Celal Yonat

Celal Yonat — Biography

Celalettin Yonat (1922, Sivas – December 29, 1993, Istanbul) was a Turkish theatre and film actor known by the nickname "Arap Celal." After finishing primary school he went to work, gaining stage experience with the Burhaneddin Tepsi and İsmail Dümbüllü companies; he entered cinema as an extra in 1948 and went on to play mostly small character roles in more than four hundred productions. He is remembered for his Arap Celal persona in the Şaban films Gerzek Şaban (1980) and En Büyük Şaban (1983), and also appeared in Yeşilçam productions such as Köroğlu (1968), Battal Gazi Destanı (1971), Hababam Taburu (1975), Kibar Feyzo (1978), Yedi Bela Hüsnü (1982), and Tokatçı (1983). Because of his nickname, his hometown was long mistaken; Yonat was in fact from Sivas. He died in Istanbul in 1993.