Movie actress. She was born on June
25th, 1945, in Fatih / Istanbul. Her father Halit Şoray was a civil
servant at State Railways and her mother was a housewife. She is the elder
sister of singer and movie actress Nazan Şoray.
She completed her primary education, which she had started in Rami Taş
Mektebi, at Feriköy Primary School. Then she finished the junior grade of Fatih
High School for Girls. Her mother and father divorced in 1954. Mother and the children
moved to Karagümrük. She caught Türker İnanoğlu’s attention in a film set that
she went to with Emel Yıldız, her landlord who was a movie actress, and
İnanoğlu gave her the leading role in the film “Köyde Bir Kız Sevdim”. Afterwards, she received new offers. She
also grabbed the attention of media and she got the cover of “Sinema” magazine (1961). In addition,
she also appeared in tabloid magazines such as “Ses”, “Artist” and “Büyük
Gazete”.
Şoray, who carved out a niche for
herself in Yeşilçam, experienced her boom with the film “Acı Hayat” in which she and the famous actor of that period Ayhan
Işık played the leading roles and achieved great influence among the audience.
With this film, she received the Best Woman Actress award in the 1st
Antalya Film Fest in 1964. Also, the film “Acı
Hayat”, being an unprecedented film that was regarded as the most
successful and poetic love movie, was chosen as the film of the year by the
screen writers. Within this period, her mother’s friend Rüçhan Atlı protected
her. Türkan Şoray found the attention that she was looking for since she grew
up lacking her father’s love and affection in Rüçhan Adlı, who was 23 years
older than her.
Late in 1966, Türkan Şoray continued
to play in films one after another. However, all these films had similar plots
and story lines and therefore her carrier was shaken; producers blacklisted
her. In order to survive this she formed and declared the “Şoray Rules”. These
heavy conditions were transformed into a written text in 1967. After this,
Şoray’s fame and box office return increased so much so that no firm, no
director or actor was able to say no to her and they competed with each other
to make a contract with her. With these rules, Rüçhan Adlı secured Şoray’s
image in Yeşilçam. There were four great actresses in the Yeşilçam cinema of
1960s; Fatma Girik, Hülya Koçyiğit, Filiz Akın and Türkan Şoray. Şoray was the
only one of these four actresses to have directed a film as well.
The fact that Türkan Şoray was the
actress who gave the most beautiful pictures of the Turkish cinema and reflected
the Turkish woman type and that she came from within the people and grew up in
difficult conditions made her more familiar with the public. No actress in
Turkish cinema has ever had the level of activity she had around herself. With
these qualities of her, she gained a distinctive place for herself in our
cinema and set an example to other female artists. With her distinct qualities
and specialties such as having the top price in the cinema, being the most
loved woman, setting her own distinctive rules, performing greatly in every
role, her unique beauty and being a “Sultan”, a legend, she has strengthened
her place in cinema.
While Şoray, who pursued her cinema
policy in early 1970s, achieved success in films such as “Sultan Gelin”, “Cemo” and
“Memo” she could not be successful in
some other films. By entering an important period in 1972 she decreased the
number of films she starred in. In the shooting of the film “Cemo” she fell from the horse and
averted the risk of having a stroke. Her film “Dönüş”, which was her first shot at directing a film, achieved
success despite the expectations and received special award in Moscow Film
Festival (1973). However, her film “Azap”,
which was her second attempt at directing, couldn’t achieve success.
Türkan Şoray tried to make more
distinguished films in 1980s. In 1976, she shot Bodrum Hakimi, which was the third film she directed, and she
played the leading role. In 1977, she starred in one of her best films, Selvi Boylum Al Yazmalım, and she
received the Best Actress Award with this film. In 1980, she did not star in or
direct any films. In 1981, she returned to cinema with her film Yılanı Öldürseler, which was the last
film she directed. However, by then, the public’s interest in Yeşilçam films
started to decrease as independent cinema got into the sector. Also, in the
meantime, films examining the world of the women started to become prominent.
Şoray Rules collapsed in 1980s and Türkan Şoray became the pioneer of the woman
films with her film Mine. Leaving
Rüçhan Adlı in 1983, she married the stage and film actor Cihan Ünal; from this
marriage they had a daughter named Yağmur. She and Ünal starred in a few films
together but these films didn’t achieve success. In 1987, Şoray and Cihan Ünal
broke up. She starred only in a few films in 1990s. In 2000, she achieved a
great success with the television series İkinci
Bahar, in which she starred with Şener Şen. Although she played in several
more series she could not continue it any more. Mürüvvetsiz Mürüvvet, in which she starred in 2004, was her last
film.
Famous films that she starred in are
as follows; Ekmekçi Kadın (1965), Bir Dağ Masalı (1968), Cemo (1972), Selvi Boylum Al Yazmalım (1977), Hazal (1979), Mine
(1982), Gramofon Avrat (1987) ve On Kadın (1988). Television series that
she starred in are as follows: Tatlı
Betüş (1993), Bir Aşk Uğruna
(1996), Gözlerinde Son Gece (2000), İkinci Bahar (2000), Tatlı Hayat (2002), Cemile (2006).
Şoray, who contributed to education
by having a primary school bearing her name built in 1973, has won many awards.
