Muhterem Nur

Muhterem Nur — Biography

Born Olga and registered under the name Aysel Muhterem Kısa, Muhterem Nur was born on 31 December 1932 in Manastır (today's Bitola). She lost her mother at birth, never knew her father, and was raised by an aunt; in 1942 the family settled in Istanbul's Eyüp district, where she finished primary school and began working in a textile factory at fourteen. Discovered through Beyoğlu's film circles by Ümit Utku, she entered cinema as an extra in the 1951 film Yıldızlar Revüsü and became a star with the lead role of a blind girl in Memduh Ün's 1958 hit Üç Arkadaş, drawing a following later compared to Türkan Şoray's. When cinema work dried up between 1965 and 1967 she turned to dancing and singing, recording two songs on a 45 rpm single; she later returned to film in pictures such as Kezban, Aşkın Acıları, Aşkın Gözyaşları and Aşk Rüyası, and appeared in Son Akın in 1982. She married journalist and actor Işın Kaan in 1961, divorcing in 1963, and married singer Müslüm Gürses in 1986 after meeting him in 1982. Honored with a best-supporting-actress award at the 1972 Golden Boll festival for Kara Gün and lifetime achievement awards at the Golden Orange in 2003 and the Adana Film Festival in 2018, Muhterem Nur died in Istanbul on 20 March 2020 and was buried alongside her husband at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery.