John Barry
John Barry and Paul Bateman in the Royal Albert Hall, September 2006
Background information
Birth name	John Barry Prendergast
Born	(1933-11-03)3 November 1933 York, North Riding of Yorkshire, UK
Died	30 January 2011(2011-01-30) (aged 77) Oyster Bay, New York
Genres	Film score
Occupations	Composer, conductor
Years active	1959–2006

John Barry Prendergast, OBE (3 November 1933 – 30 January 2011)^[1][2] was an English conductor and composer of film music. He is best known for composing the soundtracks for 12 of the James Bond films between 1962 and 1987. He wrote the scores to the award winning films Midnight Cowboy, Dances with Wolves and Out of Africa, in a career which lasted over 50 years.

Born in York, North Riding of Yorkshire, Barry spent his early years working in cinemas owned by his father. During his National Service in Cyprus, Barry began performing as a musician having learned to play the trumpet. Upon completing his national service, he formed his own band in 1957, The John Barry Seven. He later developed an interest in composing and arranging music making his début for television in 1958. He came to the notice of the makers of the first James Bond film Dr. No who were dissatisfied with a theme for James Bond given to them by Monty Norman. This started a successful association between Barry and the James Bond films which lasted for 25 years.

He received awards for his work, including five Academy Awards; two for Born Free, and one each for The Lion in Winter (for which he also won a BAFTA Award), Dances with Wolves and Out of Africa (both of which also won him Grammy Awards). He also received ten Golden Globe Award nominations, winning once for Best Original Score for Out of Africa in 1986. Barry completed his last film score, Enigma in 2001 and recorded the successful album Eternal Echoes the same year. He then concentrated chiefly on live performances and co wrote the music to the musical Brighton Rock in (2004) alongside Don Black. Barry was married four times and had four children. He moved to the United States in 1975 and lived there for the remainder of his life until his death in 2011.

Biography[link]

Early life and family[link]

Barry was born John Barry Prendergast, in York, England and was the son of an English mother and a Irish father. His father, Jack Xavier Prendergast, from Cork, was a projectionist during the silent movie era, who later owned a chain of cinemas across northern England.^[3][4][5] As a result of his father's work, Barry was raised in and around cinemas in Northern England^[3] and he later stated that his childhood background of being brought up in the theatres owned by his father influenced his musical tastes and interests as a result.^[4]

Career[link]

Although originally a classical pianist, Barry took a correspondence course (with jazz composer Bill Russo) and working as an arranger for the Jack Parnell and Ted Heath's Orchestra,^[6] he formed his own band in 1957, The John Barry Seven,^[7] with whom he had some hit records on the EMI Columbia label, including "Hit and Miss", the theme tune he composed for the BBC's Juke Box Jury programme, a cover of the Ventures' "Walk Don't Run", and a cover of the theme for the United Artists Western The Magnificent Seven. The career breakthrough for Barry was the BBC television series Drumbeat, when he appeared with the John Barry Seven. He was employed by EMI from 1959 until 1962 arranging orchestral accompaniment for the company's singers, including Adam Faith; he also composed songs (along with Les Vandyke) and scores for films in which Faith was featured. When Faith made his first film, Beat Girl, in 1960, Barry composed, arranged and conducted the score, his first. His music was later released as the first soundtrack album on LP album in the UK.^[8] Barry also composed the music for another Faith film, Never Let Go, orchestrated the score for Mix Me a Person, and composed, arranged and conducted the score for The Amorous Prawn.

In 1962, Barry transferred to Ember Records, where he produced albums as well as arranging them.^[9]

These achievements caught the attention of the producers of a new film called Dr. No who were dissatisfied with a theme for James Bond given to them by Monty Norman. Barry was hired and the result was one of the most famous signature tunes in film history, the "James Bond Theme". (Credit goes to Monty Norman, see here.) When the producers of the Bond series engaged Lionel Bart to score the next James Bond film From Russia with Love, they discovered that Bart could neither read nor write music. Though Bart wrote a title song for the film, the producers remembered Barry's arrangement of the James Bond Theme and his composing and arranging for several films with Adam Faith. Lionel Bart also recommended Barry to producer Stanley Baker for his film Zulu.^[10] Bart and Barry worked together in the film Man in the Middle.

