Orhan Boran

Orhan Boran — Biography

Orhan Boran was a Turkish radio and television host, journalist, and actor, born on June 30, 1928, in Istanbul and educated at Galatasaray High School. In the 1960s he brought one of Turkey's earliest forms of stand-up comedy to Istanbul's nightclubs with a routine he called "Ayaküstü Gırgır," performed with little more than a handkerchief, a pair of glasses, and a standing microphone. The act made him a radio star in the 1960s and a television star in the following decade.

Alongside his broadcasting career, Boran also appeared in a number of Turkish films from the late 1940s through 1960, including the 1953 production now catalogued here as "Balıkçı Güzeli." Widely admired for his polished and eloquent command of the Turkish language, he died in his native Istanbul on May 26, 2012.