Osman Fahir Seden

Osman Fahir Seden — Biography

Osman Fahir Seden was born in Istanbul on 22 March 1924, graduated from a German-language high school and went on to study law at Istanbul University. He entered the film industry in 1951 by writing the screenplay for Kani Kıpçak's İstanbul Kan Ağlarken, then, after writing numerous scripts alongside Lütfi Ö. Akad, founded his own company, Seden Film, and shot his first feature, Kanlarıyla Ödediler, in 1956.

His 1959 film Düşman Yolları Kesti established him among Turkish cinema's leading directors, and over a career of more than four decades he wrote well over a hundred screenplays and directed as many films, occasionally taking small roles himself. Although best known for emotional melodramas, he also directed comedies built around Feridun Karakaya's Cilalı İbo character early in his career, and titles such as Namus Uğruna and Çalıkuşu became major commercial hits. In his later years he moved largely into directing television series.

Known as a devoted supporter of Beşiktaş, a passion reflected on his sets, Seden was named a State Artist by the Ministry of Culture in 1991 and died of prostate cancer in Istanbul in 1998 at 74. He was a grandson of Şeyh Ahmet Hamdi Efendi, a former district governor of Ceyhan in Adana.