Classic Hollywood Icons Codexery

Telly Savalas

Who loves ya, baby?

Last updated

Telly Savalas

wolfgang.mller54 from Niedersachsen /Germany · CC BY 2.0

Prostate and bladder cancer led to complications that caused Savalas's death on January 22, 1994.[1]

Last updated 2026-10-08 from the source article.

Key facts and history

Savalas won a spelling bee in 1934 at Cobbett Junior High School in Lynn, Massachusetts, but did not receive his prize until 1991.[2] He was drafted into the United States Army in 1941 and served until 1943, when he was discharged after a severe car accident.[3] He did not consider acting as a career until he substituted for a friend on an episode of Armstrong Circle Theatre in 1958.[4] He was nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for Birdman of Alcatraz (1962).[5]

Savalas was the second-born among five children, with his parents being Christina and Nick Savalas, who were Greek immigrants.[6] Upon beginning grade school, Savalas could only communicate in Greek.[2] A bachelor's degree in psychology was awarded to Savalas in 1946 by Columbia's School of General Studies.[7] The film Mad Dog Coll (1961) marked Savalas's first movie appearance, where he portrayed a police officer.[8]

For his portrayal of Pontius Pilate in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Savalas shaved his head, a look he maintained permanently afterward.[9] A cover of the Bread song "If" was recorded by Savalas, and it achieved the number-one position on the UK singles chart in 1975.[10][11]

What the cited sources add

Shipman also states that Savalas's performance in Birdman of Alcatraz brought him an Oscar nomination.[12] The obituary describes Savalas as "Romeo inside a gorilla exterior"[12] A 2013 article in Cancer Today reports that Savalas was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 1989.[13] The same article states that by the end of Kojak's first season, Savalas had won an Emmy and the show was the most popular on television.[13]

The Deseret News article from 1991 confirms that Savalas won a spelling bee in 1934 but did not receive the medal until 1991.[14]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Telly Savalas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Telly Savalas", May 14, 2022; Henkel, "Prostate Cancer: New Tests Create Treatment Dilemmas", FDA Consumer, December 1994; "Sheraton Universal Hotel", seeing-stars.com; Wharton, "Telly's Favorite Hotel Knew Him as a Regular Guy", Los Angeles Times, January 25, 1994 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Telly Savalas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Savalas To Receive Award In '34", Deseret News, July 18, 1991 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Telly Savalas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Savalas, Telly A, Cpl", www.army.togetherweserved.com; "Biography", Telly Savalas official website (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Telly Savalas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wolters, "Circle Theater Looks, Decides Not to Leap", Chicago Daily Tribune, October 30, 1960, p. nwE; Scheuer, "O'Neill Play Takes Long Night Journey: Iceman Cometh in Own Good Time, but Has Plenty to Say", Los Angeles Times, August 30, 1961, p. 25 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Telly Savalas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Alpert, "Savalas Savvies Tragedy of Success: Telly Savalas", Los Angeles Times, August 19, 1962, p. N5 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Telly Savalas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Telly Savalas Biography (1924–1994)", The Biography Channel (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Telly Savalas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Richardson, "From the Archives: 'Kojak' Star Telly Savalas Dies at 70", Los Angeles Times, January 23, 1994; "Columbia School of General Studies – Notable Alumni", Columbia University; Hernandez, "Telly Savalas, Actor, Dies at 70; Played 'Kojak' in 70's TV Series", The New York Times, January 23, 1994 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Telly Savalas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Telly Savalas", TVGuide.com; "Telly Savalas", TVGuide.com; Richardson, "From the Archives: 'Kojak' Star Telly Savalas Dies at 70", Los Angeles Times, January 23, 1994; Meyer, "Sydney Pollack: A Critical Filmography", McFarland & Company, 2015, p. 16 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Telly Savalas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Telly Savalas", TVGuide.com; Scheuer, "Eiko Taki, Laurel Goodwin New Finds: They Have It or They Don't; Pre-Sell Buildups Too Costly", Los Angeles Times, October 23, 1962, p. C9; "Telly Savalas", TVGuide.com; Petersen, "Telly Savalas turns joke into stardom", Chicago Tribune, June 18, 1973, p. b16 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Telly Savalas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Garrett, "What the What? Telly Savalas Had a #1 Hit Song on This Date in 1975", K1017FM.com, March 9, 2015 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Telly Savalas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "RPM Top 100 Singles - December 14, 1974"; "YOU'VE LOST THAT LOVIN' FEELIN'", Official Charts, May 31, 1975; "Discographie Telly Savalas - hitparade.ch", Swisscharts.com; Gallo, "John Cacavas, Composer for 'Kojak' and 'Hawaii Five-O,' Dead at 83", January 31, 2014; "TELLY", Official Charts, March 22, 1975; Kent, "Australian Chart Book 1970–1992", Australian Chart Book, 1993, p. 265 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Shipman, "Obituary: Telly Savalas", The Independent, January 25, 1994. facts only, no text reused. independent.co.uk
  13. Selim, "Who Loves Ya, Baby?", Cancer Today, August 5, 2013. facts only, no text reused. cancertodaymag.org
  14. "Savalas To Receive Award In '34", Deseret News, July 18, 1991. facts only, no text reused. deseret.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Telly Savalas (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Named in this entry

Sydney Pollack

More in Classic Hollywood Icons

Patricia NealPaul MuniPearl BaileyRamon NovarroRandolph ScottRay MillandRex HarrisonRichard BarthelmessRita HayworthRobert DonatRobert MitchumRobert Wagner

Related in Classic Hollywood Icons

Randolph ScottRobert MitchumRock Hudson

Links follow this subject's own source article.

Test yourself

Three questions drawn from this entry’s sources. Pick an answer to check it.

1. In which place was Telly Savalas born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is Garden City, New York, U.S..

2. In what year was Telly Savalas born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1922.

3. In what year did Telly Savalas die?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1994.

Answers checked against the source article

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

Spotted an error? Know more?

Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced

Comments

Loading…
Open in the interactive codex →