Özcan Tekgül was born on January 15, 1941, in the Çubuklu district of Beykoz district of Istanbul. Although his birth year is shown as 1939 in some sources, it is generally accepted as 1941. Tekgül, who dropped out of her education after secondary school, started working as a belly dancer when she won the "Beach Beauty" competition organized by a newspaper in 1954.
The following year, he appeared on stage at Karaca and Ses theaters and began to appear on magazine covers. In this way, he became famous in a short time.
When he was only 14 years old, he caught the attention of director Muharrem Gürses on a movie set he went to with his mother and starred in Faruk Kenç's movie "Lost Youth". This film marked the beginning of the career of Tekgül, who stepped into the cinema at the same time with names such as Ayfer Feray and Leyla Sayar.
The artist, who appeared in more than thirty films until the early 1960s, took part in the same projects with stars such as Fikret Hakan, Ayhan Işık and Ajda Pekkan.
Tekgül, who did not give up being a belly dancer, performed belly dance shows abroad in Egypt, Lebanon and Far Eastern countries since 1962. She danced for important names of the period and continued her stage career after returning home. The artist, known for his unique choreography called "fire dance", was tried on the charge of "taking obscene photographs" in his youth, but was acquitted.
Tekgül, who likes to attract attention, remained on the agenda with the beautiful designs she made on her body while she was on stage.
The "certificate of honor" given by the Ministry of Culture to artists who completed 25 years of service in 1980 caused intense debate. This certificate, which was given to a profession such as belly dancing, was also met with reaction among politicians. While the National Salvation Party submitted a parliamentary question to the then Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel, the expression "don't curl up like Özcan Tekgül" was used as an insult in the political arena.
Tekgül, who spent the last years of his life alone in Antalya's Kemer district, passed away as a result of a traffic accident on July 2, 2011. After his body remained in the morgue almost unnoticed, he was buried with the intervention of someone he knew.
Özcan Tekgül was born on January 15, 1941, in Çubuklu, a district of Beykoz district on the Anatolian side of the Bosphorus in Istanbul. In some sources, his date of birth is also stated as 1939. Tekgül, who did not continue her education after graduating from secondary school, started working as a belly dancer upon the offers she received when she won the "Beach Beauty" competition opened by a newspaper in 1954.
In 1955, he appeared on stage at Karaca Theater[2] and Ses Theater[3]. Her fame increased even more when her photographs began to be published in the tabloid press and erotic magazines of those days.
Again in 1955, when he was only 14 years old, he was discovered by director Muharrem Gürses on a movie set he went to with his mother, and then he started acting in the movie "Lost Youth" directed by Faruk Kenç. Thus, she joined dozens of artists such as Ayfer Feray and Leyla Sayar, who moved from beauty pageants to cinema in the 1950s.
Moreover, they shared the leading roles with Muhterem Nur in this first movie. Tekgül acted in approximately thirty films until the early 1970s. He played very important roles in some of these. In these films, she acted against the stars of the period such as Fikret Hakan, Ayhan Işık, Vahi Öz, Fatma Girik and Ajda Pekkan.
Meanwhile, she did not abandon her first profession as a belly dancer. Starting from 1962, she worked as an oriental in various countries abroad. She danced for sheikhs, princes, emirs, sultans, presidents and kings in Egypt, Lebanon and Far Eastern countries. When she returned home, she continued working as a belly dancer.
Özcan Tekgül, the famous vamp star of the 1960s, who had been living a kind of secluded life in Antalya's Kemer district for a while, died as a result of a traffic accident on the Antalya - Serik road on July 2, 2011. Since no one called, his body was kept in the morgue for three days. While he was about to be buried in the cemetery of the almost homeless, thanks to a young man who knew him, he was removed from a mosque in Güzeloba and buried in Uncalı Cemetery in Antalya.
Productions in which he took part
He took part in 15 productions in total; 12 of the most well-known are listed.
- The Wound of Hijran (1959)
- Shepherd Ali (1955)
- Bağrıyanık (1959)
- Flying Saucers in Istanbul (1955)
- Killer of My Babies (1957)
- Street Girl (1962)
- Daisy (1956)
- Ambitious Spirits (1969) — Salma
- A Woman Never Forgets — Necla
- The Woman's Fendi (1955) — The Devil
- Seven Steps Later (1968)
- My Mother's Tears (1958)
Production and imprint information was taken from TMDB.