Kemal Sunal

Kemal Sunal
Born	November 11, 1944 Istanbul, Turkey
Died	July 3, 2000 (aged 55) Flight between Istanbul, Turkey and Trabzon, Turkey
Years active	1964-2000

Kemal Sunal (11 November 1944, in İstanbul, Turkey – 3 July 2000, in Istanbul) was a Turkish actor. With "Hababam Sınıfı", "Kapıcılar Kralı" and "Davaro", Sunal gained large popularity amongst Turkish cinema goers and was famed for his role as "Şaban", a name he most often used in his films. His character in films and sayings often reflected the problems the Turkish people face and the country.

Career

Kemal Sunal graduated from Vefa Lisesi (Vefa High School). In his early ages, he started pursuing what was to become a long and successful acting career, in minor roles in theatres. For a brief period, he worked in the Kenterler Theatre and took part in his first play Zoraki Takip. He was later transferred to the Devekuşu Kabare Theatre, where he performed his acting.

He was recognized as a real talent, and started receiving offers with larger budgets and more famous casts. His first film was by Ertem Eğilmez. In a matter of years, Sunal co-starred with Halit Akçatepe, Şener Şen, Münir Özkul and so on.

Perhaps the most famous of all his parts was when he played in the "hababam sinifi" and was known by the name of "Şaban" but most of his class mates just call him inek (cow) Şaban. The member of Hababam Sınıfı (The Outrageous Class), was a good laugh for many. İnek Şaban was constantly bullied and humiliated by his friends, but this never kept him from thinking the unthinkable, like digging a tunnel to escape school grounds (which later, turned out to lead to the vice-principal’s office) or smoking in the school attic. The character was so pure and so fixed in the memories of the Turkish people, it was never replaced by another actor in the recent re-shootings of Hababam Sinifi, most probably as a sign of respect to Sunal.

His other notable characters include: Tosun Pasha; Süt Kardeş Şaban; Çöpçüler Kralı, who fell in love with a municipality officer’s fiancee; Doktor Civanım, a former hospital janitor pretending to be a doctor upon his return to his home village; and finally "Orta Direk Şaban", a naive man trying to become an athlete to impress his crush.

Apart from the hilariousness of his movies, one of the reasons that they were so popular were because they addressed many of the problems faced by the urban poor in Turkey during the 1970s and 1980s. In almost all of his films, Kemal Sunal plays a poor man, trying to make something of himself.

Sunal’s last film was Propaganda, which was directed by Sinan Çetin. Sunal, played a customs officer-in-charge (presumably) on the Syrian border. Being a drama, this film was a contrast to his other works. As the plot unfolded, Sunal’s character fell into despair, trying to survive the dilemma between his duties as an officer of the law and his duties as a friend. In public opinion, this film was not the best of jubilees for the master. In fact, it had not been meant to be a jubilee at all. Another significant fact about this film is that it also included Ali Sunal, Kemal Sunal’s son, cast as a junior customs officer.

Filmography

The filmography of Turkish actor Kemal Sunal comprises both film and television roles spanning almost 27 years. In his successful career, he starred in a total of 87 films.^[1]

Year Film Role 1972 Tatlı Dillim Basketballer 1973 Oh Olsun Fazıl 1973 Güllü Geliyor Güllü Kiralık Katil 1973 Canım Kardeşim Yolcu 1973 Yalancı Yarim Kemal 1974 Hasret Yanık 1974 Salak Milyoner Saffet 1974 Köyden İndim Şehire Saffet 1974 Salako Salako 1974 Mavi Boncuk Kaymakam Cafet 1975 Şaşkın Damat Apti 1975 Hanzo Hanzo / Cabbar 1975 Hababam Sınıfı İnek(Cow) Şaban 1975 Hababam Sınıfı Sınıfta Kaldı İnek(Cow) Şaban 1976 Tosun Paşa Şaban / Tosun Pasha 1976 Süt Kardeşler Şaban 1976 Sahte Kabadayı Kemal 1976 Meraklı Köfteci Zühtü Karışan 1976 Kapıcılar Kralı Seyid 1976 Hababam Sınıfı Uyanıyor İnek(Cow) Şaban 1977 Sakar Şakir Şakir 1977 Şabanoğlu Şaban Şaban 1977 İbo İle Güllüşah İbrahim 1977 Hababam Sınıfı Tatilde İnek(Cow) Şaban 1977 Çöpçüler Kralı Abdi Şakrak 1978 Yüz Numaralı Adam Şaban 1978 Köşeyi Dönen Adam Adem 1978 Kibar Feyzo Feyzo 1978 İyi Aile Çocuğu Kemal / Cemal 1978 İnek Şaban Şaban / Bülent 1978 Avanak Apti Apti 1979 Umudumuz Şaban Ringo Şaban 1979 Şark Bülbülü Şaban Ballıses 1979 Korkusuz Korkak Mülayim Sert 1979 Dokunmayın Şabanıma Şaban 1979 Bekçiler Kralı Şaban Özgüneş 1980 Zübük İbrahim Zübükzade 1980 Gol Kralı Sait Sarıoğlu 1980 Gerzek Şaban Osman / Seyfi 1980 Devlet Kuşu Mustafa 1981 Üç Kağıtçı Rıfkı

