Ahmet Danyal Topatan

Ahmet Danyal Topatan — Biography

Known professionally as Danyal Topatan though his birth name was Ahmet Danyal Bayrı, he was a Turkish actor of Armenian descent, born in Tarsus in 1916 and died of lung cancer in Istanbul on 26 September 1975, buried at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery. He left school after the first year of middle school to work in Turkish cinema, starting out as a set assistant alongside a friend before making his screen debut in a 1953 horror picture. Across hundreds of films he mostly played supporting and character parts, at times also serving as an art director, and became widely recognised for a character he played in the Karaoğlan film series. He is best remembered for his role in Topkapi, and also featured in Çete, Tütün Zamanı, Bir Teselli Ver, İpini Boynunda Bil, Belanın Kralı and Sevimli Haydut. According to a colleague's memoir, he had a marked fondness for gambling.