This was the turning point for Barry, and he went on to become one of the most celebrated film composers, winning five Academy Awards and four Grammy Awards, with scores for, among others, The Lion in Winter, Midnight Cowboy, Born Free, and Somewhere in Time.^[2]

Barry was often cited as having had a distinct style which concentrated on lush strings and extensive use of brass. However he was also an innovator, being one of the first to employ synthesizers in a film score (On Her Majesty's Secret Service), and to make wide use of pop artists and songs in Midnight Cowboy. Because Barry provided not just the main title theme but the complete soundtrack score, his music often enhanced the critical reception of a film, notably in Midnight Cowboy, the 1976 version of King Kong, Out of Africa, and Dances with Wolves. Barry would often watch films and would note down with pen and paper, what worked or what did not.^[5]

One of Barry's best known compositions is the theme for the 1971 TV series The Persuaders!, also known as "The Unlucky Heroes", in which Tony Curtis and Roger Moore were paired as rich playboys solving crimes. The score for the series was composed by Ken Thorne. The theme went on to be a hit single in some European countries and has been re-released on collections of 1970s disco hits. The instrumental recording features Moog synthesizers. Barry also wrote the scores to a number of musicals, including Passion Flower Hotel (lyrics by Trevor Peacock), the successful West End show Billy (lyrics by Don Black) and two major Broadway flops, The Little Prince and the Aviator and Lolita, My Love, the latter with Alan Jay Lerner as lyricist.

Barry's work began to be sampled in the 1990s by artists such as Dr. Dre and Wu-Tang Clan, with his "James Bond Theme" being sampled by performers as diverse as Bonobo, Gang Starr and Junior Reid. Fatboy Slim used the opening guitars from "Beat Girl (Main Title)" for "Rockafeller Skank" from his 1998 album, You've Come A Long Way, Baby. The Sneaker Pimps also sampled "Golden Girl" on their 1996 single "6 Underground". Additionally, "You Only Live Twice" was heavily sampled on "Millennium" from Robbie Williams' second album, I've Been Expecting You.^[11]

In 2001, the University of York conferred an honorary degree on Barry, and in 2002 he was named an Honorary Freeman of the City of York.^[12][13]

During 2006, Barry was the executive producer on an album entitled Here's to the Heroes by the Australian ensemble The Ten Tenors. The album features a number of songs Barry wrote in collaboration with his lyricist friend, Don Black. Barry and Black also composed one of the songs on Shirley Bassey's 2009 album, The Performance. The song entitled, "Our Time is Now", is the first written by the duo for Bassey since "Diamonds Are Forever".^[14]

James Bond series[link]

After the success of Dr. No, Barry scored eleven of the next 14 James Bond films (but with Monty Norman continually credited as the composer of the "James Bond Theme").^[15]

In his tenure with the film series, Barry's music, variously brassy and moody, appealed to film aficionados. For From Russia With Love he composed "007", an alternative James Bond signature theme, which is featured in four other Bond films (Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever, Moonraker). The theme "Stalking", for the teaser sequence of From Russia With Love, was covered by colleague Marvin Hamlisch for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). (The music and lyrics for From Russia With Love's title song were written by Lionel Bart, whose musical theatre credits included Oliver!). Barry also (indirectly) contributed to the soundtrack of the 1967 spoof version of Casino Royale: his Born Free theme appears briefly in the opening sequence.

In Goldfinger, he perfected the "Bond sound", a heady mixture of brass, jazz and sensuous melodies. There is even an element of Barry's jazz roots in the big-band track "Into Miami", which follows the title credits and accompanies the film's iconic image of the camera lens zooming toward the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach.