Year Film Role 1981 Kanlı Nigar Abdi 1981 Davaro Memo 1982 Yedi Bela Hüsnü Hüsnü 1982 Doktor Civanım Kemal 1983 Tokatçı Osman 1983 Kılıbık Kamil 1983 En Büyük Şaban Şaban 1983 Çarıklı Milyoner Bayram 1984 Şabaniye Şaban / Şabaniye 1984 Postacı Yandan Çarklı Adem 1984 Ortadirek Şaban Şaban 1984 Atla Gel Şaban Niyazi 1985 Sosyete Şaban Şaban Ağa / Dilaver Bey 1985 Şendul Şaban Şaban 1985 Şaban Papuçu Yarım Şaban 1985 Keriz Zülfü 1985 Katma Değer Şaban Şaban 1985 Gurbetçi Şaban Şaban 1986 Yoksul Yoksul 1986 Tarzan Rıfkı Tarzan Rıfkı 1986 Garip Kemal 1986 Deli Deli Küpeli Kaymakam 1986 Davacı Yunus 1987 Yakışıklı Selim 1987 Kiracı Kerim 1987 Japon İşi Veysel 1988 Uyanık Gazeteci Ali 1988 Sevimli Hırsız Metin 1988 Polizei Ali Ekber 1988 Öğretmen Teacher Hüsnü 1988 İnatçı Bayram 1988 Düttürü Dünya Düt Düt Mehmet 1988 Bıçkın Ali / Kemal Sunal 1989 Zehir Hafiye Cemal 1989 Talih Kuşu Osman Abalı 1989 Gülen Adam Yusuf Şaplak 1990 Koltuk Belası Zühtü Kaya 1990 Boynu Bükük Küheylan İbrahim Küheylan 1990 Abuk Sabuk Bir Film Âdemoğlu 1991 Varyemez Ragıp Elibol 1999 Propaganda Mehdi

Television series

Year	Film	Role
1992	Saygılar Bizden
1993	Şaban Askerde	Şaban
1995	Şaban İle Şirin	Şaban
1996	Bay Kamber	Bay Kamber[2]

Personal life

Sunal kept himself and his family away from the media and rarely appeared in public. People who knew him have commented on how serious he was in his real life, in contrast to the funny characters he played in his movies. Whilst he was at the top of his career, he decided to finish university, which he had left in his early career. Despite his fame, he attended the university like a regular student and stated that "that was the way he liked it to be".

Sunal’s dreams of higher-education had been disrupted in 1980, during the period of military takeover. His attempts to earn a degree finally paid off in 1995, when he earned his bachelor’s degree in Radio Television and Cinema Studies from Marmara University. He then decided to pursue a master’s degree (the topic of his thesis being himself), which he earned in 1998, also from Marmara University. This incident was covered by the media with headlines like "İnek Şaban Master Yaptı" (Şaban the Geek got a master’s degree) while his 'class-mates' from Hababam Sinifi made comments like "Profesorluk Bekliyoruz" ("We expect full professorship"). At his graduation ceremony, he made a speech where he joked that his path of first working and then attending university later in life was better as it allowed people to gain real life experience earlier.

Kemal Sunal died on July 3, 2000, as a result of a sudden heart attack aboard a flight to Trabzon just before take off. He was reported to be afraid of flying. His death caused mourning that swept the entire nation and dominated news coverage for many days. He was interred at the Zincirlikuyu Cemetery in Istanbul.

Kemal Sunal was married to Gül Sunal and he had two children, Ali and Ezo Sunal.

Awards

• 1977: 14. Antalya Film Şenliği (14th Antalya Film Festival), Best Actor, Kapıcılar Kralı
• 1998: 35. Antalya Film Şenliği (35th Antalya Film Festival), Lifetime honorary award, Kapıcılar Kralı
• 1989: 2. Ankara Film Şenliği (2nd Ankara Film Festival), Best Actor, Düttürü Dünya

Death

Kemal Sunal died on July 3, 2000 at an age of 55 years. He died of a heart attack just minutes before his plane took off. He was going to Trabzon to appear in the film Balalayka.

References

1. IMDb
2. SinemaTürk'de Bay Kamber

External links

• Kemal Sunal at the Internet Movie Database