Telly Savalas

Acting

Telly Savalas

Born 1922-01-21 · Garden City, Long Island, New York, USA

Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas (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).

Acting credits

The Muppet Movie poster
7.2

The Muppets gather to watch their newly-finished big-budget rich-and-famous feature film: a talent agent persuades Kermit the Frog to leave the swamp to pursue a career in Hollywood. On his way there, he meets a bear, a pig, a whatever (his future muppet crew), and some special celebrity guest stars, while being chased by the desperate owner of a frog-leg restaurant!

The Muppet Movie

1979

On Her Majesty's Secret Service poster
6.6

With the help of Marc-Ange Draco, head of the Unione Corse crime syndicate, and Draco's troubled daughter Tracy, James Bond tracks his archnemesis, Ernst Stravro Blofeld, to a mountaintop retreat in the Swiss Alps, where he is training an army of beautiful, lethal women.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

1969

The Greatest Story Ever Told poster
6.4

From his birth in Bethlehem to his death and eventual resurrection, the life of Jesus Christ is given the all-star treatment in this epic retelling. Major aspects of Christ's life are touched upon, including the execution of all the newborn males in Egypt by King Herod; Christ's baptism by John the Baptist; and the betrayal by Judas after the Last Supper that eventually leads to Christ's crucifixion and miraculous return.

The Greatest Story Ever Told

1965

The Dirty Dozen poster
7.6

12 American military prisoners in World War II are ordered to infiltrate a well-guarded enemy château and kill the Nazi officers vacationing there. The soldiers, most of whom are facing death sentences for a variety of violent crimes, agree to the mission and the possible commuting of their sentences.

The Dirty Dozen

1967

Mackenna's Gold poster
6.6

A bandit kidnaps a Marshal who has seen a map showing a gold vein on Indian lands, but other groups are looking for it too, while the Apache try to keep the secret location undisturbed.

Mackenna's Gold

1969

Kelly's Heroes poster
7.4

A misfit group of World War II American soldiers goes AWOL to rob a bank behind German lines.

Kelly's Heroes

1970

Capricorn One poster
6.8

In order to protect the reputation of the American space program, a team of NASA administrators turn the first Mars mission into a phony Mars landing. Under threat of harm to their families the astronauts play their part in the deception on a staged set in a deserted military base. But once the real ship returns to Earth and burns up on re-entry, the astronauts become liabilities. Now, with the help of a crusading reporter, they must battle a sinister conspiracy that will stop at nothing to keep the truth hidden.

Capricorn One

1977

Cape Fear poster
7.5

Sam Bowden witnesses a rape committed by Max Cady and testifies against him. When released after 8 years in prison, Cady begins stalking Bowden and his family but is always clever enough not to violate the law.

Cape Fear

1962

The Assassination Bureau poster
6.7

In 1908 London, a women's rights campaigner discovers the Assassination Bureau Limited, an organization that kills for justice. When its motives are called into question, she commissions the assassination of its chairman. Knowing that his colleagues have recently become more motivated by greed than morality, he turns the situation into a challenge for his board members: kill him or be killed.

The Assassination Bureau

1969

Cannonball Run II poster
5.4

When a wealthy sheikh puts up $1 million in prize money for a cross-country car race, there is one person crazy enough to hit the road hard with wheels spinning fast. Legendary driver J.J. McClure enters the competition along with his friend Victor and together they set off across the American landscape in a madcap action-adventure destined to test their wits and automobile skills.

Cannonball Run II

1984

Battle of the Bulge poster
6.9

In the winter of 1944, the Allied Armies stand ready to invade Germany at the coming of a New Year. To prevent it, Hitler orders an all-out offensive to re-take French territory and capture the major port city of Antwerp.

Battle of the Bulge

1965

Johnny Cool poster
5.3

A deported gangster trains an Italian convict to take over his operations in the U.S.

Johnny Cool

1963

Django & Django: Sergio Corbucci Unchained poster
7.0

A tribute to Italian filmmaker Sergio Corbucci (1926-90), presented by American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino.

Django & Django: Sergio Corbucci Unchained

2021

Horror Express poster
6.3

Mysterious and unearthly deaths start to occur while Professor Saxton is transporting the frozen remains of a primitive humanoid creature he found in Manchuria back to Europe.

Horror Express

1972

Beyond the Poseidon Adventure poster
5.0

After "The Poseidon Adventure", in which the ship got flipped over by a tidal wave, the ship drifts bottom-up in the sea. While the passengers are still on board waiting to be rescued, two rivaling salvage parties enter the ship on search for money, gold and a small amount of plutonium.

Beyond the Poseidon Adventure

1979

Genghis Khan poster
5.7

This is the story of the shy Mongol boy Temujin who,during the 13th century, becomes the fearless Mongol leader Genghis Khan that unites all Mongol tribes and conquers India,China,Persia,Korea and parts of Rusia,Europe and Middle-East.

Genghis Khan

1965

Escape to Athena poster
5.7

During the World War II, the prisoners of a German camp in a Greek island are trying to escape. They not only want their freedom, but also seek an ineffable treasure hidden in a monastery at the summit of the island's mountain.

Escape to Athena

1979

Birdman of Alcatraz poster
7.5

After killing a prison guard, convict Robert Stroud faces life imprisonment in solitary confinement. Driven nearly mad by loneliness and despair, Stroud's life gains new meaning when he happens upon a helpless baby sparrow in the exercise yard and nurses it back to health. Despite having only a third grade education, Stroud goes on to become a renowned ornithologist and achieves a greater sense of freedom and purpose behind bars than most people find in the outside world.

Birdman of Alcatraz

1962

The Scalphunters poster
6.4

Forced to trade his valuable furs for a well-educated escaped slave, a rugged trapper vows to recover the pelts from the Indians and later the renegades that killed them.

The Scalphunters

1968

The Young Savages poster
6.5

A district attorney investigates the racially charged case of three teenagers accused of the murder of a blind Puerto Rican boy.

The Young Savages

1961

Violent City poster
5.9

A hitman is double-crossed by his girlfriend and barely escapes a murder attempt. He then sets out to take his revenge on the woman and the gang boss who put her up to it.

Violent City

1970

The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission poster
5.2

A renegade team of World War II soldiers. This time, one of the 12 is a woman and, with a Nazi spy within their midst, they're up against German wartime geniuses out to establish a Fourth Reich.

The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission

1988

Lisa and the Devil poster
6.2

Lisa is a tourist in an ancient city. When she gets lost, she finds an old mansion in which to shelter. Soon she is sucked into a vortex of deception, debauchery and evil presided over by housekeeper Leandre.

Lisa and the Devil

1974

A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die poster
6.3

A dishonored Union Army officer leads a group of convicts to retake Fort Holman from the Confederate Army.

A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die

1972

Behind the camera