A popular character player in of the 1940s, Turhan Bey was often cast in villainous or exotic, adventurer roles. Born in Vienna, the darkly handsome actor was the son of a Turkish diplomat and a Czech mother. As the National Socialist Party gained power, Bey (ne Turhan Gilbert Selahettin Schultavey) and his family fled first to Switzerland, then Paris and eventually to the USA. Although his family settled on the East Coast, he headed to Southern California where he enrolled at Ben Bard's School of Dramatic Art, in part to improve his English. Shortly thereafter, Bey landed his first role in the Errol Flynn vehicle "Footsteps in the Dark" (1941) and then was snapped up by Universal who put him under contract. Roles in serials like "Junior G-Men of the Air" and horror films like "The Mummy's Tomb" (both 1942) soon followed. Because of his exotic looks, Bey was capable of playing parts of varied ethnicities. He was also willing to be made up to play older if necessary, and was tapped to support Maria Montez and Jon Hall in a series of films, the best of which is undoubtedly "The Arabian Nights" (1942).
After being loaned out to MGM for "Dragon Seed" (1944), Bey was drafted into the US Army. His eighteen month stint interrupted his career and when he returned to Hollywood and Universal, he angered studio executive by refusing a role. First put on suspension, he eventually had his contract sold to Eagle-Lion Studios where he made a handful of middling films before opting to quit Los Angeles for Europe. Settling in Austria, Bey turned his attentions to stage directing and his hobby of photography which became his second career, although he did produce the 1953 feature "Stolen Identity". Some fifty years after decamping from Hollywood, he returned in 1989 for an awards ceremony and began to receive offers for episodic TV work. Since resuming his career in the 90s, Bey has made memorable guest appearances in shows like "Murder, She Wrote" and "Babylon 5".