Yavuz Selekman

Yavuz Selekman — Biography

İsmail Yavuz Selekman (15 February 1937, Istanbul - 8 March 2004, Istanbul) was a Turkish wrestler turned film actor. He first made his name on the mat as a national-level amateur, competing in the Greco-Roman middleweight event at the 1964 Summer Olympics, and later worked as a professional wrestler.

His heavy build, listed at 1.78 m, and hard-edged features made him a familiar presence in Yeşilçam cinema, usually cast as a tough or a henchman. He played Santo in Three Giant Men (1973), Kara Gülle in Battal Gazi'nin Oğlu (1974), Abbas in Babacan (1975) and Yavuz in Akrep Yuvası (1977), with further appearances in Zagor, Kuşçu and Son Akın. Turkish film databases credit him with well over a hundred roles across cinema and television, work that continued into the 1990s and the early 2000s.

In 2023 Turkish outlets reported that photographs of Selekman had served as visual inspiration for a new Conan the Barbarian adaptation, bringing renewed attention to a largely forgotten Yeşilçam face.