As Barry matured, the Bond scores concentrated more on lush melodies, as in Moonraker and Octopussy. Barry's score for A View to a Kill was traditional, but his collaboration with Duran Duran for the title song was contemporary and one of the most successful Bond themes to date, reaching number one in the United States and number two in the UK Singles Chart. Both A View to a Kill and The Living Daylights theme by a-ha blended the pop music style of the artists with Barry's orchestration. In 2006, a-ha's Pal Waaktaar complimented Barry's contributions "I loved the stuff he added to the track, I mean it gave it this really cool string arrangement. That's when for me it started to sound like a Bond thing".^[16]

Barry's last score for the Bond series was 1987's The Living Daylights, Dalton's first film in the series with Barry making a cameo appearance as a conductor in the film. Barry was intended to score Licence to Kill but was recovering from throat surgery at the time and it was considered unsafe to fly him to London to complete the score. The score was completed by Michael Kamen.^[17]

David Arnold, a British composer, saw the result of two years' work in 1997 with the release of Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project, an album of new versions of the themes from various James Bond films. Arnold thanks Barry in the sleeve notes, referring to him as "the Guvnor". Almost all of the tracks were John Barry compositions, and the revision of his work met with his approval – he contacted Barbara Broccoli, producer of the then upcoming Tomorrow Never Dies, to recommend Arnold as the film's composer.^[18] Arnold also went on to score the subsequent Bond films: The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.

Sole compositional credit for the "James Bond Theme" is attributed to Monty Norman, who was contracted as composer for Dr. No. Some 30 years later, in 2001, the disputed authorship of the theme was examined legally in the High Court in London after Norman sued The Sunday Times for publishing an article in 1997 in which Barry was named as the true composer; Barry testified for the defense.^[19][20]

In court, Barry testified that he had been handed a musical manuscript of a work by Norman (meant to become the theme) and that he was to arrange it musically, and that he composed additional music and arranged the "James Bond Theme". The court was also told that Norman received sole credit because of his prior contract with the producers. Barry said that a deal was struck whereby he would receive a flat fee of £250 and Norman would receive the songwriting credit.^[21] Barry said that he had accepted the deal with United Artists Head of Music Noel Rogers because it would help his career. Despite these claims the jury ruled unanimously in favour of Norman.^[21]

On 7 September 2006, John Barry publicly defended his authorship of the theme on the Steve Wright show on BBC Radio 2.^[22]

Personal life[link]

Barry was educated at St Peter's School, York, and also received composition lessons from Francis Jackson, Organist of York Minster.^[4]

Barry moved to California in 1975, with a British judge later accusing him of emigrating to avoid paying £134,000 due the Inland Revenue.^[6] The matter was resolved in the late 1980s and Barry was able to return to the UK.^[6] He subsequently lived for many years in the United States, mainly in Oyster Bay, New York, on Long Island, from 1980.^[4]

Barry suffered a rupture of the oesophagus in 1988, following a toxic reaction to a health tonic he had consumed. The incident rendered him unable to work for two years and left him vulnerable to pneumonia.^[23]

Barry was married four times. His first three marriages, to Barbara Pickard (1959–63); Jane Birkin (1965–68); and Jane Sidey (1969–78), all ended in divorce.^[6] He was married to Laurie from 1978^[6] until his death. The couple had a son, Jonpatrick. Barry had three daughters, Suzanne (Susie) with his first wife, Barbara, Kate with his second wife, Jane, and Sian from a relationship with Ulla Larson between the first two marriages.^{[citation needed]}

Barry died of a heart attack on 30 January 2011 at his Oyster Bay home, aged 77.^[24][25] He is survived by Laurie, his wife of 33 years, and by his four children and five grandchildren.

A memorial concert took place on 20 June 2011 at the Royal Albert Hall in London where the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Dame Shirley Bassey, Rumer, David Arnold, Wynne Evans, Derek Watkins (trumpeter) and others performed Barry's music. Sir George Martin, Michael Parkinson, Don Black, Timothy Dalton and others also contributed to the celebration of his life and work.^[24][26][27] The event was sponsored by The Royal College of Music through a grant by the Broccoli Foundation.^[28] See links to four videos below.

