Levent Kırca

Levent Kırca — Biography

Born Zeki Levent Kırca, the second child of schoolteacher Bahriye Özbay Kırca and painter Mehmet Kırca in Samsun, he grew up with his mother in Ankara after his father left the family for Switzerland while he was young, and discovered theatre in high school. He first took the stage at the Ankara State Theatre in 1965, then worked with the Ankara Birlik Theatre and Halk Oyuncuları before settling in Istanbul, where he produced several television series and made his film debut in Taşı Toprağı Altın Şehir. After founding the Hodri Meydan theatre troupe and staging plays with his then-wife Oya Başar, the two wrote and starred together in the satirical sketch show Olacak O Kadar, which ran for more than two decades and made him a household name; he also moved into directing with the film Son. In 1998 a court ordered him to pay damages over a joke he made about a politician. The same year he received the State Artist title, which was revoked shortly before his death in 2015. He taught at Beykent University, ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Üsküdar in 2009 and of Istanbul in 2014, headed the broadcaster Ulusal Kanal, and wrote a column for Aydınlık. He had four children, two from his first marriage and two with Oya Başar. He died in Istanbul on 12 October 2015 of liver cancer.