Action, Baby!
In 1960, Telly married his second wife, Marilynn Gardner,
with whom he had two girls, Penelope and Candace. By this
time Telly had also begun working in movies. His performance
in Matter of Conviction impressed Burt Lancaster so much
that Lancaster asked Telly to be in his next movie. Telly
agreed, and earned a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award
nomination for his role as solitary row prisoner Feto
Gomez in Birdman of Alcatraz
(1962). Telly was offered parts in numerous films after
Alcatraz, including that of Archer J. Maggott in The
Dirty Dozen (1967).
During the shooting of the James Bond picture On
Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Telly fell
in love with an extra named Sally Adams. Although they
never married, their relationship produced his first son.
Telly proudly named him Nicholas, after his father.
In 1973 Telly landed the role of a tough talking New York
City detective in the TV movie The
Marcus-Nelson Murders. His personification of Lieutenant
Theo Kojak was so popular that a spin-off series resulted.
As Kojak, Telly became best-loved for his shiny bald head,
addiction to lollipops and trademark quote, "Who
loves ya, baby?" Telly starred alongside Dan Fraser,
Kevin Dobson, Vince Conti, Mark Russell and his brother,
George Savalas, who played Detective Stavros. Kojak
landed Telly on the cover of TV
Guide six times, and turned him into an international
superstar. He won an Emmy for the first season, was nominated
for four Golden Globes - winning twice in 1975 and 1976
- and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Kojak ran on CBS until
1978 and remains popular in syndication all over the world.
After CBS closed the show, Telly did various movies and
television appearances, including a reprisal of Kojak
for ABC's Saturday Mystery Movie
in the 1990s.
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