Vedat Örfi Bengü was born in Istanbul on December 21, 1899 and died in the same city on May 25, 1953. The artist, who was born in the Erenköy district of Istanbul, comes from a well-established family, including his mother Güzide Hanım (daughter of Grand Vizier Halil Rıfat Pasha) and father Ali Pasha (son of Mehmet Ali Pasha, an aide to Abdulhamid II, who was an official at the Vienna embassy).
While the family used the nickname "Urfi" before the Surname Law, Vedat added this name as "Örfi" and continued with his new surname as Bengü.
Bengü, who completed her education at Saint Joseph High School, started her artistic life by writing theater plays. In 1917, he created a scene for the benefit of immigrants with his work "Bir Af Bir Yemin", and then wrote many novels, translations and detective works. "The Sultan of Darkness", written in 1920, stands out as the first Sherlock Holmes story translated into Turkish.
He married Piraye Hanım in 1921 and had two children, Suzan and Memet Fuat; The divorce took place in 1932.
Bengü, who also turned to the world of cinema, became the editor-in-chief of Turkey's first cinema magazine, "Sinema Postası" (Le Courrier du Cinema), in 1923, and at the end of 1924, she also became the editor-in-chief of the weekly publication "Opera Sine" (Opera Cine). By writing long cinema novels in magazines, he ensured that this genre was taken as an example by other publications.
In 1924, he staged his play "Vefaen Ferağ" at Darülbedayi, and in the same year he performed his "Ballo Kaçakları Operetta" at Şehbal Theatre.
Bengü, who appeared on stage in Paris upon the invitation of French actress Blanche Montel, played the leading role in the movie "Malum Aşk". After returning to Istanbul in 1925, according to various rumors, he met the American Betty Blythe, and then became interested in music, but soon turned to cinema. He went to Egypt in 1926 and published articles in French.
He was arrested for a film project about the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, but was released with the intervention of the embassy.
In 1927, as the art director of the "Isis Film Corporation" company, he started to shoot the feature film "Leyla", and this production was considered the first feature film shot with domestic capital in Egypt. With this success, Vedat Örfi Bengü is remembered as the pioneer of the song melodrama school in both Turkish and Egyptian cinema.
Vedat Örfi Bengü was born on October 14, 1900 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire. He died on May 26, 1953.
Productions in which he took part
He took part in 20 productions in total; 12 of the most well-known are listed.
- For the Homeland (1951)
- Love of Efe (1948)
- Cem Sultan (1951)
- Raiders (1948)
- Shirt of Fire (1923)
- Allah is Noble (1950)
- Conquest of Istanbul (1951) — Naturas Lukas
- Hit the Whore (1949) — Long Hüseyin
- Night of a Storm (1950)
- Homeland and Namık Kemal (1951) — Pasha
- Victim of Lust (1940)
- Kiziltuğ: Genghis Khan (1952)
Production and imprint information was taken from TMDB.