Brainy Queen of 'Erotik' Turkish Movies - Arzu Okay -
Born 1954 in the Şişli-Bomonti district of İstanbul
Though Zerrin Egeliler won the movie poll conducted in February 2008 to determine "The Most Important 'Erotik' Female Film Star In Turkish Cinematic History", Arzu Okay was the second place finisher -- attracting a respectable 31% of the votes cast. (See the movie poll chart, above right, for details.)
But, how a sweet-faced 16-year-old beauty ever got herself into the running for such a seksi title race in the first place -- is a pretty amazing story.
Arzu Okay at 'sweet 16'...
 | Life under the
spotlights started with a bang for Arzu Okay when she won a contest to determine the next Queen Of The Turkish Cinema, organized by Saklambaç, a
popular Life Magazine-style photo-magazine, in 1970 -- when she was barely 'sweet 16'. Shortly thereafter, in a similar contest organized for all of Europe, the unknown Turkish teenager blew by her more
'mature' European competition to earn a surprising 4th place finish.
Such 'worldly' attention could have bowled over most 16-year-olds. And when it
was followed by an offer of a movie-role (in Ölünceye Kadar; Until death) opposite popular actor Ayhan Işık, Arzu
Okay might have gone all wobbly in the knees.
But she didn't.
And during the span of her career (1970-1978), Arzu Okay showed a perky resilience that set her apart from her contemporaries (though Okay and the others were all known collectively as 'The Damned Women').
According to Cihan Demirci149 (the Turkish 'erotik'-film historian), Okay always managed to scrape through, overcoming obstacles of every description. He says, "Those in the know say that Arzu Okay was the most extraordinary of all the Turkish actresses of her era."
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