Voice actress, art curator, critic, translator, gossip columnist
Spouse
Mehmet Ali Cimcoz
(m. 1939)
Adalet Cimcoz (25 July 1910 – 13 March 1970) was a Turkish voice actress, art curator, critic, translator and gossip columnist. She dubbed many film stars over a period of more than thirty years. She also opened and curated Turkey's first and only woman-owned private art gallery for exhibitions of painting, sculpture, mosaic, ceramics, photography, patterns, and folk art. She critiqued literature, art, and theatre for twenty years. She translated a number of classical works of European literature from German to Turkish. She was also a gossip columnist under the pen name『Fitne Fücur』("The Mischief-maker)".
Adalet was born to Hüseyin Tayfur and his wife Aliye in Kilitbahir village of Eceabat district in Çanakkale Province, then Ottoman Empire, on 25 July 1910. Her father was an artillery Colonel of the Ottoman Army stationed at the Dardanelles as the commander. of Kilitbahir Castle. Her mother was a German, whom her father met during an official military mission in the German Empire. She converted to Islam from Christianity after her marriage, and took the name Aliye. Adalet had two older brothers Hayri and Ferdii.[1][2] Ferdi Tayfur would be also a voice actor.[3][4][5]
In 1916, Adalet went to Germany with her family. She finished her primary education in 1921, and then completed her secondary education in Germany.[5]
Cimcoz, who was working at the Agricultural Products Bureau (Turkish: Toprak Mahsülleri Ofisi) as a translator, entered voice acting upon the recommendation of her voice actor brother Ferdi Tayfur.[1] She dubbed for lead characters in both domestic and foreign films.[3] She also provided support to her brother by dubbing for major female roles.[6] Among the actresses she dubbed for were Türkan Şoray, Hülya Koçyiğit, Belgin Doruk, Fatma Girik, Filiz Akın, Muhterem Nur, and Neriman Köksal in numerous films.[3][5] Her career in voice acting extended from 1936 until her death in 1970.[5]
Cimcoz used the language of the common people.[6] She adopted the expressions of the people heard during her childhood years in her father's house in the Kocamustafapaşa quarter of Old Istanbul.[7] Finding the opportunity to watch all the tours of the traditional theater where she lived, she also performed the shadow playKaragöz and Hacivat at home. She transferred new and original folk expressions, and imitations of dialects captured from master Karagöz artists, to film.[6] The owner of Lale Film, for whom Cimcoz worked many years, said that "she translated Ottoman Turkish language or foreign words and terms given in the screenplay into pure Turkish by making the dialogues kindly but firmly".[2]
On 5 December 1950, Cimcoz opened an art gallery named "Maya" in Beyoğlu, Istanbul. It was the country's first private art gallery curated by a woman and remained the only one until its closure in 1955.[3][5] Cimcoz started new exhibition concepts at the Maya Art Gallery. She prepared exhibitions with paintings inspired by poetry or music, and opened cartoon exhibits to support the acceptance of caricature as an art, in addition to mounting exhibitions of painting, sculpture, mosaic, ceramics, photography, patterns, and folk arts. Her presentation of the subjects in tandem realized an interdisciplinary dimension for the first time in art.[3] Among the various works exhibited at Maya Art Gallery were those by Cemal Tollu, a member of the artist collective Group D, and by Melda Kaptana. Organized by the Friends of Art Association which Cimcoz co-founded, 61 works of women painters were on display in the gallery. Cimcoz also curated exhibitions to support child cartoonists.[3]
Cimcoz died of cancer on 13 March 1970 in Istanbul, aged 59.[5] She was interred at Aşiyan Asri Cemetery.[3]
The state-owned Turkish Radio and Television Corporation published a documentary film on Cimcoz's life on 1 December 2011.[3] Her life is told in a 1972-published book titled Adalet Cimcoz-Bir Yaşamöyküsü Denemesi by Mine Söğüt.[3][41]
^Ün, Memduh, Belali torun (Comedy, Romance), Ayhan Isik, Fatma Girik, Hulusi Kentmen, Bedia Muvahhit, Ugur Film, retrieved 6 November 2020
^Erakalin, Ülkü, Kirmizi karanfiller (Romance), Türkan Soray, Yilmaz Duru, Suphi Kaner, Mualla Sürer, Kurt Film, retrieved 6 November 2020
^Elmas, Orhan (31 October 1962), Yalnizlar için (Drama, Romance), Göksel Arsoy, Belgin Doruk, Hüseyin Baradan, Nilgün Esen, Goksel Film, retrieved 6 November 2020
^Saner, Hulki, Zorlu damat (Drama, Romance), Ayhan Isik, Türkan Soray, Suphi Kaner, Nezahat Tanyeri, Bronz Film, retrieved 6 November 2020
