Cüneyt Gökçer dies; Turkish theater loses its greatest actor and teacher
rick murphy
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-196491-cuneyt-gokcer-dies-turkish-theater-loses-its-greatest-actor-and-teacher.html
Cüneyt Gökçer dies; Turkish theater loses its greatest actor and
teacher
24 December 2009, Thursday
TODAY'S ZAMAN WITH WIRES İSTANBUL
Cüneyt Gökçer, one of Turkey's most distinguished and prolific stage
actors revered for his performances in Shakespearean characters, died
on Wednesday in Ankara. He was 89.
Gökçer died of respiratory failure Wednesday night at Ankara's Gülhane
Military Hospital (GATA), where he had been receiving treatment for
the past nine months, news agencies reported Thursday.
Gökçer, who immortalized on theater stages such major characters of
the world classical theater repertoire as King Oedipus, Hamlet and
King Lear, among others, also headed the Turkish State Theaters, the
Ankara State Conservatory, the Turkish State Opera and Ballet, and
Ankara's Bilkent University's theater department throughout a career
that spanned over half a century.
Among Gökçer's other notable stage performances were “Antigone,”
“Julius Caesar,” “Twelfth Night,” “Faust” and “The Fiddler on the
Roof.” His prolific acting career also included roles in films.
President Abdullah Gül, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Culture
and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay and other top state officials as
well as political party leaders and fellow theater artists expressed
their grief over Gökçer's death and offered their condolences in
messages released on Thursday, saying “Turkish theater has lost its
greatest actor and its teacher.”
'He belonged to the stage'
State Opera and Ballet Director-General Rengim Gökmen told the
Anatolia news agency on Thursday that Gökçer, apart from his
reputation chiefly as a veteran actor of Turkish theater, “was a man
who totally belonged to the stage.” “He was a manager and [stage]
director who has made enormous contributions to [Turkish] opera. … He
directed almost all Turkish operas in their first-ever onstage
performances,” Gökmen added, pointing to Gökçer's seven-year term as
the head of Turkish State Opera and Ballet, from 1961 to 1968, during
which he introduced around 20 premiere performances, among others.
Gökçer was born in Malatya in 1920 and graduated in 1942 from the
Ankara State Conservatory's theater department, where he studied under
famous German theater actor and producer Carl Ebert.
After working for many years as assistant director in several theater
institutions in Germany, Austria, Britain and France, Gökçer was
appointed the general director of Turkish State Theaters in 1958,
taking over the post immediately after Muhsin Ertuğrul, the founder of
modern Turkish theater, and running the institution for 23 years until
retiring in 1983.
Apart from acting and heading state and private theater institutions,
Gökçer also worked to make opera and theater gain widespread
appreciation among the public, introducing such classics as “The
Fiddler on the Roof” and “My Fair Lady” to Turkish theatergoers for
the first time as well as expanding the Turkish theater repertoire by
putting on stage plays by Turkish authors and playwrights including
Refik Erduran, Güngör Dilmen Kalyoncu, Recep Bilginer, Necati Cumalı,
Aziz Nesin, Yaşar Kemal, Turan Oflazoğlu and Orhan Asena.
Two special ceremonies for Gökçer will be held today in Ankara; the
first ceremony will be held in the morning at Bilkent University,
which will be followed with another gathering at the Ankara Opera
House. Gökçer's body will then be taken to İstanbul, where he will be
buried at the Zincirlikuyu Cemetery on Saturday.