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"
Telly Savalas a radio show called The Coffeehouse in New York City. Savalas began as an executive director and then senior director of the news special events at ABC. He then became an executive producer for the "Gillette Cavalcade of Sports," where he gave Howard Cosell his first job in television. In the fall of 1959 Savalas directed Scott Vincent and Howard Cosell in "Report to New York," WABC-TV's first local TV news program. Savalas did not consider acting as a career until asked if he could recommend an actor who could do a European accent. He did but the friend could