Awards and nominations[link]

In 2005, the American Film Institute ranked Barry's score for Out of Africa #15 on their list of the greatest film scores. His scores for the following films were also nominated:

• Body Heat (1981)
• Born Free (1966)
• Dances with Wolves (1990)
• Goldfinger (1964)
• The Lion in Winter (1968)
• Somewhere in Time (1980)

Accolades[link]

Grammy Award

• 1969 Best Instrumental Theme for Midnight Cowboy^[32]
• 1985 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band for The Cotton Club^[32]
• 1985 Best Instrumental Composition for Out of Africa^[32]
• 1991 Best Instrumental Composition for Dances with Wolves^[32]

Emmy Award nominations

• 1964 Outstanding Achievement in Composing Original Music for Television for Elizabeth Taylor in London (a 1963 television special)^[33]
• 1977 Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Special (Dramatic Underscore) for Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years^[33]

Max Steiner Lifetime Achievement Award (presented by the City of Vienna)

• 2009^[15]

Lifetime Achievement Award from World Soundtrack Academy (presented at the Ghent Film Festival)

• 2010

Barry was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1998.^[15]

Discography[link]

Bond films[link]

Barry worked on the soundtracks for the following James Bond films:

• Dr. No (1962) – James Bond Theme used on main and end titles and Bond's arrival in Jamaica
• From Russia with Love (lyrics by Lionel Bart) (1963)
• Goldfinger (1964)
• Thunderball (1965)
• You Only Live Twice (1967)
• On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
• Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
• The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
• Moonraker (1979)
• Octopussy (1983)
• A View to a Kill (1985)
• The Living Daylights (1987)

Other film scores[link]

Musicals[link]

• Passion Flower Hotel (1965)
• Lolita, My Love (1971), a musical comedy (text by Alan Jay Lerner) based on Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita
• Billy (1974)
• The Little Prince and the Aviator (1981)
• Brighton Rock (2004)

Television themes[link]

• Dateline London (1962)
• Elizabeth Taylor in London (Grammy award nomination) (1963)
• Juke Box Jury (1959–1967)
• Impromptu (1964)
• Sophia Loren in Rome (1964)
• The Newcomers (1965–1969)
• Vendetta (1966)
• The Persuaders! (1971–1972)
• The Adventurer (1972–1973)
• Orson Welles' Great Mysteries (1973)
• The Glass Menagerie (1973)
• Born Free (1974)
• Love Among the Ruins (1975)
• Eleanor and Franklin (1976)
• Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years (1977)
• The War Between the Tates (1977)
• Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy (1977)
• The Gathering (1977)
• The Corn is Green (1979)
• Willa (1979)
• Svengali (1983)
• USA Today – The TV series (1988)
• The Witness (1992)
• John Barry – Moviola (1993)

Other works[link]

• Stringbeat (1961)
• Americans (1975)
• The Beyondness of Things (1999)
• Eternal Echoes (2001)
• The Seasons – no release date set

Singles[link]

(Excludes co-composed hits, e.g. Duran Duran's A View to a Kill)

• "Hit And Miss" as The John Barry Seven plus Four, UK#10 (first charted 1960)
• "Beat For Beatniks" as The John Barry Orchestra, UK#40 (1960)
• "Never Let Go" as The John Barry Orchestra, UK#49 (1960)
• "Blueberry Hill" as The John Barry Orchestra, UK#34 (1960)
• "Walk Don't Run" as The John Barry Seven, UK#11 (1960)
• "Black Stockings" as The John Barry Seven, UK#27 (1960)
• "The Magnificent Seven" as The John Barry Seven, UK#45 (1961)
• "Cutty Sark" as The John Barry Seven, UK#35 (1962)
• "The James Bond Theme" as The John Barry Orchestra, UK#13 (1962)
• "From Russia With Love" as The John Barry Orchestra, UK#39 (1963)
• "Theme From 'The Persuaders'" as John Barry, UK#13 (1971)

The 4 highest-charting hits all spent more than 10 weeks in the UK top 50.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: John Barry (composer)

• John Barry at the Songwriters Hall of Fame
• John Barry at the Internet Movie Database
• John Barry discography at MusicBrainz
• John Barry Memorial Concert – Remembering Chet on YouTube
• John Barry Memorial Concert – The James Bond Theme on YouTube
• John Barry Memorial Concert – Goldfinger on YouTube
• John Barry Memorial Concert – We Have All The Time In The World on YouTube
• John Barry Memorial Concert – Complete Radio Broadcast on YouTube

Further reading[link]

• Leonard, Geoff, Pete Walker and Gareth Bramley. John Barry – The Man With The Midas Touch (Redcliffe Press: Bristol, UK, 2008)

