Ayla Algan (; 29 October 1937 – 4 January 2024) was a Turkish film and stage actress and singer.

Career

On stage

Algan appeared on the stage for the first time during her theatre education at the

Actors Studio The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights located on West 44th Street in Hell's Kitchen in New York City. The studio is best known for its work refining and teaching method actin ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, United States. In 1960,

Muhsin Ertuğrul Muhsin Ertuğrul (28 February 1892 – 29 April 1979), also known as Ertuğrul Muhsin Bey, was a Turkish actor and director. Life His mother, Fatma Dilruh Verdrich is of German descent. His father is Hüseyin Hüsnü Paşa. Muhsin Ertuğrul, ...

(1892–1979), then director of the

Istanbul City Theatres Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality City Theatre ( Turkish: ''Istanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi Şehir Tiyatroları''; Ottoman Turkish: Darülbedayi) The theater was founded in 1934 in the Ottoman Empire period (1914) as Dârülbedayi. It was a t ...

, asked her to return to Turkey, offering her an actress cast. She debuted on the stage in Turkey acting in the drama ''Tarla Kuşu'' ("Skylark") in 1961. The same year, she played in

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

''. She performed in French language in the lead roles of ''

Dead Souls ''Dead Souls'' ( , pre-reform spelling: ) is a novel by Nikolai Gogol, first published in 1842, and widely regarded as an exemplar of 19th-century Russian literature. The novel chronicles the travels and adventures of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov ...

'' (1842) by

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the Grotesque#In literature, grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works "The Nose (Gogol short story), ...

, ''Memleketimden İnsan Manzaraları'' ("Human Landscapes from My Country") (1966–67) by

Nâzım Hikmet Mehmed Nâzım Ran (17 January 1902 – 3 June 1963), Note: 403 Forbidden error received 10 October 2022. commonly known as Nâzım Hikmet (), was a Turkish people, Turkish poet, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, director, and memoirist. ...

at the Théâtre national de Chaillot, of ''Orta Direk'' ("The Wind from the Plain") (1950) by

Yaşar Kemal Yaşar Kemal (; born Kemal Sadık Gökçeli; 6 October 1923 – 28 February 2015) was a leading Turkish writer of Kurdish descent, who wrote in Turkish and a human rights activist. He received 38 awards during his lifetime and had been a candid ...

Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe The Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe (; "European Music Hall"; formerly the Théâtre de l'Odéon ; "Music Hall") is one of France's six national theatres. It is located at 2 Rue Corneille in the 6th arrondissement of Paris on the left bank of the ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France. In 1980, she moved to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Germany, where she played worker's theatre on stage four years long with her husband Beklan Algan and some other Turkish actors such as

Tuncel Kurtiz Tuncel Tayanç Kurtiz (1 February 1936 – 27 September 2013) was a Turkish theatre, movie and TV series actor, playwright, and film director. Since 1964, he acted in more than 70 movies, including many international productions. Early yea ...

Şener Şen Şener Şen (born 26 December 1941) is a Turkish film and theatre actor who has won the Golden Orange for Best Actor twice for his roles in '' Muhsin Bey'' (1985) and '' Gönül Yarası'' (2005), the Golden Orange for Best Supporting Actor for ' ...

and Macit Koper. She performed in ''Giden Tez Geri Dönmez'', ''Keşanlı Ali Destanı'' ("Epic of Ali from Keşan") (1964) by

Haldun Taner Haldun Taner (16 March 1915 – 7 May 1986) was a well-known Turkish playwright and short story writer. Biography He was born on 16 March 1915 in Istanbul. After graduating from the Galatasaray High School in 1935, he studied politics and econom ...

, ''Talihli Amele'', '' Kurban ve Keloğlan'' at the

Schaubühne The (Theatre on Lehniner Square) is a famous theatre in the Wilmersdorf district of Berlin, located on the Kurfürstendamm boulevard. It is a conversion of the ''Universum'' cinema, built according to plans designed by Erich Mendelsohn in 192 ...

in Berlin, Germany. She founded the "Thatre workshop BILSAK" together with her colleagues in 1984, and the "Theatre Research Laboratory TAL" in 1988. She developed many experimental projects and contributed to the training of new generation theatre actors. In 1996, she was appointed Deputy General Art Director at the Istanbul City Theatres.

