Orhan Boran (30 June 1928 – 26 May 2012) was a Turkish radio and TV host and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...

. He was also widely known for his laudable usage of the

Turkish language Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant sma ...

Early life

Boran was born in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

in 1928 as the son of Hikmet Boran, a graduate of the medical college. At the age of ten, Orhan enrolled at the famed

Galatasaray High School Galatasaray High School ( tr, Galatasaray Lisesi, french: Lycée de Galatasaray), established in what was then Constantinople and is now Istanbul, in 1481, is the oldest high school in Turkey. It is also the second-oldest Turkish educational in ...

, where he was a boarder even on weekends. His first stage experience came when he was still at Galatasaray as he took part in school drama productions. The plays were directed by Necdet Mahfi Ayral, a fine actor with the Municipal Theaters, and Boran had the leading role.

Career

Boran's stage career was launched when he graduated from high school in 1946. A year after joining the ranks of the Municipal Theaters, Boran found the opportunity to go to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

and work as an intern with a theater known as Les Mathurins. He came back to

in 1949, feeling that the theater was not for him. That same year, when Radio Istanbul went on the air, he ‘found his calling,’ as he puts it. The programs he did then, at the age of 21, gave him instant celebrity. And it was at this time that he began doing one-man stints in night clubs, laying the foundations for the ''Stand-up Banter'' that has become synonymous with the name Orhan Boran. In 1956, by taking first place in an examination given by the

British Consulate This is a list of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, excluding honorary consulates. The UK has one of the largest global networks of diplomatic missions. UK diplomatic missions to capitals of other C ...

in Istanbul, Orhan Boran found himself in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, where he worked for the Turkish service of the BBC. He was also London correspondent for the Turkish daily news '' Dunya''. His success as a correspondent was to bring him within the sphere of ''

Hürriyet ''Hürriyet'' (, ''Liberty'') is one of the major Turkish newspapers, founded in 1948. , it had the highest circulation of any newspaper in Turkey at around 319,000. ''Hürriyet'' has a mainstream, liberal and conservative outlook. ''Hürriyet ...

'' and ''

Milliyet ''Milliyet'' ( Turkish for "''nationality''") is a Turkish daily newspaper published in Istanbul, Turkey. History and profile ''Milliyet'' came to publishing life at the Nuri Akça press in Babıali, Istanbul as a daily private newspaper on 3 ...

'', leading Turkish newspapers, and start his 25 years in print. On returning to Turkey in 1960 he quickly went back into radio. It was also at this time that the 'Stand-up Banter' performances began, forerunners of today's stand-up comedy in modern Turkey. Boran's stories were mostly based on his imaginary family and the conversations between the family members. At a time when he hosted nearly all the radio quiz programs in Turkey, he also created a famous fictitious character named ''Yuki'' (a rabbit-like character voiced by Boran himself) for a radio show during the 1960s. Boran created other characters besides Yuki, entertaining listeners for years and years with the stories of the derelict brother-in-law, the sister-in-law doomed to be an old maid, and many more. In the late 1990s, an animation version of Yuki based on scripts taken from the early radio programs was produced as a series of for television, however, because of the marketing problems, it failed to hit the screen. Boran ended his long stage career in 1981 with a show called ''A Musical Belly-Laugh'', written by himself and featuring a number of artists. He then started to host his own television programs: ''Panel'', ''Hello Friends'' (Merhaba Arkadaşlar), ''Sunday Nights With Orhan Boran'' (Orhan Boran ile Pazar Geceleri), and ''Moments With Orhan Boran'' (Orhan Boran'lı Dakikalar). Having won numerous awards from the

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: *Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) *Ministry of Culture (Argentina) *Minister for the Arts (Australia) *Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan) * Ministry of ...

and the

Turkish Language Association The Turkish Language Association ( tr, Türk Dil Kurumu, TDK) is the regulatory body for the Turkish language, founded on 12 July 1932 by the initiative of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and headquartered in Ankara, Turkey. The Institution acts as the ...

, Boran in 1992 joined the faculty of the Marmara University School of Communications in order to share what he had learned with the younger generation who have always meant so much to him. But although he loved being an academic, his heavy work schedule forced him to resign from this post. After 59 years, Boran retired from

show business Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz or showbiz (since 1945), is a vernacular term for all aspects of the entertainment industry.''Oxford English Dictionary'' 2nd Ed. (1989) From the business side (including managers, agents, produce ...

on 10 June 2005. Orhan Boran died on 26 May 2012 at the age of 83. He had been suffering from bone marrow disease for two years. He was laid to rest at the

Zincirlikuyu Cemetery __NOTOC__ The Zincirlikuyu Cemetery ( tr, Zincirlikuyu Mezarlığı) is a modern burial ground residing on the European part of Istanbul, Turkey. It is administered by the Metropolitan Municipality. Many prominent figures from the world of polit ...

following the religious funeral ceremony held in Galippaşa Mosque in Erenköy, Kadıköy.

References

External links

* * Biyografi.net
''Biography of Orhan Boran''
* ''

'' Newspaper Online -
''Biography of Orhan Boran''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boran, Orhan Mass media people from Istanbul 1928 births Turkish people of Abkhazian descent Galatasaray High School alumni Turkish radio presenters Turkish television presenters Turkish male stage actors Turkish people of Circassian descent Hürriyet people Milliyet people BBC people Turkish stand-up comedians 2012 deaths Deaths from multiple myeloma Deaths from cancer in Turkey Burials at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery Turkish male film actors