İsmail Hakkı Dümbüllü (1897, İstanbul - 5 November 1973, İstanbul), Turkish comedy actor. He is the last representative of ortaoyunu (middle show) tradition in traditional Turkish theatre. and a major comedy actor in Turkish cinema. Dümbüllü İsmail worked with Kel Hasan Efendi, a master actor of comedy in the Turkish theatre, between 1917-1926 and learned the art of tulûat (traditional improvisational theater) from him. No other actor who performs tulûat in master-apprentice relationship has been seen after Dümbüllü İsmail. He received the nickname of "Dümbüllü" by singing a canto titled "Dümbüllü". He started acting in movies in 1947. He became a star in cinema as a 'folk comedian'; and was mostly identified with the Nasreddin Hodja character in the films he played. He was the lead actor in a series of comedies: Dümbüllü Macera Peşinde (Dümbüllü in Search of Adventure, Şadan Kamil, 1948), Dümbüllü Sporcu (Dümbüllü the Sportsman, Seyf Havaeri, 1952), and Dümbüllü Tarzan (Dümbüllü Tarzan, Muharrem Gürses, 1954). Before start making films, he played orta oyunu (middle show) and tulûat at TRT Istanbul Radio. His efforts in transferring orta oyunu plays to radio and cinema was effective in making the art of traditional Turkish theater known by more people and ensuring the continuity of the orta oyunu tradition. Dümbüllü took over his teacher Kel Hasan Efendi's kavuk (turban), representing the orta oyunu (middle show) and his fez, representing art of tuluat, and handed these two symbols to Münir Özkul in 1968. These two symbols continue to be passed on in a traditional ceremony among Turkish theater actors. He died at November 5th, 1973 after a traffic accident. References External links Dümbüllü documentary at TRT (Turkish Radio TV) Archive (Turkish) 20th-century Turkish male actors Turkish male stage actors Turkish male film actors Burials at Karacaahmet Cemetery 1973 deaths Male actors from Istanbul 1897 births