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2011)

Victor Harold Flick (born 14 May 1937, Worcester Park, Surrey, England) is an English guitarist, most famous for playing the guitar riff in the "James Bond Theme".^[1][2]

Biography[link]

As a child, Flick first played piano, until he was given a guitar.^[2] He joined The John Barry Seven in the early 1950s, his first composition for the group being "Viva Zapata!".^[2] On the Dr. No soundtrack he was lead guitarist, the soundtrack being recorded before the musicians had seen the film.^[2]

Before that, he also played the guitar riff in the theme tune of the popular early 1960s TV show Juke Box Jury. As a member of The John Barry Seven,^[1] he appeared on every episode of BBC TV's Drumbeat during 1959. Flick continued to contribute to James Bond soundtracks throughout the 1960s.^[2]

Apart from his early 1960s work as the distinctive lead guitarist in The John Barry Seven, Flick was a much in demand session player, and featured on many early 1960s UK pop records. Flick was a member of the George Martin Orchestra, playing on the soundtrack of the film A Hard Day's Night.^[1]

He has worked with many notable artists, including Tom Jones,^[1] Cliff Richard,^[1] Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page. One of Flick's legendary guitars, a Clifford Essex Paragon De Luxe, on which he played the original James Bond Theme for John Barry, was displayed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio and now is part of the collection of The National GUITAR Museum.

Flick also collaborated with Merchant Ivory Film as composer/music arranger for Autobiography of a Princess (1975), The Europeans (1979), Quartet (1981), Heat and Dust (1983).

In 2003, he recorded the album James Bond Now, featuring tracks from James Bond soundtracks and new compositions.^[2]

In 2008 his autobiography, Vic Flick, Guitarman (ISBN 978-1593933081), was published by Bearmanor Media.

Discography[link]

• James Bond Now (2003)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Vic Flick Interview
• Vic Flick at the Internet Movie Database
• John Barry Website (with complete Drumbeat listings)

Album discography[link]

• West of Windward - 1968 - Rediffusion

This article on a UK guitarist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

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Telly Savalas
Telly Savalas, 1980
Born	Aristotelis Savalas (1922-01-21)January 21, 1922 Garden City, New York, U.S.
Died	January 22, 1994(1994-01-22) (aged 72) Universal City, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Spouse	Katherine Nicolaides (1948–57; divorce) Marilyn Gardner (1960–74; divorce) Julie Hovland (1984–94; his death)

Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas (Greek: Αριστοτέλης "Τέλι" Σαβάλας; January 21, 1922 – January 22, 1994) was an American film and television actor and singer, whose career spanned four decades. Best known for playing the title role in the 1970s crime drama Kojak, Savalas was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz (1962). His other movie credits include The Young Savages (1961), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Battle of the Bulge (1965), The Dirty Dozen (1967), The Scalphunters (1968), supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971), Inside Out (1975), and Escape to Athena (1979).

Early life[link]

Savalas, the second of five children, was born as Aristotelis Savalas^[1] in Garden City NY, to Greek American parents Christina (née Kapsalis), a New York City artist who was a native of Sparti, and Nick Savalas, a Greek restaurant owner.^[2] When he entered Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park, New York^[3], he initially only spoke Greek, but learned English and graduated in 1940. After graduation he worked as a lifeguard, but on one occasion was unsuccessful at rescuing a man from drowning, an event which would haunt Savalas for the remainder of his life.^[4] When he entered Columbia University School of General Studies Savalas took courses including English language, radio, and psychology, graduating in 1948. At that time he fell in love with radio and television, which led to his interest in acting. Savalas also gained life experience with a three-year period (1943–1946) in the US Army during World War II, working for the US State Department as host of the Your Voice of America series, then at ABC News, before beginning an acting career in his late thirties. In 1950 Savalas hosted a popular radio show called The Coffeehouse in New York City.

