Veteran actor laid to rest at ceremony

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

Müşfik Kenter’s sister, theater actress Yıldız Kenter, speaks at the ceremony at the Kenter Theater, saying if her brother had not existed, the Kenters would not exist, either. DHA photo

Turkey’s veteran theater actor Musfik Kenter was laid to rest in a ceremony Aug. 17 at the age of 80 after losing a long battle with cancer on Aug. 15.

Kenter acted in countless theater plays as well as in movies and TV series. The well known thespian also lent his voice to voiceovers for multiple documentaries and cartoons.

The first ceremony for Kenter was held at the Kenter Theater where the actor’s casket was put on a platform during the ceremony, which was attended by hundreds of people. Kenter’s sister, the famous theater actress Yıldız Kenter addressed her late brother at the ceremony in a speech that began “Now the hall is full, sir.”

She said that she had been a fan of her brother since he was born. “He was one of my first teachers at a young age. I have learned to be natural from Müşfik. I grew up witnessing his mastership. I am grateful to him. If Müşfik did not exist, the Kenters did not exist, too. I always needed him,” she said.

AA photo

Short speech by his wife

Kenter’s wife Kadriye Kenter said at the ceremony that the actor had wanted people not to speak about him. “This is why I will make a short speech. I have a very big pain, like a stone. But I am very peaceful because I have always told him that he was the sun of my life. He told this to me, too until his last moments. I thanked him on behalf of you,” she said.

Actor and director Mehmet Birkiye said that he had shared the same stage with Kenter for more than 40 years and that Kenter had worked with an unbelievable mastership throughout his life. Some of Kenter’s students also gave speeches about their teacher at the ceremony.

One of his students, actor Ragıp Savaş, said the Kenter Theater was the biggest architect of transformation to natural acting and it would be kept alive in this way thanks to its students.

Şişli Mayor Mustafa Sarıgül and Bakırköy Mayor Ateş Ünal Erzen both delivered short speeches as well. Following the speeches, participants listened to poems by Turkish poet Orhan Veli that were once performed by Kenter, who was also known for giving voice to Veli’s poems.

After the ceremony, Kenter’s funeral was brought to the Teşvikiye Mosque for prayer and he was then buried at Kilyos Cemetery.

Born in 1932 in Istanbul, Kenter, after retiring from the Mimar Sinan University State Conservatory, served as general art director for the Haliç University Conservatory Theater Department and Bakırköy Municipality City Theater.

He won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival in 1966 for his role in “Bozuk Düzen” (Corrupt Order).

He also performed voiceovers for many documentaries and films and was much loved for dubbing the voice of the alien Alf in the U.S. show of the same name. Kenter had been receiving treatment for a pulmonary infection due to lung cancer.