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Cüneyt Arkın is a Actor, Director, Scriptwriter and Producer Turquee born on 7 september 1937 at Alpu (Turquie)

Cüneyt Arkın

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Birth name Fahrettin Cüreklibatır
Nationality Turquie
Birth 7 september 1937 at Alpu (Turquie)
Death 28 june 2022 (at 84 years)

Fahrettin Cüreklibatır (born September 7, 1937), better known by his stage name Cüneyt Arkın, is a Turkish film actor, director, and producer. Having starred in somewhere around 248 movies and also TV series, he is widely considered as one of the most prominent Turkish actors of all time. His films shown abroad credited him as George Arkin. Arkın's films have ranged from well-received dramas to mockbusters throughout his career spanning four decades.

Early in his career, Arkın became known for starring in historical dramas taking place during the first centuries of the Ottoman Empire and Anatolian Seljuks, such as Malkoçoğlu Cem Sultan and Battal Gazi. While gaining success with such action-based films, he also took part in political films in the late 1970s, the most famous of those being The Adam Trilogy directed by Remzi Aydın Jöntürk. Arkın and Jöntürk continued their collaboration on many other films.

In the 1980s, Arkın became known abroad for the film Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam (The Man Who Saves The World, also known as Turkish Star Wars), an extremely low-budget science fiction tentatively famous for featuring bootlegged scenes from Star Wars. Today, despite being a B movie, it has a cult following.
On the set, Arkin was well known to perform many incredible feats of his martial arts combat skills, like jumping on the trampolines and splitting papier-mâché boulders with his fists. In one incident, an extra was harmed when he got into an argument with him over the validity of his martial arts abilities. The two sparred but the fight ended quickly when Arkin kicked him hard in the kneecap of his left leg, instantly causing the leg to buckle in the opposite direction. Later on, Arkin felt very bad for what he has done and paid a visit to the man in the hospital to apologize.

Biography

Cüneyt Arkın naît le 7 septembre 1937 au village de Gökçeoğlu, dans le district d'Alpu de la province d'Eskişehir en Anatolie Centrale. Se prédestinant d'abord pour la médecine, il participe à un concours organisé dans les années 1950 par un journal de cinéma visant à trouver de nouveaux talents. C'est à partir de cette période que commence sa carrière cinématographique. Mais c'est dans les années 1960 qu'il deviendra réellement populaire, enchaînant une grande quantité de tournages (il participera à plus d'une vingtaine de films par an) et s'aventurant dans d'autres secteurs de l'industrie du cinéma tels que la scénarisation, la réalisation, la production, etc.

Dans ses films, Cüneyt Arkın n'hésite pas à s'inspirer (voire plagier, selon certains) les films à succès hollywoodiens (comme les westerns de Sergio Leone). À la fin des années 1960, Cüneyt Arkın est une véritable célébrité en Turquie et dans d'autres pays tels que le Liban et l'Iran. Dans les années 1970, Arkin tournera des films avec des réalisateurs étrangers (principalement italiens et autrichiens) dans l'espoir de s'exporter à l'étranger, sans réel succès. C'est en 1982 que paraîtra le film Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam (plus connu sous le nom de Turkish Star Wars) qui, pour beaucoup, constitue le chef d'œuvre d'Arkin de par sa médiocrité. Dans les années 1990, Arkın tournera presque essentiellement des téléfilms, l'industrie cinématographique turque connaissant une sévère crise durant cette période. Après s'être présenté comme député en 1991 et être devenu porte-parole de l'équipe nationale turque de ski, il publie ses mémoires en 2001. Cüneyt Arkın continue ensuite d'apparaître dans des séries télévisées, où il interprète des rôles secondaires.