George Savalas gives Kojak some welcome warmth as the rumpled Sgt. Stavros. We value his knack for making a supporting character feel like a colleague, while recognising that Telly Savalas remains the main attraction.
Fi1m perspective
The rumpled Sgt. Stavros helps Kojak (1973) feel like a programme about people at work, even when its leading man is doing most of the persuading. George Savalas brings warmth and humour to a police procedural whose central authority can be a little too comforting. We like him here because he makes the company worth keeping without demanding that the programme stop for him. Telly Savalas remains the main attraction, and George’s contribution is easier to appreciate when we do not ask it to be something larger.
Guest television appearances, including The Fugitive (1963), and supporting film parts in Genghis Khan (1965) and Kelly’s Heroes (1970) preceded his sustained work on Kojak. His 114 episodes as Stavros became the centre of his screen career. That continuity suits an actor whose strengths are warmth, humour and the ability to fit into an ensemble. It also makes Kojak the sensible place to begin, rather than hunting through guest appearances for a few minutes of him.
In Abby Mann’s series, Dan Frazer as Frank McNeill and Kevin Dobson as Bobby Crocker share the work of making the policemen around Kojak worth noticing. We warmed to this company because the men seemed to have a working life beyond receiving the leading man’s instructions. Savalas’s naturalistic playing is useful here: Stavros comes across as an ordinary colleague, with room for humour, rather than someone competing for attention. The effect depends on the ensemble, and it would be misleading to credit Savalas alone for it.
There are limits to what this sympathetic company can do. Kojak sometimes makes its central policeman so reassuring that the moral difficulties of the cases lose their force. The supporting performances help us enjoy spending time there, but they cannot make every police story less familiar. For Savalas, start with Kojak and allow the supporting cast time to become familiar.
Biography
George Savalas (1924–1985) was an American actor of Greek descent. He is best known for playing Detective Sergeant Stavros on the television series Kojak (1973–1978), opposite his elder brother Telly Savalas. For the first two seasons he was credited simply as Demosthenes to avoid confusion with his brother.
Savalas appeared in guest roles on series including The Fugitive (1966), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1967), All in the Family (1971) and Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1975). His film credits include Kelly's Heroes (1970). He also worked in theatre and studied drama at Columbia University.
