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Erdal Tosun
Photo: Wikimedia Commons · Sabri76 · CC0

Erdal Tosun

Actor · died at 53

Profile

Age at death53
Birth dateApril 9, 1963
BirthplaceIstanbul
DiedNovember 30, 2016
Place of deathIstanbul, Turkey
ProfessionActor
Zodiac signAries
Eye colorBrown
EducationMimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory

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Filmography / Projects

Erdal Tosun — Biography

Erdal Tosun's father was Necdet Tosun, a well-known Yeşilçam actor, and his brother Gürdal Tosun acted as well; audiences remember him above all for the catchphrase "Hayallerimizi satmadık ya," delivered by his character Memo in the film Rina, and for the parts he played on Bir Demet Tiyatro (1995) -- a Turkish film, stage and television actor and voice artist. His birthplace is Istanbul and his birthdate is April 9, 1963. He finished Beyoğlu Fındıklı High School in 1980, made his film debut the following year in Mine, then went on to graduate from Mimar Sinan University's State Conservatory. He put together a theater company of his own, staged Woody Allen's play Tanrı and Murathan Mungan's Mesopotamia Trilogy for the Antalya State Theatre, and later left the state theaters to join the BKM Players founded by Yılmaz Erdoğan. On screen he appeared in beloved films such as Babam ve Oğlum, Organize İşler, Gönül Yarası and G.O.R.A. (2004), and in his final years in Küçük Esnaf (2016), the 2015 film Düğün Dernek 2: Sünnet, and Çakallarla Dans (2010); he was also the Turkish voice of Tahm Kench, a champion in the online game League of Legends. He married İlknur Tosun in 1995 and had a daughter with her, born in 1996, before the marriage ended in divorce after twenty years. On November 30, 2016, he was killed in Istanbul's Sarıyer district in a road accident, when another driver lost control of their car, which flipped onto his; the driver responsible was sentenced in 2018 to three years and four months in prison, and Tosun was buried at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery next to his father and brother.

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Their work through different eyes

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humor and heart.

To watch Erdal Tosun with the family, Vizontele is a good start: he is Şeyhmus in a warm comedy-drama about the arrival of television in a remote town in the 1970s. The friendship story of Rina, with his Şarapçı Memo, is more for grown-ups. Keep Organize İşler for adults, since it is a comedy set in the underworld. Vizontele Tuuba has the 1980 coup in the background, so younger children will need an explanation first.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

Erdal Tosun's parts are mostly small tradesmen and neighborhood types: Şeyhmus in Vizontele, Manav Şehmus in Vizontele Tuuba, Haydar in Küçük Esnaf, Kasap Haydar in Yapışık Kardeşler. In my view that line shows Turkish comedy's interest, from the 1990s to the 2010s, in neighborhood life, shopkeepers and provincial people; the working-class Istanbul family of Bir Demet Tiyatro sits close to the same world. Tosun's types do their best work where the comedy does not make light of class reality.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Erdal Tosun's later period gathers in crowded comedies: Düğün Dernek 2: Sünnet is a sequel, Çakallarla Dans the first link of a series. In films that lean on shared templates of laughs, individual parts can fade; Bestami Muço in Çakallarla Dans is an example. Üzeyir Kavak in Organize İşler or Şarapçı Memo in Rina, on the other hand, show how much more interesting Tosun is when the script gives him something concrete to hold on to.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes on this person's screen work, written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader comments are below.

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