Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas was an American film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 and television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 actor and singer, whose career spanned four decades. Best known for playing the title role in the 1970s crime

Crime

Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...

 drama

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

 Kojak

Kojak

Kojak is an American television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, bald New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theo Kojak. It aired from October 24, 1973, to March 18, 1978, on CBS. It took the time slot of the popular Cannon series, which was moved one hour earlier...

, Savalas was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...

 for his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz

Birdman of Alcatraz (film)

Birdman of Alcatraz is a 1962 film starring Burt Lancaster and directed by John Frankenheimer. It is a fictionalized version of the life of Robert Stroud, a federal prison inmate known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz" because of his life with birds. In spite of the title, much of the action is set at...

 (1962). His other movie credits include The Young Savages

The Young Savages

The Young Savages is a 1961 crime drama film directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Burt Lancaster, and written by Edward Anhalt from a novel by Evan Hunter....

 (1961), The Greatest Story Ever Told

The Greatest Story Ever Told

The Greatest Story Ever Told is a 1965 American epic film produced and directed by George Stevens and distributed by United Artists. It is a retelling of the story of Jesus Christ, from the Nativity through the Resurrection. This film is notable for its large ensemble cast and for being the last...

 (1965), Battle of the Bulge

Battle of the Bulge (film)

Battle of the Bulge is a widescreen war film produced in Spain that was released in 1965. It was directed by Ken Annakin. It starred Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Telly Savalas, Robert Ryan, Dana Andrews and Charles Bronson...

 (1965), The Dirty Dozen

The Dirty Dozen

The Dirty Dozen is a 1967 film directed by Robert Aldrich and released by MGM. It was filmed in England and features an ensemble cast, including Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Telly Savalas, and Robert Webber. The film is based on E. M...

 (1967), The Scalphunters

The Scalphunters

The Scalphunters is a 1968 American Western film starring Burt Lancaster, Ossie Davis and Telly Savalas. The film was directed by Sydney Pollack, with the score written by Elmer Bernstein...

 (1968), supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld

Ernst Stavro Blofeld

Ernst Stavro Blofeld is a fictional character and a supervillain from the James Bond series of novels and films, who was created by Ian Fleming and Kevin McClory. An evil genius with aspirations of world domination, he is the archenemy of the British Secret Service agent James Bond and is arguably...

 in the James Bond

James Bond

James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film)

On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the sixth spy film in the James Bond series, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. Following the decision of Sean Connery to retire from the role after You Only Live Twice, Eon Productions selected an unknown actor and model, George Lazenby...

 (1969), Kelly's Heroes

Kelly's Heroes

Kelly's Heroes is an offbeat 1970 comedy/war film about a group of World War II soldiers who go AWOL to rob a bank behind enemy lines. Directed by Brian G...

 (1970), Pretty Maids All in a Row

Pretty Maids All in a Row

Pretty Maids All in a Row is an American mystery film starring Rock Hudson and Angie Dickinson that is part dark comedy, part murder mystery. It was released on April 28, 1971, directed by Roger Vadim, and written and produced by Gene Roddenberry based on a novel by Francis Pollini.Pretty Maids was...

 (1971), Inside Out

Inside Out (1975 film)

Inside Out is a 1975 British action thriller film directed by Peter Duffell and starring James Mason, Robert Culp and Telly Savalas. The movie aired on television in the United States on NBC on January 1, 1978 under the alternate title Hitler's Gold...

 (1975) and Escape to Athena

Escape to Athena

Escape to Athena is a British adventure war film released in 1979, directed by George Pan Cosmatos and produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment. The international cast included many well-known actors of the 1970s, including Roger Moore, Telly Savalas and Elliott Gould.The film is set during the...

 (1979).
Savalas, the second of five children, was born as Aristotelis Savalas in Garden City NY, to Greek American

Greek American

Greek Americans are Americans of Greek descent also described as Hellenic descent. According to the 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimation, there were 1,380,088 people of Greek ancestry in the United States, while the State Department mentions that around 3,000,000 Americans claim to be of Greek descent...

 parents Christina (née

Married and maiden names

A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....

 Kapsalis), a New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 artist who was a native of Sparti

Sparti (municipality)

Sparti is a municipality of Laconia, Greece. It lies at the site of ancient Sparta. The population in 2001 was 38,079, of whom 15,828 lived in the town itself.-History:...

, and Nick Savalas, a Greek

Greeks

The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 restaurant owner.