Hikmet Taşdemir (real surname Daşdemir) was born on November 24, 1942 in Erzurum. Growing up in a military family, Taşdemir had the opportunity to enter a military school, but he left his education unfinished and started working in a factory. During his time at the factory, he lost his finger in an accident and then went to Bakırköy Psychiatric Hospital.
The famous director Yılmaz Güney, whom he met by chance here, brought him to the cinema stage with the role of the hitman named "Fingerless" in the movie Umutsuzlar.
Taşdemir, who generally portrayed tough, bully and bad guy characters throughout his acting career, as "Gaddar Kerim" in Kemal Sunal's Korkusuz Korkak, "Mardinli Arif" in Umudumuz Şaban, "Cıbıl" in Tatar Ramazan Halil” and “The Magician” in the movie The Man Who Saved the World. He became one of the well-known faces of Turkish cinema by taking part in supporting roles in hundreds of productions from the 1970s to the 1990s.
Taşdemir, who spent the last years of his life in the Silivri district of Istanbul, passed away on January 25, 2024, at the age of 81, while he was receiving treatment for lung cancer at Namık Kemal University Training and Research Hospital in Tekirdağ. His funeral was held in Fenerköy Cemetery after the ceremony held in Silivri Fener District on January 26.
Productions in which he took part
He took part in a total of 83 productions; 12 of the most well-known are listed.
- Our Neighborhood (1994)
- Establishment Osmancık (1988) — Samsa Çavuş
- Küçük Ağa (1984) — Manda Halil
- The Road (1982) — Sevket
- Police (1992)
- Our Fight (1990)
- We Hit the Road (2014)
- Ring of Fire (1985) — Vedat
- The Man Who Saved the World (1982) — The Magician
- Rebel Bully (1986)
- No Way (1982) — Gavur Ali
- Marziye (1998)
Production and imprint information was taken from TMDB.
