Telly Savalas Telly Savalas Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas (January 21, 1924 – January 22, 1994) was an American actor and singer whose career spanned four decades of television, noted for his resonant voice and his bald head. He also released the one-hit wonder song, "If?," which he introduced in the UK in 1975. Savalas's career began in films in 1961. His movie credits include "The Young Savages" (1961), "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (1965), "Battle of the Bulge" (1965), "The Dirty Dozen" (1967), "The Scalphunters" (1968), supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1969), "Kelly's Heroes"
All the President's Men (film) Fonda, Richard Widmark, Christopher Plummer, Anthony Quinn, Gene Hackman, Burt Lancaster, Robert Stack, Robert Mitchum and Telly Savalas were also considered for the role. Character actor Martin Balsam played managing editor Howard Simons. According to Bradlee, Simons felt that he and his role were fatally shortchanged in the script and that he never got over his resentment. Bradlee teased "The Post" publisher Katharine Graham about who would play her in the film. “Names like Katharine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall and Patricia Neal were tossed out—by us—to make her feel good,” Bradlee said. “And names like Edna May Oliver or Marie Dressler,