Turhan Bey (born Turhan Gilbert Selahattin Şahultavi, 30 March 1922 – 30 September 2012)[1] was an Austrian-born[2] actor of Turkish and Czech-Jewish origins. Active in Hollywood from 1941 to 1953, he was dubbed "The Turkish Delight" by his fans.[3] After his return to Austria, he pursued careers as a photographer and stage director. Returning to Hollywood after a 40-year hiatus, he made several guest appearances in 1990s television series including SeaQuest DSV, Murder, She Wrote and Babylon 5 as well as a number of films. After retiring, he appeared in a number of documentaries, including a German-language documentary on his life.
Life and career
Bey was born Turhan Gilbert Selahattin Şahultavi in Vienna, Austria, on 30 March 1922, as the son of a Turkish diplomat and a Czechoslovakian-Jewish mother.[3][4][5]
After the Anschluss annexing Austria to Nazi Germany and his parents' divorce, he and his mother immigrated to the United States in October 1938, initially settling in New Hampshire. In 1939, they moved to Los Angeles.[6][7]
Acting
Bey was an acting student at Ben Bard's School of Dramatic Art and was active in the Pasadena Playhouse.[8]
When he enrolled in classes to improve his English, he was asked to play a role in a teacher's play.
Bey says it was Bard who helped come up with his stage name. He said, "He knew that 'Bey' was a term of respect in Turkey so said 'Why don't we just make it Turhan Bey?'"[7]
In December 1939, he appeared in Bard's Talent Scout Revue on stage. "Vivid playing and several fine characterizations distinguished the evening", reported the Los Angeles Times.[9]
A talent scout from Warner Brothers was in the audience, was impressed and signed him to a contract, under the name of Turhan Bey.[6]
He went to RKO to appear in The Gay Falcon (1941), the first in The Falcon series of B movies. He returned to Universal for a small role in Bombay Clipper (1942), starring Montez and directed by John Rawlins.
Bey's first "A" movie in color was Arabian Nights (1942) with Maria Montez, Jon Hall and Sabu directed by Rawlins; Bey had a support role as a captain. The movie was a huge success and led to a series of exotic adventure stories starring Montez. Bey was noticed too, with one reviewer's calling him "a handsome snake in the grass."[13]
Bey was in The Adventures of Smilin' Jack (1942), then had his best chance to date with White Savage (1943). This was a follow-up to Arabian Nights, reuniting Montez, Hall and Sabu; Bey was cast in the role of Montez's wastrel brother. Arthur Lubin directed and the movie was a hit.
When Sabu enlisted in the army, Bey took his place in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1944), a Technicolor spectacular with Montez and Hall directed by Lubin. Bey was top billed, and the film was very popular. Bey had a cameo in Universal's all-star Follow the Boys (1944).
Dragon Seed earned over $4 million but lost money due to its high cost.[18] Bey said the experience of working at MGM was "very exciting" although he "almost preferred the way Universal worked, because it was faster and less time consuming."[19]
In 1944, a poll by exhibitors of "Stars of Tomorrow" listed Bey at number nine.[21]
In May 1944, Universal announced it would star him in Return of the Sheik.[22]
Universal put Bey and Foster in the Western Frisco Sal (1945). He was more comfortably cast in Sudan (1945), with Montez and Hall.[23]
MGM wanted Bey for a part in Weekend at the Waldorf, but Universal and Walter Wanger wanted him for another film so he could not do it (George Zucco played the role). The Wanger film was Night in Paradise (1946), with Bey playing Aesop opposite Merle Oberon for director Arthur Lubin.[24] Bey admitted to often arriving late on set, something he later regretted.[25] The movie was a box-office flop and damaged Bey's standing in Hollywood.[26]
Army service
As a Turkish subject, Bey had not been eligible to be called by the draft board. That changed when Turkey declared war on Germany in February 1945, and in June, Bey was inducted into the army at Fort MacArthur.[27]
Bey was in the army for 18 months, which halted his career's momentum.[7]
When he got out, Universal offered him a film that Bey refused, and he was put on suspension. It sold his contract, which had three years to go, to Eagle-Lion.[30]
Bey later recalled his time at Universal as "very pleasant, very constructive; the end, unfortunately, a big flop but c'est la vie...It was a studio of cooperation where the biggest producer was never too big to listen to you...I should have been a little more serious about my work but I was very young."[30]
He bought an interest in a cafe in Palm Springs.[35] The same year, he tried to get financing for a film on Sir Edward Coke, A Lion Under the Throne.[36]
In Austria he produced, but did not star in, Stolen Identity (1953).
