Vedat Örfi Bengü

Vedat Örfi Bengü — Biography

Vedat Örfi Bengü was born on 21 December 1899 in Istanbul and became a central figure in early Turkish and Egyptian cinema, working as a director, actor, screenwriter and producer. He is regarded as a founder of the Oriental melodrama style shared by Turkish and Egyptian film industries, making films and acting in Egypt, France and Turkey while also writing plays, screenplays and popular novels. His Egyptian work in the late 1920s helped establish the country's early film industry, and after returning to Turkey he became one of the most prolific filmmakers of the late 1940s and early 1950s, directing, writing or appearing in dozens of productions such as Akıncılar (1948), Allah Kerim, Bir Fırtına Gecesi and Ateşten Gömlek (all 1950), and Cem Sultan and İstanbul'un Fethi (both 1951). He was the father of the writer and publisher Memet Fuat. Bengü died in Istanbul on 25 May 1953.