Ahmet Tarık Tekçe was born on December 15, 1920 in Istanbul. His father was Hikmet Bey, a high criminal judge, and Tekçe grew up with his four siblings. The young man, who started attending the neighborhood school at the age of five, remembers that he was the only one among 40 children who survived during the cholera epidemic in the neighborhood that same year.
One of his brothers is Necip Tekçe, who has appeared in more than 350 films; Another one was Cemil Tekçe, known as a journalist. He graduated from Galatasaray High School and studied in the same class with his classmate Metin Toker. With the support of his father, Tekçe worked at the Maritime Camialtı Workshop and the Haliç Lighthouse Registry Office, and later started publishing the humor newspaper Adalar-Paravan, which he named "Sponge Panya".
While he was struggling to open a bakery in Büyükada, he could not finance his first film, Trap, and had to sell the newspaper.
Tekçe, who stepped into the world of cinema in 1948, starred in the movie Trap under the direction of Faruk Kenç. From this date on, he started working in cinema and journalism simultaneously. In 1952, he was sentenced to approximately one year in Paşakapısı Prison for an article he wrote against a party leader. After his release, he decided to devote all his energy to cinema.
He married and divorced Nezihe Zirvekli and was among the most popular supporting actors of the period. He met Öztürk Serengil through Nevzat Pesen and formed a duo, performing in approximately 150 films together, and Serengil even took on the role of Tekçe's manager. He has directed more than 300 films in total.
The year 1964 was a tragic turning point for Tekçe. The artist, who went to Karabük to attend the "Pickpocket Girl" premiere with Türker İnanoğlu and Filiz Akın, was involved in a traffic accident during the journey. While the driver died in the fatal accident, Tekçe was seriously injured. With the efforts of Öztürk Serengil and the instructions of Chief of General Staff Cevdet Sunay, he was transferred to Ankara Hacettepe Hospital by a helicopter.
He passed away on October 4, 1964, at the age of 43, after a week-long coma. His grave is located in Zincirlikuyu Cemetery. Following her death, Fikret Hakan stated that great efforts were made in script, editing and dubbing in the completion of the movie "Forty Little Mothers" in which Tekçe took part. Artist Aziz Nesin also included it in a book about Tekçe.
Öztürk Serengil stated that, unlike the character Tekçe portrays on the screen, he is a generous, helpful and cheerful person in real life, and that he was a mentor to him in the world of cinema.
Productions in which he took part
He took part in a total of 119 productions; 12 of the most well-known are listed.
- Politics Square (1994) — Self(archive footage)
- Almond Sugar (1963) — Şıpsevdi Ahmet Paşa
- Nylon Leyla (1961)
- The Poor Singer (1960)
- Black Angel (1961)
- Don't Let the Sun Rise (1961)
- Külhan Aşkı (1962) — İspinoz Ahmet
- The Unfortunate Ones (1959)
- Orphans' Ahı (1956) — Hyrena Sadık
- Forced Hero (1952)
- Trap (1948)
- Abidik Gubidik (1964)
Production and imprint information was taken from TMDB.
