Tevfik Gelenbe

Tevfik Gelenbe — Biography

Tevfik Gelenbe is remembered in Turkish theatre both as a stage actor and as a mentor who opened the door to young performers. Wide audiences knew him as "Bacı Kalfa" in the series Uğurlugiller, yet his deeper legacy is the theatre workshop he founded, where talented young people trained. He died in Istanbul in 2004.

An Istanbul native, Gelenbe graduated from Vefa High School and began his career on the stage of the Istanbul City Theatres in 1960. In 1969 he founded the Tevfik Gelenbe Tiyatrosu, named after himself, which gave young actors free theatre training. Artists such as Yıldıray Şahinler, Murat Akkoyunlu, Ümmühan Kıldiş and Kadir Akbulut trained in his workshop. On stage he appeared in plays such as Kocamın Nişanlısı, Aman İdare Et, Sakallı Gelin, Sevda Salatası and Şekerpare, and in the children's play Emiş ile Memiş. On screen he appeared in the film Biz İnsan Değil Miyiz (1961) and was assistant director on Boşver Doktor (1962).

His television breakthrough came with Uğurlugiller, which ran from 1987 to 1991; his Bacı Kalfa made him famous across the country. He went on to appear in Şen Dullar (1991), Huzursuzlar (2001) and İki Oda Bir Sinan (2002). He died at the age of 73 of skin cancer and was buried at Merdivenköy Cemetery.