In film

Her first film was ''Karanlıkta Uyananlar'' ("Those Who Wake Up in the Dark"), an anti-American film shot in 1964. Due to big reaction, no cinema accepted to show the film. It resulted in bankruptcy. After many years, the film was aired on the television. She found a role in ''Ah Güzel İstanbul'', shot in 1965.

In music

In 1971, Algan appeared on the stage of Olympia, the renowned concert venue in Paris. In 1972, she was honored with the second prize of the Bulgarian

Golden Orpheus Golden Orpheus (, ''Zlatniyat Orfey'') was an international vocal competition and song contest, held annually from 1965 to 1999 in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria. The festival program included a Bulgarian song competition, an international vocal competi ...

. The same year, she was named ''

State Artist State Artist (, also sometimes translated as "National Artist") is an honorary title granted to prominent artists by the government of Turkey for their contributions to the Turkish culture. It was established in 1971 by the President of Turkey ( Ce ...

'', and received ''UNICEF Honor Award''. She won the X International Festival of Pop Song in Sopot 1977 in Poland with the song ''Kara Kartal'' ("Black Eagle").

As advisor

Algan had been providing "Corporate and Personal Development", "Communication", "Quality", "Motivation", "Act of Creation", etc. to the employees and senior managers of many institutions since 1989. From 2010 on, she had been training young talents with "Creative and Contemporary Theatre Techniques" and "Commercial, TV Series and Cinema Acting" trainings at the Istanbul Drama Art Academy, where she had been working as the General Art Director, while continuing her theatre and cinema acting.

Personal life

Ayla Algan, , was born in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Turkey on 29 October 1937. She completed her primary school at Yeni Kolej, the middle school at

Lycée Notre Dame de Sion Istanbul Lycée Notre Dame de Sion Istanbul () is a French private high school located in the Harbiye, Şişli neighbourhood of Istanbul, Turkey. It was founded in 1856. The high school was established in the Ottoman Empire as a missionary school for gir ...

in Turkey and the high school at Lycée Versailles in France. She married to Beklan Algan (1933–2010), later actor, writer and director, she met during her high school years. She has a daughter, Sevgi. She followed her husband going to the United States. She started studying theatre together with her husband at the Actors Studio in New York City. Later, she joined the Language and Culture Center (LCC) in Turkey, and worked as a theatre actress and instructor. After film and theatre, she started a singing career. Algan died on 4 January 2024, at the age of 86, in a hospital in Istanbul, she was delivered due to

intracerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into Intraparenchymal hemorrhage, the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its Intraventricular hemorrhage, ventricles, or into both. An ICH is ...

. She was interred at

Aşiyan Asri Cemetery The Aşiyan Asri Cemetery () is a burial ground situated on Aşiyan between the Bebek and Rumelihisarı neighborhoods of the European part of Istanbul, Turkey. Many renowned intellectuals, writers and artists rest in this small cemetery, which h ...

following a memorial ceremony at

Harbiye Muhsin Ertuğrul Stage Harbiye Muhsin Ertuğrul Stage () is a theatre venue in the Harbiye neighborhood of Şişli district in Istanbul, Turkey. It is owned by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and operated by its City Theatres (''Şehir Tiyatroları'') division. Th ...

and the religious service at

Teşvikiye Mosque The Teşvikiye Mosque () is a neo-baroque structure located in the Teşvikiye neighbourhood of Şişli district in Istanbul, Turkey. History The mosque was originally commissioned in 1794 by Sultan Selim III, but most of the current mosque t ...

References

External links

*
Alya Algan's Discogs profile

Ayla Algan at Last.fm

Ayla Algan's SinemaTürk profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Algan, Ayla 1937 births 2024 deaths Lycée Notre Dame de Sion Istanbul alumni Actresses from Istanbul Turkish film actresses Turkish stage actresses Turkish women pop singers Turkish pop singers Singers from Istanbul 20th-century Turkish actresses Turkish expatriates in Germany Burials at Aşiyan Asri Cemetery Golden Boll Life Achievement Award winners