Çolpan İlhan

Çolpan İlhan — Biography

Çolpan İlhan was born on 8 August 1936 in the Menemen district of İzmir, the sister of the poet Attilâ İlhan. After Balıkesir and Kandilli Kız high schools, she studied theatre at the İstanbul Municipal Conservatory and painting at the State Academy of Fine Arts. She made her film debut in 1957 in Kamelyalı Kadın and became nationally known in 1958 for playing Çiler in Bir Şoförün Gizli Defteri; the following year she married Sadri Alışık.

Over her career she appeared in roughly 300 films, mostly playing "the other woman" types, and won Best Supporting Actress at the İzmir Film Festival in 1964 for Ahtapotun Kolları. In the late 1970s, after playing Matmazel in the series Aşk-ı Memnu, she paused acting and turned to fashion design. She received the title of State Artist in 1998 and Lifetime Achievement awards at the Altın Portakal (2003) and Altın Koza (2013) film festivals. After her husband's death in 1995, she founded the Sadri Alışık Theatre in his memory in 1997 and the Sadri Alışık Cultural Center in 2006. Çolpan İlhan died of a heart attack in Istanbul on 25 July 2014; her son, actor Kerem Alışık, continues to publicly honour her memory each year.