Tanju Korel

Tanju Korel — Biography

Tanju Korel was a filmmaker who acted in more than a hundred films in the Yeşilçam generation stretching from the mid-1960s into the early 2000s, and who later turned to documentary directing and producing. His birth name was Mehmet Tanju Korel; he died in 2005. His name is still often mentioned through his marriage to the actress Hülya Darcan and through his daughter, the actress Bergüzar Korel.

After finishing Galatasaray High School he studied at the University of Grenoble. His career opened in 1966, when he shared first place with Murat Soydan in a contest organised by Perde magazine; the same year he appeared in his first film, Eşkiya. Through the late 1960s and the 1970s he appeared in many films, among them Kendi Düşen Ağlamaz (1969), Dudaktan Silaha (1971) and Karaların Ali (1974). He later moved into television, appearing in series such as Yalı, Paşa Baba Konağı, Zeybek Ateşi and, last, Zeytin Dalı. In this period he directed documentaries for a company, including Bitlis (1990) and Kırşehir'in Dili (1991); he produced Kara Elmas (1990) and wrote Kırık Hayatlar (1998).

He married Hülya Darcan in 1974. He died of lung cancer on 21 September 2005 at the age of 60 and was buried at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery. One of his daughters described his final days in the book Babamla Son 84 Gün.