Actor Telly Savalas was born on this date in 1922. Probably best known for his portrayal of Kojak, here are 10 things you might not know about him.
Telly was short for Aristotelis. He was born to Greek-American parents Christina Kapsalis and Nick Savalas. His mother was an artist and his father owned a Greek restaurant. He was very proud of his heritage and used to say “Everybody should have a little Greek in them”.
One of his trademarks was sucking on Lollipops as Kojak. There was a reason for that – he was trying to give up smoking.
He was a good swimmer and worked as a lifeguard after he graduated from high school, but was haunted for the rest of his life by an incident one day in which he failed to save a man from drowning in front of his children. He spent the rest of his life promoting water safety, and made all six of his children take Swimming lessons.
He was starting to show signs of growing bald when he got the part of Pontius Pilate in The Greatest Story Ever Told. He shaved his head to play this role and decided to keep the look.
He wasn't the first choice to audition for Kojak. Marlon Brando had been offered the role. He was chosen ahead of Paul Newman for Cool Hand Luke, however. Paul Newman got the role because Savales was afraid of flying and would only travel from Europe by boat, and the producers were unwilling to wait for him to make the trip. Despite his fear of flying, he played a pilot in Capricorn One.
He was a world-class poker player who finished 21st at the main event in the 1992 World Series of Poker.
He received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Columbia's School of General Studies in 1946 and started working on a master's degree with the intention of going to medical school.
He was Jennifer Aniston’s godfather.
Savalas had some chart success, too. His spoken word version of Bread's If was #1 in Europe for 10 weeks in 1975.
He lived at the Sheraton in Universal City for 20 years, becoming such a fixture at the hotel bar that it was renamed Telly's.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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