Bronson), A Town Called Bastard (1971), Horror Express (with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee), A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die (all 1972), and Redneck (1973). [51] He worked with composer and producer John Cacavas on many albums,[52] including Telly (1974) [which peaked number 49 in Australia[7]] and Who Loves Ya, Baby (1976). He became famous in the 1970s when his role as Det. He won a spelling bee there in 1934; due to an oversight, he did not receive his prize until 1991, when the school principal and Boston Herald decided to award it to him. [55][56] He also hosted the 1989 video UFOs and Channeling. [When he became a popular nightclub singer]: I had the No. Graduated from Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park, New York, in 1940.
[26] His work had impressed fellow actor Burt Lancaster, who arranged for Savalas to be cast in the John Frankenheimer directed The Young Savages (also 1961 and again playing a cop). He did but as the friend in question could not go, Savalas himself went to cover for his friend and ended up being cast on "And Bring Home a Baby", an episode of Armstrong Circle Theatre in January 1958. "[38], David Shipman later wrote: "Kojak was sympathetic to outcasts and ruthless with social predators. [Who had been offered a series wasn't getting used to all the police shows on TV that have been aired at the time]: Television doesn't need another cop show, that's for sure. [58] They stopped living together in December 1978; she filed a palimony lawsuit against him in 1980, demanding support not only for herself and their son, but also for Nicollette. I carry my Hellenism like a badge of merit.
A basically honest character, tough but with feelings: the kind of guy who might kick a hooker in the tail if he had to, but they'd understand each other because maybe they grew up on the same kind of block. Before the Depression era of 1929, his father was a millionaire. I took my mother to the premiere of The Dirty Dozen and she said, 'It's disgraceful!' In 1982, along with Bob Hope and Linda Evans, he participated in the "world premiere" television ad introducing Diet Coke to Americans.
His brother George Savalas, who played Stavros in the original series, died in 1985 of leukemia at age 60. It's all crap-just a language for unemployed actors to amuse themselves with! His spoken word version of Bread's "If" produced by Snuff Garrett reached #1 in both the UK and Ireland in March 1975, and his version of Don Williams's "Some Broken Hearts Never Mend" topped the charts in Switzerland in February 1981. He used off-script phrases and mottoes in Greek during filming. [31] Savalas attributed his success to "his complete ability to be himself. Resided at the Sheraton-Universal Sheraton Hotel in Universal City, California, from 1973 until his At the height of his popularity he was merchandised with a line of casual menswear, "Telly Savalas Originals". Resided at the Sheraton-Universal Sheraton Hotel in Universal City, California, from 1973 until his death in 1994, becoming such a fixture at the hotel bar that it was renamed Telly's.
The lollipops had apparently given him three cavities, and were part of an (unsuccessful) effort by Kojak (and Savalas himself) to curb his smoking. Savalas quickly became in much demand as a guest star on TV shows, appearing in Sunday Showcase, Diagnosis: Unknown, Dow Hour of Great Mysteries (an adaptation of The Cat and the Canary), Naked City (alongside Claude Rains), The Witness (playing Lucky Luciano in one episode and Al Capone in another), The United States Steel Hour, and The Aquanauts.
She urged him to move back to his mother's house during that same year. Daughter Christina, named after his mother, was born in 1950. Three of his six children followed in their father's footsteps into acting.