He returned to Hollywood and was cast in Sam Katzman's Prisoners of the Casbah (1953), billed after Gloria Grahame and Cesar Romero.[37][30] He announced he had set up his own production company, Metropolitan Pictures, and wanted to produce but not star in Dikov, a film about a boy and his bird.[38]
Bey was romantically linked with Lana Turner at one time. In September 1944, he had a brawl over Turner with the latter's ex-husband Stephen Crane.[39] His relationship with Turner ended when he went into the army.[40][41]
In the 1948 Warner Brothers "Merrie Melodies" cartoon, "A-lad-in-His Lamp", a map of the Bagdad area appears. On the map, there is a geographic feature called "Turhan Bay".
Turhan Bey's long absence from Hollywood was referenced in the first part of the 1969 Get Smart episode "To Sire, with Love". Maxwell Smart claims that after appearing in an unspecified movie involving mummies, Bey was cursed, and his career never recovered.[citation needed]
In a 1980 episode of Alice titled "Dog Day Evening", Vera uses Turhan Bey's name in a rhyming game.
In a season three episode of M*A*S*H, titled "Bombed," Henry Blake, after losing the first good toothbrush he's received in six months, laments that he had teeth like Turhan Bey while using it.
In the Hogan's Heroes episode "The Battle Of Stalag 13" (1966, Season 2, Episode 5), Hogan enlists Klink's secretary Hilda's help in signaling for Plan X; telling her "part of which includes a free autographed photo of Turhan Bey".
^"Czech Boy Makes Good". The Voice. Vol. 18, no. 20. Tasmania, Australia. 19 May 1945. p. 4. Retrieved 5 August 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
^Katz, Ephraim (1979). The Film Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Encyclopedia of World Cinema in a Single Volume. Perigee Books. ISBN0-399-50601-2. P.118.
^"ON APPROVAL: What's Doing in Little Theaters Katherine Von Blon". Los Angeles Times. 10 December 1939. p. C4.
^"Pair Invade Film Desert". Los Angeles Times. 9 July 1941. p. 16.
^"Turkish Actor Makes Debut in Mystery Film". Los Angeles Times. 7 December 1942. p. 25.
^Tinee, Mae (22 January 1943). "Film, 'Arabian Nights,' Brimful of Fascination". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 16.
^Hedda Hoppers (8 May 1943). "LOOKING AT HOLLYWOOD". Los Angeles Times. p. 7.
^Hedda Hopper (8 May 1943). "LOOKING AT HOLLYWOOD". Los Angeles Times. p. 7.
^"SCREEN NEWS HERE AND IN HOLLYWOOD: Turhan Bey, Czech Actor, Will Appear Opposite Katharine Hepburn in 'Dragon Seed'". New York Times. 2 October 1943. p. 19.
^Schallert, Edwin (4 October 1943). "DRAMA AND FILM: Sacrosanct Chaplin Studio Stage Invaded Long Hiatus in Lana Turner Career Approaching End; Coe Gets Bey Role". Los Angeles Times. p. A8.
^The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
^Stephen Jacobs, Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster, Tomahawk Press 2011 p 290-291
^"SAGA OF THE HIGH SEAS". The Mercury. Hobart, Tasmania. 11 November 1944. p. 9. Retrieved 24 April 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
^"SCREEN NEWS HERE AND IN HOLLYWOOD: Blanche Thebom and Leonard Warren Signed for Fox Film -- Two Openings Today". New York Times. 19 May 1944. p. 15.
^Schallert, Edwin (11 September 1944). "'Willie' Will Bring Return of John Payne: Turhan Bey, Susanna Foster Thrice Costarred; Tenor Discovery Hailed". Los Angeles Times. p. 8.
^Schallert, Edwin (10 November 1944). "'A Night in Paradise' Will Star Turhan Bey: Winfield Sheehan Signs Darryl Hickman to Play Eddie Rickenbacker as Boy". Los Angeles Times. p. 13.
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