Natuk Baytan

Natuk Baytan — Biography

Natuk Baytan (5 July 1925 – 5 December 1986) was a Turkish director, screenwriter and actor. In the early 1960s he appeared in various black-and-white films. Leaving his career as a civil servant to turn to cinema, Baytan began writing screenplays. He decided to found a production company and shoot his own film. In 1961 he made his first film, Karanlıkta Yaşayanlar, which he both wrote and directed. Throughout the rest of the 1960s, Baytan directed productions in different genres.

In the early years of his career he worked on drama and crime films; with the 1965 thriller Sahildeki Ceset he won the Best Screenplay award at the 2nd Izmir Film Festival. With the films he made after 1967, Baytan created productions featuring fantastic and historical characters in Turkish cinema. He became one of the directors who brought characters such as Hacı Murat (1967), Gök Bayrak (1968), Battal Gazi'nin İntikamı (1972) and Kara Murat Fatih'in Fedaisi (1972) to the screen. He received awards for the films he directed and wrote in the first half of the 1970s. From 1976 onwards he collaborated with Kemal Sunal on comedy films. Comedies he shot in the second half of the 70s, such as Sahte Kabadayı, Sakar Şakir, Avanak Apdi and Korkusuz Korkak, were released in cinemas.

In the first half of the 1980s he continued to work with Kemal Sunal on comedy films. At the end of the 70s he also directed films blending musical and melodrama elements with the arabesque singer Ferdi Tayfur. Finally, in 1986, he directed the television series Duvardaki Kan. He died on 5 December 1986.