Showing posts with label biography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label biography. Show all posts

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Banu Alkan - Afrodit

Banu

One of fixtures of Sunday morning celebrity gossip shows, Banu Alkan, like so many Turkish stars, sometimes seems to have been around forever. Banu, (or Afrodit, as she is sometimes called) is a blond Rubenesque type and somehow manages to get her face- along with the rest of her- on television for the most improbable reasons.

Born April 1, 1958 in the city of Dubrovnik, Banu was third of six children of a poor carpenter. Her family emigrated to the town of Balikesir, Turkey in December of 1966, where the family name was changed from Rebronja to Alkan, meaning "wild rose." Later her family moved to Istanbul, residing in the Kartal district. Banu attended Maltepe Kartal high school but dropped out for modeling. At 16, Banu began working for a modeling agency in Istanbul and one year later, she became the mistress of Gurbuz Hanif, a wealthy, elderly and married businessman. This relationship lasted 20 years, until his death of cancer. In her career, she starred in 24 films, in three TV series and made one album.

One of her hits in the early 90s,"Neremi? "( which roughly translates into "Which part of me?") was sung in her usual breathless style while she pointed to various areas of her body. Here is a recent sample of her singing.

The youngsters at this show initially look rather stunned and embarrassed by the performance. They recover nicely once the dancing starts.. as Turks usually do.

Unfortunately, most of her films were unforgettably bad and exploitative of women in the worst way. Borderline porn with a tissue-paper thin story lines, lurid camera angles, dubbed voices in unconvincing dialog and clothes that would make a belly-dancer blush. I have included a video clip  below which I think captures the general style of film-making you can expect from all Banu Alkan films.

Unlike so many female Turkish stars of the 70s and 80s, Banu  never quite triumphed over her buxom "sex kitten" image to become a strong and 2950independent female character, like Türkan Şoray  or Fatma Girik. Possibly the worst that can be said is that Banu, with an absolute  minimum of talent, found a way to exploit herself -which some people think is a sign of her intelligence. I am unconvinced.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Wacky Turkish Postcards- Adja Pekan

Adja

For a person easily charmed by silliness - like me- this postcard was like stumbling on the Mona Lisa in a garage sale. It has a lot to do with the upturned hand. It is the those platform shoes and the pose. Too  much and too strange.

The model is Ajda Pekkan, a singer and actress who has apparently been gulping beer mugs from the fountain of youth since the early 1970s.

Elixirs, face creams,  eating plenty of broccoli  or the blood of virgins may have very little  to do with her well-preserved appearance.  Take a  look at the photos below and view the miracles of cosmetic surgery.

Ayşe Ajda Pekkan (born February 12, 1946 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a Turkish pop music singer and actress. Through a career spanning five decades thus far, Ajda has released more than 20 albums and with Sezen Aksu, is the most commercially successful female Turkish music artist with the sales of over 30 million copies worldwide. She is nicknamed the "Superstar" of Turkish pop music. Although famed for her music, Ajda started her career as an actress with appearances in almost 50 films. During her music career, Ajda has recorded songs in 9 languages. Apart from Turkish, she is also fluent in English and French. She also knows Azerbaijani and Italian.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajda_Pekkan

 The many faces of Ajda

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    Today, at age 63, mind you.

ajdapekkan

 

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Thursday, July 23, 2009

Kadir Inanir- A Salute

Kadir Inanir Turkish film star No matter what time of day or night, when you turn on Turkish television you are quite likely to be in the middle of Kadir Inanir film. This is no surprise since this actor starred in 182 films ( as well as 7 television series. Obviously, despite having to work with some poor material throughout his career, this is an actor that enjoys his profession.

Probably one of his best films, Selvi Boylum Al Yazmalim,  (The Girl with the Red Scarf) based on the novel, "Yol Arkadasi," by Chingiz Aitmatov, won the Golden Orange award for best director and won second place for best film in 1978. Not a masterpiece, to be sure, but certainly above average in terms of acting and storyline. Inanir, in this film, stars with another famous Turkish actor, Turkan Soray.

When a passing trucker sees a girl wearing a red scarf and falls in love with her, he names his truck after her. Later he marries her. In so doing, he rescues her from  poverty. He loses his driving job because of an illegal act of kindness and is forced to become a mechanic. His despair having driven him to drink, the woman finds living with him unbearable, and he turns to another for comfort. She herself leaves home and meets a gentle man whom she comes to care for. Later, she is confronted by a choice between her husband and the new man. She leaves the decision up to her son, and he chooses the best possible man to be his father. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

His classic good looks have allowed him to make the sometimes Kadir Inanir Turkish hunkdifficult transition from early romantic leads to character actor today. For your contributions to Turkish cinema, Kadir Inanir, we salute you.

 

Below is a short clip from one of his films, which can give you a general idea of his appeal and charisma.


 

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