Why did they call him the "Ugly King": Who is Yılmaz Güney?

Yılmaz Güney, born Yılmaz Pütün, was born on April 1, 1937, in Adana, one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. According to his own statement, Pütün means hard fruit seed that is difficult to break. He is a Turkish actor, director, screenwriter and author.

One of the most well-known actors and directors of Turkish cinema in the world:

He became famous as the "ugly king" in Turkey. Although he was not considered handsome, he became a role model for many people during the years when his films were shown.

Yılmaz Güney is known for his Cannes award-winning films such as The Road, The Sürü, and Umutsuzlar, which he shot especially after the Ugly King period. Yılmaz Güney's real name is Yılmaz Pütün.

Yılmaz Güney (1 April 1937 – 9 September 1984) was a Kurdish film director, screenwriter, novelist, and actor. He quickly rose to prominence in the Turkish film industry. Many of his works were devoted to the plight of ordinary working-class people in Turkey. Güney won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1982 for the film Yol (The Road) which he co-produced with Şerif Gören. He was at constant odds with the Turkish government over the portrayal of Kurdish culture, people and language in his movies.

He grew up in Adana and Adana has been the subject of many of his films. He worked as the regional representative of Kemal and And Film companies in Adana for a while. He went to Istanbul to study at university and met the famous director Atıf Yılmaz there. During this period, he was also writing stories. Later, with the support of Atıf Yılmaz, he started working in cinema.

In 1959, Yılmaz Güney wrote the scripts and starred in the films Bu Vatanın Çocukları and Alageyik, directed by Atıf Yılmaz. Yılmaz Güney was tried for making communist propaganda in one of his stories and was sentenced to one and a half years in prison in 1961.

Yılmaz Güney continued where he left off two years later and shot mostly adventure films during that period. In his films, there is the rebellion of an oppressed and despised "Anatolian child" against authority. During this period, he received the nickname Ugly King. His most important film in this period is The Law of the Borders, a film directed by Lütfü Akad and written by himself. Yılmaz Güney, who improved his acting throughout this period, has now established his understated and simple acting approach.

In 1971, Yılmaz Güney was sentenced to 2 years in prison and exile on the grounds that he hid Mahir Çayan and other members of the Turkish People's Liberation Party-Front, who were held responsible for the murder of Israel's Consul General in Istanbul, Efraim Elrom.

Yılmaz Güney expressed his ideas about cinema and art during his time in prison; He published his poems and stories in Güney magazine, which he started publishing at that time. He was released from prison in 1974. Yılmaz Güney, who was in prison for more than two years, shot the movie Friends in the same year. Again in the same year, while shooting the movie "Anxiety", he was arrested for killing district judge Sefa Mutlu in a casino in Yumurtalık district of Adana, and as a result of the trials that started on October 25 at Ankara 1st High Criminal Court, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison on July 13, 1976.

After serving five years in prison, he escaped abroad from the Semi-Open Prison, where he was on leave, on October 9, 1981. Yılmaz Güney's escape from prison also reminded me of his films. In the movie Satan's Son, which he shot before going to prison, he told the story of a man who went out on a one-day holiday leave and disappeared. He experienced a life similar to his movie. Güney, who was released from prison with a day's leave, fled from Antalya's Kaş district to the Greek island of Meis and from there to Switzerland. He then moved to France and spent the rest of his life there.

His interest in cinema continued in prison. During this period, the movie Herd, written by Zeki Ökten, and the movie Yol, which attracted great attention both at home and abroad, were shot by Şerif Gören. Güney's last film was the story of a riot that he witnessed in Ankara Central Closed Prison and Detention House in 1976, which broke out in the children's ward and spread throughout the prison.

Güney, who spent his last years in Paris, died on September 9, 1984, due to stomach cancer. His grave is located in section 62 of Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.