Önder Somer, who was born as Önder Döşer on March 7, 1937 in Istanbul, later changed his surname from his father's profession, an upholstery business, to Somer. After graduating from Çapa High School, he was interested in football for a while and played for Vefaspor. It is also known that he ran a furniture shop in the Grand Bazaar during his youth.
His encounter with cinema was when he was noticed by Türker İnanoğlu in the Grand Bazaar. The 1960 movie "I Can't Live Apart from You" was the starting point of Önder Somer's cinema career.
In the later stages of his career, we see that the characters he plays shift from leading roles to more "bad guy" roles. He preferred to use the term "Negative Young" for such roles, and with this expression he gained a unique place in Yeşilçam. He appeared in more than a hundred films between 1960 and 1975. However, what made him truly memorable were the secondary roles he took on in more than 180 films.
The financial difficulties experienced by Yeşilçam in the 1970s and the trend of sex films that were popular at that time led Önder Somer to move away from cinema. During this period, he ran a hairdresser shop in Suadiye. At the same time, he took an active role as a SODER Board Member for 16 years and also served as the President of the Grand Bazaar Tradesmen Association.
The death of his ex-wife, opera singer Saime Tendü, in a murder incident in 1979 was one of the tragic events of this period.
Önder Somer remained in intensive care for a month after a traffic accident on April 17, 1997. The artist, who passed away on May 16, 1997, was buried in Topkapı Cemetery. His son Öner Döşer continues his studies in the field of astrology these days. Önder Somer's life and character were portrayed by Bekir Aksoy in the 2002 movie "Ömerçip".
He has a special place in memories, especially with his "medicated soda" line, his unique cold gaze, his thin mustache and his stylish clothing style.
Önder Somer was born on March 7, 1937 in Istanbul, Türkiye.
Productions in which he took part
He took part in a total of 77 productions; 12 of the most well-known are listed.
- My Baby (1970) — Cemal
- Broken Lives (1965) — Bekir
- Winds of Autumn (1969) — Faruk
- So-called Girls (1967) — Behiç
- Pasha's Daughter (1967)
- Ottoman Eagle (1969) — Major Boris
- One Day a Year (1971) — Doctor Fuat
- My Sweet Darling (1969)
- Hearts of Gold (1969)
- The Fugitive (1970)
- I'm Not Worthy of You (1965) — Ekrem
- The Innocent Woman (1974)
Production and imprint information was taken from TMDB.
