Uğurtan Sayıner

Uğurtan Sayıner — Biography

Uğurtan Sayıner was a theatre, film and television actor who stuck in viewers' memories as Cemil in the long-running series Bizimkiler. The character, remembered as Drunk Cemil, and the line "Benim adım Cemil!" ("My name is Cemil!") made him one of the show's emblems for the audience. He died in İzmir on 27 June 2021.

He graduated from the Faculty of Economics but found his road on the stage: he started in theatre in 1962 and worked with companies including İttihat ve Terakki Tiyatrosu, TÖS Tiyatrosu, Arena Tiyatrosu, Gen-Ar Tiyatrosu, Dormen Tiyatrosu, Üç Maymun Kabare and the Ercan Yazgan-Bülent Kayabaş troupe. For a time he also ran a café-bar. His first notable television work was Perihan Abla (1986), followed by Bizimkiler, which ran from 1989 to 2002. He also worked as a production director on some seasons of the series.

In cinema he played the receptionist in Hiçbiryerde (2001), and appeared in the second season of Kollama and in productions such as Avanak Dedektör, Küçük Esnaf (2016), Aşk Bu Mu? (2018) and Cango (2021). His funeral left Beşikçioğlu Mosque in İzmir on 29 June 2021, and he was buried at Doğançay Cemetery. He shared a cast with Cezmi Baskın in Küçük Esnaf and with Erdal Özyağcılar and Salih Kalyon in Bizimkiler, and worked with Kalyon again in Aşk Bu Mu?.