festival

Behrouz Vossoughi: The Unvanquished

In this ongoing series, the Festival honors filmmakers who have faced repression and censorship.

An Iranian Star Dimmed in Exile
by Katayoun Beglari

Until he left revolutionary Iran in 1978, Behrouz Vossoughi was his nation's most popular and acclaimed actor, with more than 90 films and plays to his credit, including his last film in Iran, The Caravan, a 1977 big budget U.S.-Iran coproduction with Anthony Quinn and Jennifer O'Neill. But, since arriving in the U.S., his career has been overshadowed by the political tension between the U.S. and Iran.

Had he chosen to return to Iran like some of his peers, he would have been banned from working. Behrouz Vossoughi, so popular with both the public and the royal family, represented an era that was despised by Iran's new Islamic regime. His ex-wife, the pop diva Googoosh, was kept silent and isolated in Iran for 22 years. Yet now, decades later, posters, stills and videos of Vossoughi's films remain in great demand. And his worldwide fans include not only an older generation of film buffs, but also many younger viewers not even born when he left his country.
Born in 1938 in Khoi, a small town in the Iranian province of Azerbaijan, Vossoughi gained some valuable experience in film dubbing and on stage before tackling his first film role in the 1960s. In 1970, he attained stardom with a role in Massoud Kimiai's groundbreaking art film, Ghaisar, the first of six films in a long collaboration between the director and his muse. The following year, he starred in the same director's Dash Akol, adapted from a landmark work of contemporary Persian literature. In 1975 came Vossoughi's peak performance as Zar Mohamad in Tangsir, a grim, powerful drama directed by Amir Naderi (The Runner SFIFF 1987; Water, Wind, Sand SFIFF 1990), loosely adapted from another famed Persian novel.

An intense and perceptive performer, he was a forceful figure on the landscape of new Iranian cinema through the '60s and '70s, playing everything from tough guys in mainstream movies to challenging characters in art films. Since coming to the U.S., however, he has only occasionally been cast in small roles in American films as well as TV series like Falcon Crest. Undaunted, he recently had a leading role in a Dutch independent production, The Crossing, as, appropriately enough, an Afghani calligrapher living in exile.

Katayoun Beglari is a film critic and cultural editor of the Middle East and North Africa division of the Voice of America.

Behrouz Vossoughi Selected Filmography:

Year Title Director

1962 The Lost Flower Abbas Shabaviz

1963 An Angel in My House Aramis Aghamalian

1964 Street Girl Aramis Aghamalian

1965 The Bride of the Sea Arman

Today and Tomorrow Abbas Shabaviz

Twenty Years of Anticipation Mehdi Rais Firouz

1966 Farewell Tehran Samuel Khachikian

Hashem Khan Mohammad Zarrin Dast

1967 Dallaho Siamak Yassami

A Woman Called Wine Amir Shervan

1968 The Red Plains Hekmat Labib

I Too Cried Samuel Khachikian

1969 Ghaisar Massoud Kimiaie

1970 Reza the Biker Massoud Kimiaie

Toghi Ali Hatami

The Invincible Six Jean Negulesco

1971 Dash Akol Massoud Kimiaie

One Man, One City Amir Shervan

1972 Balooch Massoud Kimiaie

Starenger Shapour Gharib

1973 Tangsir Amir Naderi

Earth Massoud Kimiaie

1974 The Deer Massoud Kimiaie

American Mammal Shapour Gharib

1975 Honey Moon Massoud Assadollahi

1976 Broken Hearts Ali Hatami

1978 Caravan Jim Fargo

Cat in the Cage Mohammad Zarrin Dast

1986 Terror in Beverly Hills John Arkin

1988 Veiled Threat Cyrus Norasteh

1999 The Crossing Nora Hoppe

The Unvanquished Previous Honorees

1999 Karen Morley
1998 John Berry
1996 Paul Carpita
Paul Meyer
Abraham Polonsky