Ahmet Tarık Tekçe

Ahmet Tarık Tekçe — Biography

Ahmet Tarık Tekçe was one of the successful supporting actors of Yeşilçam in the 1950s and 1960s, appearing in more than 300 films. His pairing with Öztürk Serengil grew into a lasting partnership, with the two appearing together in about 150 films. Born in Istanbul on 15 December 1920, he died on 4 October 1964 aged 43.

He finished Galatasaray High School and also studied at Işık Lisesi. Before cinema he worked at the Camialtı Workshop of Denizyolları and at the Haliç Feneri civil registry office, and on Büyükada he ran a humour newspaper, Adalar-Paravan, later renamed Pandispanya. He entered film in 1948, steered by his father, in Tuzak; for a while he combined cinema with journalism, then devoted himself entirely to acting. He is said to have sold his newspaper after falling into debt over his first film.

His filmography includes Kader (1955), Tütün Zamanı (1959, as Kör Fehmi), Aşk Rüyası and Aşkın Gözyaşları (both 1959), Aliii (1960), Siyah Melek (1961), Şafak Bekçileri (1963) and, in his final year, Muhteşem Serseri (1964). After his death the unfinished Kırk Küçük Anne was completed by others. Serengil said that, unlike his screen types, he was generous, helped everyone and was a mentor to him in cinema. His brother Necip Tekçe was also an actor, and he married and later separated from the stage actress Nezihe Becerikli.