Turhan Bey

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Turhan Bey with Universal Studios mailroom workers 1953.

Turhan Bey (born March 30, 1922)^[1] is a retired popular Austrian character actor and exotic leading man in Hollywood from 1941 to 1953. Returning to Europe, he pursued careers as a photographer and stage director.

Returning briefly to Hollywood to receive an award, he made several guest appearances in 1990s television series (most notably SeaQuest DSV, Murder, She Wrote and Babylon 5) and in a number of films.

Since retiring he has appeared in a number of documentaries, including a German-language documentary on his life.

Early years

Turhan Bey was born Turhan Gilbert Selahattin Schultavey in Vienna, Austria, on March 30, 1922 (some sources cite 1919 and 1920).^{[citation needed]}

Frequently cast in "exotic" roles, Bey often appeared with María Montez. They appeared together in Raiders of the Desert, Arabian Nights, Bombay Clipper, White Savage, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Bowery to Broadway, Follow the Boys and Sudan. He also has memorable roles in The Amazing Mr. X and Out of the Blue.

Bey's career faded towards the end of the 1940s, with his last movie role being Sam Katzman's Prisoners of the Casbah in 1953, until he had a brief renaissance in the 1990s. He appeared in two episodes of the science fiction TV series Babylon 5: first as the Emperor of Centauri (who also had the name Turhan), and later as a Minbari Ranger named Turval.

A documentary film about Bey, Vom Glück verfolgt. Wien - Hollywood - Retour, was made in 2002 by Andrea Eckert.

References

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