Early television and movie career[link]

Savalas began as an executive director and then senior director of the news special events at ABC. He then became an executive producer for the Gillette Cavalcade of Sports where he gave Howard Cosell his first job in television.^{[citation needed]}

Savalas was a character actor on TV shows during 1959 and the 1960s. His first acting role was on "And Bring Home a Baby", an episode of Armstrong Circle Theater in January 1959. He appeared on two more episodes of this series, in 1959 and 1960. Between 1959 and 1967, he made more than fifty guest appearances in various television programs, including Naked City, The Eleventh Hour, King of Diamonds, The Aquanauts, The Untouchables, Diagnosis: Unknown, Burke's Law, Combat!, The Fugitive, Breaking Point, Bonanza, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The F.B.I. and the The Twilight Zone classic episode "Living Doll". He had a recurring role as Brother Hendricksen on the popular crime drama series, 77 Sunset Strip and was a regular on the short-lived NBC television series Acapulco.

While playing Lucky Luciano on the TV series The Witness, he was "discovered" by actor Burt Lancaster. He appeared with Lancaster in three movies — the first of these was the crime drama The Young Savages (1961). After playing a police officer in this movie, he moved on to play a string of heavies. Once again opposite Lancaster, he won acclaim and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as the sadistic Feto Gomez in Birdman of Alcatraz (1962). In the same year he appeared alongside Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear (1962) as private detective Charles Sievers.

Savalas shaved his head for his role as Pontius Pilate in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), and decided to remain shaved for the remainder of his life.

Savalas was memorable as the weirdly religious and very sadistic convict Archer Maggott in The Dirty Dozen (1967), the seminal ensemble action film by director Robert Aldrich. He later returned to play a different character in two of the movie's TV sequels - The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission (1987) and The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission (1988). He co-starred with Burt Lancaster for the third time in The Scalphunters (1968), a comedy western that looked at racism during the Civil Rights movement. Two more appearances in comedies for Savalas were as Herbie Haseler in Crooks and Coronets (1969) and opposite Clint Eastwood in Kelly's Heroes (1970) where he played the no nonsense hard as nails company sergeant 'Big Joe'.

His career was transformed with the lead role in the TV-movie The Marcus Nelson Murders (CBS, 1973), which was based on the real-life Career Girls Murder case,^[5] and pop culture icon Theo Kojak was born. In that TV-movie, the pilot for the series, and only in that TV-movie, his name was spelled as 'Kojack'. That spelling was replaced with the more familiar 'Kojak' for the rest of the run.

[edit] Kojak

Savalas' best known role was as the star of the television series Kojak. Lt. Theo Kojak was a bald New York City detective with a fondness for lollipops and whose trademark line was "Who loves ya, baby?" (He also liked to say "Everybody should have a little Greek in them.") Although the lollipop gimmick was added in order to indulge his sweet tooth, Savalas also smoked heavily onscreen — cigarettes, cigarillos and cigars — throughout the first season's episodes.

"Telly Savalas can make bad slang sound like good slang and good slang sound like lyric poetry. It isn't what he is, so much as the way he talks, that gets you tuning in," wrote the critic Clive James trying to explain some of the great popularity of the show.^[6]

He was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series two years in a row, winning the Emmy in 1974. He was also nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a TV Drama Series from 1975 to 1978, winning twice, in 1975 and 1976. His younger brother George played the regular role of Detective Stavros — a sensitive, wild-haired, quiet, comedic foil to Kojak's street-wise humor in an otherwise dark dramatic TV series.

Kevin Dobson played the role of Kojak's trusted young partner, Det. Bobby Crocker. The on-screen chemistry of Savalas and Dobson was a success story of 1970s television. After the show's cancellation, Dobson went on to further fame in the popular prime-time 1980s soap opera Knots Landing. As a result, he did not appear in a majority of Kojak TV movies. Savalas and Dobson were reunited on-screen for one last time when they appeared together in the 1990 TV movie Kojak: It's Always Something, where Dobson's character was a lawyer — similar to his role on Knots Landing - instead of a police officer.

Dobson said of his first meeting with Savalas: "The moment I met Telly Savalas, we shook hands and our eyes met and locked and the chemistry was there."

Dobson added: "The lollipops scene took place in the fifth show, when we're in the office and we're about to do the scene, he said, 'I need something, you know?' And here's a guy standing over there with the Tootsie Pop sticking out of his shirt. Give me a Tootsie Pop, huh? Telly, they flipped it to him, doing it like this, unwrapped it, stuck it to him and his head, his mouth and became a lollipop cop."^{[citation needed]}

In 1978, after five seasons and 118 episodes, CBS cancelled the show due to low ratings. Savalas was unhappy about the show's demise, but he got the chance to reprise the Kojak persona in several TV movies.

