Feridun Çölgeçen, who was born in Istanbul on May 10, 1911, was one of the four children of Sami Çölgeçen and Sıdıka Nevin Hanım. After completing his education at Ankara Gazi High School, he gained theater experience in Ankara Community Center and various stages. He started his cinema career in 1933 with the movie "Cici Berber" and joined Raşit Rıza Samako's theater troupe.
In 1935, he went to Brussels and studied drama at the conservatory for a year; Then, he worked at the theater school founded by Max Reinhardt in Germany for six months and starred in the movie "Stateless People". He received his diploma in 1937 and returned to Istanbul. In 1947, he left the Izmir City Theater and founded his own theater.
Çölgeçen moved to the United States in 1957, opened an acting course there and stepped into Hollywood with United Artists' film "Timbuktu". Afterwards, he took part in approximately twenty films such as “Acı Tebessüm (A Certain Smile)”, “Five Weeks In A Balloon” and “The Incredible Mr. Limpet”. He married twice during this period.
When he returned to Istanbul in 1963, he also appeared occasionally in Italian productions such as "FBI is Looking for Istanbul (FBI chiama Istanbul)", "Agente 077 dall'Oriente con furore" and "Father's Friend (L'amico del padrino)". Çölgeçen was also remembered for giving Yul Brynner a book about Atatürk as a gift.
Throughout his career, he worked as a civil servant in institutions such as the Central Bank and the State Railways, and worked as a French teacher and theater director; He also served as the director of a community center in Konya. Çölgeçen, who made a name for herself as a supporting actor in more than four hundred films in total, established a close friendship with producer Hürrem Erman.
He last appeared in the series "Making a Man", but passed away due to a heart attack on January 19, 1978. After his death, the work he had been working on for a long time, "Yeşilçam Anthology", was left unfinished. He was also Belgin Doruk's cousin and Emel Çölgeçen's great uncle.
Feridun Çölgeçen was born on May 10, 1911 in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire. He died on January 10, 1978.
Productions in which he took part
He took part in a total of 254 productions; 12 of the most well-known are listed.
- Politics Square (1994) — Self(archive footage)
- The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964) — Scientist (uncredited)
- Three Papermen (1976)
- Love My Brother (1972)
- Northern Star (1954)
- Yilmaz Ali (1940)
- Le orme (1975) — Hotel Concierge (uncredited)
- Spring Flower (1971)
- Şıpsevdi (1977)
- Kıvırcık Pasha (1941)
- Million Hunters (1934)
- Let's Make Love on the Beach (1964)
Production and imprint information was taken from TMDB.
