Çolpan İlhan

Çolpan İlhan — Biography

Çolpan İlhan was born on 8 August 1936 in the Menemen district of İzmir, the sister of the poet Attilâ İlhan, and was educated at Kandilli Anatolian High School for Girls and Balıkesir Lisesi. Beginning her acting career in 1957, she spent roughly five decades on screen and stage, from the golden age of Yeşilçam through the 2000s, appearing in more than 200 films along with numerous television series, often remembered for strong, sometimes unconventional female characters.

Her contribution to Turkish arts was recognized with the title of State Artist in 1998 and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the İzmir Film Festival in 2012. Together with her husband, actor Sadri Alışık, she founded the Sadri Alışık Theatre in 1997; the couple's son, Kerem Alışık, also became an actor. Çolpan İlhan died in Istanbul on 25 July 2014 after suffering a heart attack, and in the years since, Kerem Alışık has continued to publicly remember his mother on her birthday and the anniversary of her death.