Müjdat Gezen (born October 1943) is a Turkish theatre actor and writer.

Private life

He was born on October 1943 in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. He studied in Vefa High School where he met

Uğur Dündar Uğur Dündar (born 28 August 1943) is a Turkish journalist, anchorman, political commentator, and writer. He was born in Akören village of Silivri district in Istanbul Province. He graduated from Istanbul University's Institute of Journalism. ...

and Kemal Sunal, who became lifelong friends. After graduation in 1960, he continued in the theatre section of İstanbul Municipality Conservatory. He is married and father of Elif Gezen.

Milestones in his career

He was interested in poetry and theatre during his high school years. In 1960 he chose theatre as his profession in İstanbul Municipality theatre. In the following years he served in various private theatres. In 1962 he performed in his first film. He played in hit gypsy comedy films "Gırgıriye" and spin off series "Cennet Mahallesi". He wrote his first book in 1975. In the aftermath of the Turkish military coup of 1980, he was in prison for about twenty days and his book about the poet

Nazim Hikmet Subahdar, also known as Nazim, was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty, Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, and the Mughal era who was alternately designated as Sahib-i-Su ...

was banned in Turkey. In 1982 he founded a publishing company. Between 1986-88 he wrote in

Cumhuriyet ''Cumhuriyet'' (; English: "Republic") is the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary Turkey". The newspaper was awarded the ''Freedom of Press ...

newspaper as a columnist. In 1991 he founded an art company named after him; ''Müjdat Gezen Sanat Merkezi'' (MSM for short) which offers training in various stage arts such as theatre and music. He founded the Müjdat Gezen theatre company in 1998. In 1987, Gezen created the film Homoti, a low-budget LGBTQ+ version of

E.T. the Extraterrestrial ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (or simply ''E.T.'') is a 1982 American science fiction film, science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott Taylor, Elliott, a boy w ...

, which has since become a cult film. In 2007 he was appointed as the UNICEF Goodwill ambassador in Turkey. In 2011 together with

he founded a Television School.

Legal prosecution

He was being prosecuted for insulting the president

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

for saying "know your place" referring to Erdoğan during a TV Show moderated by Uğur Dündar in 2018. He defended himself mentioning it couldn't be an insult, because the words are the same Erdogan used, while "know your place" is not listed as an insult in a dictionary as well.

Books

The following are some of the books written by Müjdat GezenOdakitap list
/ref> *''Güle Güle Dünya Ben Burada kalıyorum'' ("Bye bye World, I stay here") *''Tanıdıklarım'' ("My Acquaintances") *''Kuzucuk'' ("Lambkin") *''Fıkracık'' ("Anectodes") *''Oyuculuk Eğitimi'' ("Stage Training") *''Ben Çocukken'' ("When I was a kid") *''Arkadaşım Maske'' ("My friend the Mask") *''Sınıf Bunadı'' ("The class goes senile") *''Aptal Hamdi Zor Durumda'' ("Hamdi the Stupid in bad") *''Aptal Hamdi Avustralya'da'' ("Hamdi the Stupid in Australia") *''Çizgilerle Nazım Hikmet'' ("Outline of Nazım Hikmet") *''Neden Dersen'' ("If you ask why") *''Oyunculuğun Felsefesi'' ("The philosophy of stage art") *''Aptal Hamdi Bizi Güldürüyor'' ("Hamdi the Stupid amuses us") *''Toplu Oyunlar'' ("Collective plays") *''Komikler Ağlamaz'' ("Comedians don't cry") *''Naftalin Bozulmuşsa'' ("If the Naphthalene spoils") *''Büyüyünce Ne olacan'' ("What will you be when you grow up") *''Çocuk Adam'' ("Undergrown man") *''Meşhur Yenikapı Cinayeti'' ("Infamous Yenikapı Murder") *''Salak Oğlum'' (My stupid son") *''Gırgıriye'' ("Jamboree") *''Babam'' ("My Father") *''Artiz Mektebi'' ("School of Actors") *''Yapabilirsin'' ("You can do it")

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gezen, Müjdat 1943 births Turkish male film actors Turkish male television actors Turkish male stage actors Living people Vefa High School alumni Turkish writers Cumhuriyet people Golden Boll Life Achievement Award winners