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🇺🇲WWII uncovered: Corporal Aristotelis Savalas From the US Army to The Dirty Dozen.

 🇺🇲WWII uncovered: Corporal Aristotelis Savalas From the US Army to The Dirty Dozen.


The 1967 film "The Dirty Dozen" sported an All Star cast of World War II veterans. One of the most popular films of its time, "The Dirty Dozen" still holds as one of the most successful war films ever made. The cast included: Lee Marvin, Robert Webber and Robert Ryan (US Marine Corps); Telly Savalas and George Kennedy (US Army); Charles Bronson (US Army Air Forces); Ernest Borgnine (US Navy) and Clint Walker (US Merchant Marine) as major players. 

Please take a moment to learn a little more about US Army veteran Telly Savalas who portrayed Private Archer Maggott.

According to Together We Served: "Telly joined the Army in 1941. He was a member of Company C, 12th Medical Training Battalion, 4th Medical Training Regiment at Camp Pickett, Virginia. 

Although Telly received a Purple Heart for his service in World War II, little is known about his time with the armed forces. 

Telly did not talk about his experiences as an enlisted man, and most of his records were destroyed in a fire at the National Personnel Records Center in 1973. 

He was released from the Army in 1943 after suffering serious injuries in a car accident. While on authorized leave from Camp Pickett, Telly and eight friends were involved in a head-on collision. Telly sustained a broken pelvis, sprained ankle and concussion. He spent over a year in the hospital recovering."

Telly was not the only Savalas brother to serve in World War II. His older brother Constantine was a survivor of Pearl Harbor and his younger brother, and fellow castmate of the series "Kojak," George, served in the Pacific Theater with the US Navy.

After the war, Telly worked for the US State Department as host of the "Your Voice of America" series, then at ABC News. 

He began as an Executive Director and then as 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.

Savalas began a television career in 1959 and expanded to film in the early '60s with his debut film "Mad Dog Coll." One of his most acclaimed roles came early in his career with the film "The Birdman of Alcatraz" in 1962 where he was nominated for the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor. In 1967 came the role of Archer Maggott in "The Dirty Dozen."

Telly would go on to play James Bond's nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" in 1969. 

In 1970 he would join Clint Eastwood in the film "Kelly's Heroes" and reunite with "Dirty Dozen" co-star Charles Bronson in the film "Violent City."

"The character of New York City Detective Theodopolus "Theo" Kojak would be one of his greatest successes. 

Kojak aired on CBS for five seasons from October 24, 1973, until March 18, 1978, with 118 episodes. 

The role won Savalas an Emmy and two Golden Globes for Best Actor in a Drama Series. Telly's younger brother George played the part of Detective Stavros. 

After the series wrapped  an addition of several television movies were made reprising the character."

Telly Savalas passed away on January 22, 1994 one day after his 72nd birthday. 

He lies in rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park  Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles California. 


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