Belgin Doruk

Belgin Doruk — Biography

Belgin Doruk was born on 28 June 1936 in Ankara; her family soon settled in Istanbul's Yeşilköy district. While finishing secondary school in 1952 she won a talent contest jointly run by a magazine and a film company, which opened the door to her screen debut, and the following year she placed runner-up in a national beauty pageant. She married the debut film's director, Faruk Kenç, had a daughter with him, and the couple later separated; she then married producer-screenwriter Özdemir Birsel and had a son. Teamed with Ayhan Işık in a romantic comedy directed by Nejat Saydam, she became a box-office favorite, the film spawned a series, and she earned the nickname "Küçük Hanımefendi" (Little Lady). She also frequently appeared opposite singer-actor Zeki Müren. In 1970 she won the Antalya Film Festival's best actress prize for a children's film. Health and personal difficulties cut back her output in the early 1970s; she announced her retirement from cinema in 1975 and died of heart failure in Istanbul in 1995.