TELLY SAVALASTelly Savalas, who died on 22 January, 1994, was a distinctive-looking, Oscar-nominated actor of film and television.His most famous role was the lollipop-sucking New York cop Kojak in the TV series of the same name (1973-78) and the feature length episodes that were made throughout the 80s.He was also known for playing Ernst Blofeld in the James Bond adventure On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and supporting Burt Lancaster in Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), the role for which he received his Oscar nomination.He won an Emmy and two Golden Globes for Kojak and also had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.Born to Greek parents as Aristotelis Savalas on Long Island on 21 January, 1922, 'Telly' learned English late but graduated from high school at 18. He went to Columbia University where he developed his interest in film and television.During the tail end of the Second World War he worked in the US Army's broadcasting unit and after his military service became a radio presenter. He worked as ABC News and became producer of its Gillette Cavalcade of Sports programme during the 1950s, but in the following decade he began taking roles in television dramas.Burt Lancaster spotted his talent early in his career and they first worked together on murder drama The Young Savages (1961), with Savalas's police lieutenant the first of a string of tough guy roles.During the 1960s, as well as film roles ranging from the emperor Pontius Pilate in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) to a psychotic criminal turned soldier in The Dirty Dozen (1967), he appeared in more than 50 television shows.In the early '70s he was starring in European cinema before landing the role of Theo Kojak, the wise-cracking cop with a habit of breaking the rules. His success led to various advertising contracts, presenting jobs and a hit single based around the detective's catchphrase "Who Loves Ya, Baby?"He last played Kojak in 1990 but continued to act until his death from cancer the day after his 72nd birthday.
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