Hadi Çaman

Muharrem Hadi Çaman was born on January 13, 1943 in Kastamonu. He grew up as the child of a Balkan immigrant family; His father was Niyazi Bey and his mother was Zatiye Hanım. He became interested in theater in his early youth and became the president of his school's theater department when he was in high school. When his family was appointed as civil servants, they moved to Istanbul and he continued his education there.

After graduating from high school, he started studying at Istanbul University Faculty of Law in 1960, but after a while he decided to follow his passion for performing arts instead of law. In 1962, he started his professional acting journey by passing the joint exam of both Dormen Theater and Kent Actors. The following year, he appeared in a professional role for the first time in the play *Golden Fist* staged by the Dormen Theater and took part in twenty different productions in this theater for ten years.

During the same period, he also focused on learning English and enrolled in Istanbul Municipal Conservatory in 1963.

In addition to his theater career, he got married in the mid-1960s and his son Mehmet Efe Çaman was born from this marriage. After the Dormen Theater closed in 1972, he continued to work in different theaters; She appeared on stage in both classical and musical plays in companies such as Gülriz Sururi-Engin Cezzar Theatre, Nisa Serezli-Tolga Aşkıner Theater and Şan Theatre.

In the same years, she took part in various productions in Turkish cinema, especially in the sexual film craze of the second half of the 1970s.

In 1982, he realized his dream of establishing his own theater and transformed a school hall in Nişantaşı into a theater and brought Yeditepe Players to life. He continued acting and welcomed young talents with the troupe he founded. He got his theater's first big breakthrough with the production called *Butterflies Are Free*, in which he starred with Füsun Önal, and thus he became known to the masses.

Among the names trained at Yeditepe Players were Tolga Çevik, Cem Özer and Sevinç Erbulak. In addition to acting, he was also active in fields such as playwriting, play directing, translations and teaching drama courses at universities.

His contributions to Turkish theater were rewarded by UNESCO. He was honored with various awards throughout his life; These include the Avni Dilligil Award, Afife Jale Award and İsmet Küntay Award. On December 12, 2007, he was taken to intensive care at Kocaeli University Faculty of Medicine Research Hospital with a diagnosis of ALS.

The treatment process was difficult and he passed away on September 22, 2008, after staying in a nursing home for a while. His funeral was held in Teşvikiye Mosque and he was buried in Karacaahmet Cemetery.

Productions in which he took part

He took part in a total of 27 productions; 12 of the most well-known are listed.

• Winter Single (1979)
• Three Istanbuls (1983)
• Eşref Saati (1993)
• Billionaire (1986)
• My Girl (1978)
• Don't Surprise Me (1979)
• House for Rent (1986) — Ersin
• Our Fıstıklar (1979) — Hadiye Cansever
• Family Pension (1987)
• Aggressors (1979) — Kemal
• Lonely Heart (1978)
• Hayroş (1986)

Production and imprint information was taken from TMDB.