Hüseyin Zan

Hüseyin Zan — Biography

Hüseyin Zan was one of the best-known villain faces of Yeşilçam. He appeared in hundreds of films, mostly in supporting parts as hard, menacing types, and was known in the industry by the nickname "Oski". After a career of nearly half a century he died in 2011, and the Turkish press remembered him as one of the era's screen bad guys.

After primary school he worked as a mechanic and a driver, and in 1960 he entered cinema with Türker İnanoğlu's İçimizden Biri (Ölüm Çemberi). He never left the screen after that large-cast debut: from the mid-1960s he took part in adventure and action productions such as Yakut Gözlü Kedi, Kilink İstanbul'da, Sabahsız Geceler, Zagor, İpini Boynunda Bil and Akrep Yuvası (1977). His skill in fight scenes was so notable that he later opened a school teaching fighting to film extras. He played lead roles in some films, produced a few, and acted in a 1975 Italian-Turkish co-production.

In the 1990s he moved toward television films and series; in 1997 he directed the TV film Sevimli Dostlar, his only attempt at directing, and his last role came in 2007 in the television film Koçero. From 1990 he lived in Çınarcık, in Yalova province, where he made a living from fishing, and he was buried in Çınarcık Cemetery.