Refik Kemal Arduman

Refik Kemal Arduman — Biography

Refik Kemal Arduman was an actor whose screen career ran from the early years of Turkish cinema to the mid-1970s, one of the first players of the Istanbul City Theatre, who added directing, screenwriting and, once, producing to his acting. He is also remembered as the person who brought Turgut Özatay, Ediz Hun and Nevin Akkaya into cinema.

Born in Istanbul, he finished Galatasaray High School and went to Germany to study engineering; while working as an extra at the Ufa film studios there he turned toward cinema. Back home he took the operetta stage in 1922 and in the same year began appearing in films such as Boğaziçi Esrarı; he also acted in the 1923 production of Ateşten Gömlek. In 1926 he joined the Istanbul City Theatre company. The 1940s were a versatile period for him: in 1942 he wrote the scripts of Duvaksız Gelin and Kerem ile Aslı, in 1945 he began directing with Köroğlu, and he then made Büyük İtiraf, Kahraman Denizciler and Büyük Günah.

He never gave up acting: he appeared in films around 1940 and 1950 such as Akasya Palas, Akdeniz Korsanları, Barbaros Hayreddin Paşa and Allaha Ismarladık, playing General Thomson in the last of these. In 1958 he became the first artist to retire from the City Theatre, and he went on acting in films until 1975. He died in Istanbul on 11 July 1981.