Naşit Özcan

Naşit Özcan — Biography

Naşit Özcan is regarded as one of the most influential masters of Turkish tuluat theater and is remembered above all as the performer who gave life to the İbiş type. Known as "the man who made even Sultan Hamid laugh", he received the title Komik-i Şehir (Great Comedian) for his success with the characters he created. He was the father of the actors Adile Naşit and Selim Naşit Özcan, and Tarık Buğra's novel İbiş'in Rüyası takes his life as its subject.

Born in Şehzadebaşı, Istanbul, he first met the stage as a child through the Abdi Efendi theater near his home. After the Bayezit Rüştiyesi he studied at the Mızıka-yı Hümayun, and his stage career began alongside Abdürrezzak Efendi. He performed orta oyunu at the palace at a young age and later worked for long periods in the orta oyunu company of Kavuklu Hamdi and Küçük İsmail, in Kel Hasan's tuluat company and in the Manakyan company. The palace sent him to France, and on his return he joined its pantomime troupe. Besides orta oyunu he performed puppet and Karagöz-Hacivat shows, and in the Republican era he carried on with companies of his own.

His real fame came in tuluat, where he created new types: Aşçıbaşı Tosun Ağa, Leblebici Horhor, Hoşkadem Kalfa and Surpik Dudu are among the most important, and he appeared in plays such as Beyimin Tiyatro Merakı and Çifte Köy Düğünü. In cinema he took part in a handful of productions from Ankara Postası in 1928 to 1943, playing a soldier in Bir Millet Uyanıyor and a beggar in İstanbul Sokaklarında. He died in Istanbul on April 26, 1943.