Yıldırım Gencer

Yıldırım Gencer — Biography

Yıldırım Gencer, whose birth name was Gencer Yıldırımgeç, was born on 25 November 1936 in Adapazarı. He came from the Geçba family, of Abkhaz-Sadz origin, and was closely related to the painters Sezgin Burak and Ersin Burak as well as to Faruk Geç (Geçoğlu); his father owned the Kuzuluk thermal springs and mineral-water business. After finishing the middle-school section of Galatasaray High School, he entered cinema in 1963 with Elalem Ne Der, whose poster was drawn by his painter relative Faruk Geç. Over his career he played leading and supporting roles in numerous films, appeared in several television series, and occasionally worked as a director.

He is remembered for playing Kilink, considered Yeşilçam's first fantastic-film character, and became known chiefly for villain roles, as well as for his modesty and his distinctive, flamboyant walk and bearing. In 1979 he played Çerkes Ethem in the TRT series Yorgun Savaşçı; the series' footage was burned during the 1980 military coup, and a surviving negative, found ten years later, was re-edited by Halit Refiğ and broadcast. In his later years Gencer lived at his brother Gündüz's house in Kuzuluk, and he died there of a heart condition on 17 January 2005 at the age of 68; he was buried in Kuzuluk Cemetery.