Köksal Engür

Köksal Engür — Biography

İsmail Köksal Engür was born in Kars on 5 March 1946 to Hatice Enise and Cemil Engür; he began performing before finishing school, taking part in short radio plays on TRT Ankara Radio's children's programme in 1956, and graduated from the Theatre Department of Ankara University's Faculty of Language, History and Geography in 1969. He appeared on stage with private companies including Ankara Halkevi, Dormen Theatre, Ali Poyrazoğlu Theatre and Kent Oyuncuları, winning an Afife Theatre Award for his performances in Molly Sweeney and Tek Kişilik Şehir. He became widely known for playing Aksakallı Dede in Leyla ile Mecnun and Sıddık in Zerda, won best supporting actor at the Ankara Film Festival for Korkuyorum Anne, and received a Sadri Alışık award for Sen Kimsin?. A prolific voice actor, he dubbed Hollywood stars such as Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams into Turkish, and also voiced Bert in the Turkish Sesame Street, the cartoon cowboy Lucky Luke, Squidward in SpongeBob SquarePants and Master Shifu in the Kung Fu Panda films. He divorced his wife, Jale Engür, in 2017 after 41 years of marriage. Köksal Engür died in Istanbul on 26 March 2023 at 77 from complications of kidney failure, and was buried at Karacaahmet Cemetery.