Tarık Şimşek

Tarık Şimşek — Biography

Tarık Şimşek was a supporting actor who appeared in many action, adventure and historical films during Yeşilçam's run from the late 1960s to the late 1980s. Because he so often played hard and dangerous characters, he came to be remembered as one of the screen's "bad guys"; the actor from Ağrı appeared in about 180 films.

He entered cinema in 1966 with Damgalı Adam. Between 1968 and 1971 he stood out through small but frequent parts in swordfight, gunfight and historical productions such as Komandolar Geliyor, Malkoçoğlu Cem Sultan, Selahattin Eyyubi, Kurşun Memed and Tarkan: Viking Kanı, and in 1970 and 1971 alone he appeared in dozens of films. In the mid-1970s he moved to more distinct roles: he played the commander in Kılıç Aslan and Anton in Korkusuz Cengaver, and was remembered for the Koğuş Ağası role in Babanın Oğlu; İnsan Avcısı and Babanın Suçu also date from these years. In 1977 he played Kahya Ferhat in Madam Dila, and in 1978-79 he worked at the same pace in many productions.

In 1986 he played Yamalı Hüsnü in Kanca; his last films were Dokuz Dağın Efesi, Hazreti Ayşe and the 1988 production Oruç Reis. He later returned to his hometown of Ağrı, where he died of illness on 19 October 1991 at a fairly young age and was buried in Ağrı City Cemetery.