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"
Max von Sydow in Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" (1957), the first of his eleven films with Bergman and the film that includes the iconic scenes in which he plays chess with Death; Martin in "Through a Glass Darkly" (1961); Jesus in "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (1965); Oktober in "The Quiller Memorandum" (1966); Karl Oskar Nilsson in "The Emigrants" (1971); Roy Lindberg in "The Apple War" (1971); Father Lankester Merrin in "The Exorcist" (1973); Joubert the assassin in "Three Days of the Condor" (1975); Ming the Merciless in "Flash Gordon" (1980); the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film "Never