Savalas portrayed Kojak in the following shows:

• The Marcus-Nelson Murders (1973) (TV pilot)
• Kojak (1973 – 78) TV Series
• Kojak: The Belarus File (1985) (TV)
• Kojak: The Price of Justice (1987) (TV)
• Kojak: Ariana (1989) (TV)
• Kojak: Fatal Flaw (1989) (TV)
• Kojak: None So Blind (1990) (TV)
• Kojak: It's Always Something (1990) (TV)
• Kojak: Flowers for Matty (1990) (TV)

Other career achievements[link]

As a singer, Savalas had some chart success. His spoken word version of Bread's "If" produced by Snuff Garrett was #1 in Europe for 10 weeks in 1975 and his sung version of Don Williams' "Some Broken Hearts Never Mend" topped the charts in 1980.^[7] He worked with composer and producer John Cacavas on many albums, including Telly (1974) and Who Loves Ya, Baby (1976).

In the late 1970s, Savalas narrated three UK travelogues titled Telly Savalas Looks at Portsmouth, Telly Savalas Looks at Aberdeen and Telly Savalas Looks at Birmingham. These were produced by Harold Baim and were examples of quota quickies which were then part of a requirement that cinemas in the United Kingdom showed a set percentage of British produced films.^[8][9] He also hosted the 1989 video UFOs and Channeling. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Savalas appeared in commercials for the Players' Club Gold Card.

Savalas appeared on the Australian supernatural television show The Extraordinary, where he told a personal ghost story similar to The Vanishing Hitchhiker.^[10]

He has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1996 TV Guide ranked him number 33 on its 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time list.^[11]

Personal life[link]

The Savalas brothers (l-r): Teddy, Telly, Gus & George

Savalas was married three times. In 1948 after his father's death from bladder cancer, Savalas married his college sweetheart, Katherine Nicolaides. Daughter Christina, named after his mother, was born in 1950. In 1957, Katherine filed for divorce after she found out from Telly that he was running away to flee his creditors.^{[citation needed]} She urged him to move back to his mother's house during that same year. While Savalas was going broke, he founded the Garden City Theater Center in his native Garden City. While working there, he met Marilyn Gardner, a theater teacher. They married in 1960. Marilyn gave birth to daughter Penelope in 1961. A second daughter, Candace, was born in 1963.

In 1969, while working on the movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Savalas met Sally Adams. Sally gave birth to their son Nicholas Savalas on February 24, 1973. Gardner filed for divorce from Savalas in 1974, but Savalas and Sally Adams apparently never legally married. In 1977 during the last season of Kojak, he met Julie Hovland, a travel agent from Minnesota. They were married in 1984 and had two children together, Christian and Ariana. Julie and Telly remained married until his death. Christian Savalas is an actor, singer and songwriter. Ariana Savalas is an actress and singer/songwriter. Julie Savalas is an inventor and artist.

Telly Savalas held a degree in psychology and was a world-class poker player who finished 21st at the main event in the 1992 World Series of Poker, as well as a motorcycle racer and lifeguard. His other hobbies and interests included golfing, swimming, reading romantic books, watching football, traveling, collecting luxury cars and gambling. He loved horse racing and bought a racehorse with movie director and producer Howard W. Koch. Naming the horse Telly's Pop, it won several races in 1975 including the Norfolk Stakes and Del Mar Futurity.^[12][13]

In his capacity as producer for Kojak, he gave many stars their first break, as Burt Lancaster did for him. He was considered by those who knew him to be a generous, graceful, compassionate man. He was also a strong contributor to his Greek Orthodox roots through the Saint Sophia and Saint Nicholas cathedrals in Los Angeles and was the sponsor of bringing electricity in the 1970s to his ancestral home, Yeraka, Greece. Telly was also Jennifer Aniston's godfather.^[14]

Savalas had a minor physical handicap in that his left index finger was deformed.^[15] This deformed digit was often indicated on screen; Kojak episode "Conspiracy of Fear" in which a close-up of Savalas holding his chin in his hand clearly shows the permanently bent finger. As a philanthropist and phil-hellene, Telly Savalas supported many Hellenic causes and made friends in major cities around the world. In Chicago, Telly often met with Illinois State Senators Steven G. Nash and Samuel Maragos, also Greeks, as well as Greek millionaire Simeon Frangos, who owned the famous Athens North nightclub and the Flying Carpet Hotel near O'Hare airport.

