Next, in our “Men We Admire” series: Telly Savalas
Telly, which wasn’t his actual name, but a shortened version of his full first name Aristotelis (pronounced Aristotélēs), is an actor, singer, producer, and radio host. You’d most likely remember him for his most famous role as Lt. Theo Kojak from the police drama Kojak.
He was born in Garden City, New York on January 21, 1922, to Greek immigrants. His Mom was an artist, and his father a Greek restaurant owner. in his early years Telly and his brother, Gus sold newspapers and shined shoes to help support the family.
Telly went to high school, and then served three years in the US Army in World War II from 1943-1946 and was discharged with a Purple Heart Injury.
After that, he studied radio and TV production at the Armed Forces Institute, before enrolling at Columbia University to study psychology.
All of this was the foundation on which the rest of Telly’s career was built. After all of the previous accomplishments, he went on to become the man we know him as now.
In the early 1950s, Telly worked for ABC radio’s Voice of America and then became the executive producer of his own popular talk show, Telly’s Coffee House, where he earned himself a Peabody Award.
In the late 1950s, Telly attended an audition for the CBS anthology series Armstrong Circle Theatre, which he had done to encourage an actor friend to audition, but the casting director, instead, cast Telly as a character in the series.
He even earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the movie Birdman of Alcatraz in 1962.
Now, as I said before, what most people know Telly Savalas for was his portrayal of the smooth, tough, and very cool Lt. Theo Kojak in the TV series Kojak, which ran from 1973 to 1978. And he was known for this role, and his catch phrase “Who loves ya, baby?” all over the world.
He played it all, TV, movies, radio, from a gentle soul all the way up to a deranged Bond Villain in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in 1969.
But my favorite story about Telly, one that changed Telly’s life and career forever, and the one that is most relevant to us bald brothers is this:
In 1965 Telly was cast as Pontius Pilot in the movie The Greatest Story Ever Told.
The director George Stevens was talking to Telly and said, “Since Pontius Pilot is such a powerful man, what would you think of shaving your head?” Telly said he didn’t really care one way or the other, but he said it might frighten his kids if dad came home bald.
George agreed and told Telly he would shut down production for the rest of the day, and invited Telly to bring his kids in to watch as they shaved Telly’s head the next day as not to traumatize them.
The next day Telly brought his kids and nieces and nephews on to the set to watch him get his head shaved. Telly said “They didn’t even notice. Well, they noticed but they didn’t care at all.”
And he kept shaving his head from that day on for the rest of his life, and it’s part of Telly’s iconic look.
Sometimes you need a little push to shave your head, but it might be the best decision you make.
It was definitely a good move for Telly.