Türker İnanoğlu (18 May 1936 – 2 April 2024) was a Turkish screenwriter, film director and producer.
Personal life
İnanoğlu married first the film actress
Filiz Akın, and after his divorce
Gülşen Bubikoğlu, another former Turkish movie star. He had two children, a son, İlker, from his former marriage and a daughter, Zeynep, from his last marriage.
İnanoğlu came in contact with the cinema when he was a student at the Istanbul Academy of Applied Fine Arts in 1957. After working as assistant to directors
Ömer Lütfi Akat and
Nişan Hançer in eleven movies, he directed in 1960 his first feature Senden Ayrı Yaşayamam.
After directing nine movies in the studios of
Yeşilçam, the Turkish
Hollywood, İnanoğlu established in 1959 his own film company
Erler Film, which is today the oldest film production company in Turkey still in business. Since then, he produced 126
black-and-white and color films, among them 21 co-productions with
Greece,
Italy and
Iran. He executed also the productions of
American,
Japanese,
French and
German filmmakers’
documentary films shot in Turkey. Until now, he directed 82 movies.
In 1979, İnanoğlu started the
video business in Turkey by founding the first video company, Ulusal Video. His company distributed video copies of domestic movies to around 1,500 video clubs in Turkey and abroad. He contributed for five years to aid the survival of Turkish cinema, which found itself in a big economic crisis.
To produce news and entertainment programs for the television, he established a studio in 1985. In this studio, İnanoğlu produced very popular programs like Bir Başka Gece ("Another night"), Hodri Meydan ("Challenge"), Gecenin getirdikleri ("Things came by night") for the then only TV channel in Turkey,
TRT. Later, following the opening of private TV channels, he continued to produce TV programs for
channels like
Star TV,
Show TV,
Kanal 6 and
ATV, totaling to 10,000 hours.
In 1994, İnanoğlu became president of the channel ATV and helped it become a leader in the sector. Later, he established a
cable TV channel,
Süper Kanal.
İnanoğlu co-founded sectoral associations and served as their chairman. Later, he was the honorary president of the Turkish Association of Owners of Cinema Arts, SESAM. In 1997, he set up the Türker İnanoğlu Cinema Foundation and transferred all the
copyrights on his productions to this charity institution with social and educational goals for the Turkish cinema.
Selected filmography
Screenwriter
İçimizden Biri (Someone from Us), 1960
Şafakta Buluşalım (Let’s meet at dawn), 1961
Director
Sonbahar (The Autumn), 1959
Senden Ayrı Yaşayamam (I Can’t Live Apart From You), 1960
Küçük Kahraman (The Little Brave), 1960
İçimizden Biri (Someone from Us), 1960
Küçük Beyefendi (Little Gentleman), 1962
Kiralık Koca (Husband for rent), 1963
Bulunmaz Uşak (The Perfect Servant), 1963
Bahriyeli Ahmet (Ahmet, the Mariner), 1963
Yankesici Kız (The Pitpocket Girl), 1964
Mirasyedi (The Heir)
Satılık Kalp (Heart for sale), 1965
Acı Tesadüf (Bitter Coincidence), 1966
İdam Mahkumu (The Prisoner for Death Penalty), 1966
Kaderin Cilvesi (Twist of Fate), 1967
Namus Borcu (Honor Due), 1967
Evlat Uğruna (For the Sake of Children), 1967
İstanbul Tatili (Holiday in Istanbul), 1968
Sabah Yıldızı (The Morning Star), 1968
Soyguncular (The Robbers), 1973
Bizim Kız (Our Girl), 1977
Producer
İçimizden Biri (Someone from Us), 1960
Çöpçatan (The Matchmaker), 1961
Küçük Beyefendi (Little Gentleman), 1962
Yolcu (The Passenger), 1963
Bulunmaz Uşak (The Perfect Servant), 1963
Bahriyeli Ahmet (Ahmet, the Mariner), 1963
Yankesici Kız (The Pitpocket Girl), 1964
Satılık Kalp (Heart for sale), 1965
İdam Mahkumu (The Prisoner for Death Penalty), 1966
Acı Tesadüf (Bitter Coincidence), 1966
İntikam Uğruna (For the Sake of Revenge), 1966
Namus Borcu (Honor Due), 1967
Evlat Uğruna (For the Sake of Children), 1967
İstanbul Tatili (Holiday in Istanbul), 1968
Almanyalı Yarim (My Darling From Germany), 1974
Bizim Kız (Our Girl), 1977
Süpermenler (3 Supermen Against Godfather in Europe, Tres supermanes contra el padrino in Spain), 1979