Deaths of relatives and his own last days[link]

After Savalas came back to reprise his role on Kojak in the 1980s, he began to lose close relatives.

George Savalas, his brother who played Detective Stavros on the original Kojak series, died in 1985 of leukemia at age 60. George Savalas recorded a popular series of Greek folk songs which have since become highly collectible and valuable. His mother Christina, who had always been his best friend, supporter, and devoted parent, died in 1989. Later that year, Savalas was diagnosed with transitional cell cancer of the bladder. He refused to see a doctor until 1993^{[citation needed]}, but by then he did not have much time to live. While fighting for his life, he continued to star in many roles, including a recurring role on The Commish.

Death[link]

Savalas died on January 22, 1994, at the age of 72, just one day after his birthday, of complications of cancer of the bladder and prostate^[16] at the Sheraton-Universal Hotel in Universal City, California.^[17] He had lived in Universal City for twenty years. Savalas was interred at the George Washington section of Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery.^[18] The funeral, held in the Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Church, was attended by his third wife, Julie, and his brother Gus. His first two wives, Katherine and Marilyn, also attended with their own children. The mourners included Angie Dickinson, Nicollette Sheridan, Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Sorbo, Sally Adams, Frank Sinatra, Don Rickles, and several of Telly's Kojak co-stars - Kevin Dobson, Dan Frazer, and Vince Conti.

Movie roles[link]

His silver screen career usually involved him being cast as the villain in such films as:

• Mad Dog Coll (1961)
• The Young Savages (1961)
• Johnny Cool (1963)
• The Man from the Diner's Club (1963)
• Love Is a Ball (1963)
• The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) as Pontius Pilate
• The Slender Thread (1965)
• Beau Geste (1966) as Sergeant Dagineau
• The Dirty Dozen (1967) as Archer Maggott
• The Karate Killers (1967) as Count Valeriano De Fanzini
• The Scalphunters (1968) as Jim Howie
• The Assassination Bureau (1969)
• On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) as Ernst Stavro Blofeld
• Land Raiders (1969)
• Crooks and Coronets (1969) as Herbie Haseler
• Mackenna's Gold (1969) as Cavalry Sergeant Tibbs
• Violent City (1970)
• A Town Called Bastard (1971)
• Pancho Villa (1972)
• Crime Boss (1972)
• Scenes from a Murder (1972)
• Sonny and Jed (1972)
• Horror Express (1973)
• Lisa and the Devil (1973)
• A Reason to Live, A Reason to Die (1973)
• Senza Ragione aka Redneck (1973)
• Inside Out (1975)
• Killer Force (1976)
• Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) as Doctor Stefan Svevo
• Cannonball Run II (1984) as Hymie Kaplan
• Gobots: Battle of the Rock Lords (voice) (1986)

Other movie roles where Savalas didn't play the villain were:

• Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) as Feto Gomez
• Cape Fear (1962)
• Love Is a Ball (1963) as P.I. Charles Sievers
• The New Interns (1964)
• Genghis Khan (1965) as Shan
• The Slender Thread (1965)
• Battle of the Bulge (1965) as Tank Sgt. Guffy
• Sol Madrid (1968)
• Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1968)
• Kelly's Heroes (1970) as Master Sergeant "big" Joe
• Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971)
• Clay Pigeon (1971)
• Inside Out (1975) as Harry Morgan
• Capricorn One (1978) as Albain, the biplane pilot
• Escape to Athena (1979) as Zino
• Border Cop (1979) as Frank Cooper
• Nevada Heat (1982) as Detective
• The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland (1985) as the Cheshire Cat
• The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission (1987) as Major Wright
• Faceless (1988) as Terry Hallen
• The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission (1988) as Major Wright
• Backfire! (1994)