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"
James Bond greatest film hero. He was also placed at number 11 on a similar list by "Empire" and as the fifth greatest movie character of all time by "Premiere". The 23 James Bond films produced by Eon Productions, which have grossed $4,910 million in box office returns alone, have made the series one of the highest-grossing ever. It is estimated that since "Dr. No", a quarter of the world's population have seen at least one Bond film. The UK Film Distributors' Association have stated that the importance of the Bond series of films to the British film industry cannot be overstated,