During his life he was believed to be of Kurdish descent. However, after his death it was revealed that he was actually of Armenian origin when his funeral was transferred from the mosque where it was initially held to the local Armenian church.
He was of Kurdish ethnicity, and claimed he didn't know how to speak Turkish until he was 6 years old.
He never owned a house. Even in his final days, he was paying rent.
He was a talented and productive composer before he started acting. He was composing theme music and songs for some movies, and on one day he was hanging around on the set, they asked him to play a bit part. Later acting became his main profession.