Halit Akçatepe

Halit Akçatepe — Biography

Born in 1938 in the Üsküdar district of Istanbul, Halit Akçatepe became one of the best-known comic performers in Turkish film, television and theatre, and also wrote for the screen. Thanks to his father, a traditional folk-theatre performer named Sıtkı Akçatepe, he began appearing in films at just five years old, and as a child he took the stage with the children's section of the Istanbul City Theatres. After graduating from the Saint-Benoît French high school he studied literature and then law at university, but left his studies for the theatre, making his professional stage debut in 1960 at a small chamber theatre. Wide recognition came with the 1972 film Tatlı Dillim, and lasting fame followed with his role as "Güdük Necmi" in the Chaos Class series that began in 1975, a part he reprised across sequels for more than three decades, often opposite Kemal Sunal. A recipient of the Golden Orange Lifetime Achievement Award, he died in Istanbul on 31 March 2017.