Telly Savalas : Anyone know if this story is true?

For those of you who know alot about him. Also, if true, its a interesting story for those that never heard it.

Anyway, I found this story posted on some ghosdt site.

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Here's a nice story about Telly Savalas:

One night Savalas was driving in his car, when he ran out of gas. He’d just passed a station a few minutes earlier, so he got out of his car and started walking. No sooner had he done this, when a car pulled up next to him and the driver asked if he could be of any assistance. Savalas explained the situation, and the man told him he’d be happy to give him a lift back to the station. When he got there, and had filled up a gas can, he went to pay the attendant and realized he’d left his wallet behind. He asked the friendly driver if he could borrow ten dollars, and once more the man happily obliged and took Telly back to h 111c is car. When they arrived Savalas attempted to pay the man, but he refused to accept the money. Not wanting to let the guy go without thanking him in some way, Telly explained that he was a movie star, and if the man would write down his name and number on a piece of paper, he’d call him sometime and see if there was a way he could return the favour. The driver handed him the paper, waved, and then drove off.

A couple of months passed and Savalas had forgotten all about the incident. One day he happened to be wearing the same jacket he had on that night, and when he reached into the pocket he found the slip of paper the driver had given him. Feeling embarrassed for forgetting about the good Samaritan, he immediately called the phone number the man had written down. A woman answered the phone and Telly asked for the man by name. The woman hesitated and sounded puzzled. “He’s not here,” she said, “Why are you calling for him?” Savalas explained that the man had helped him out a few months earlier, and that he was just calling to repay the favour. To his surprise, the woman became angry, demanding to know if this was some sort of sick joke. Taken aback, Telly told her no, that this man had helped him out when he had run out of gas, and this was the name and number he had written down. “Well,” she said, “I don’t know who he was, but my husband has been dead for two years!” After convincing her that he was indeed Telly Savalas, the movie star, and that he was telling her the truth, he asked if he could come over and show her the piece of paper so she could examine it for herself. She agreed and Telly drove over to her house.

When he arrived he showed her the note, and she immediately remarked that it certainly looked like her late husband’s handwriting. She asked Telly what the man had looked like, and as he described his appearance she again nodded her head, saying that it sounded like an accurate description. When Savalas told her what the man had been wearing, she told him that was the suit he had on when he was buried. The clincher came when she asked what kind of car the man had been driving. “Yes,” she said, “That was definitely my husband’s car.”

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i dont know but i was gonna ask that too, i have the book that that story is from and it dosnt have a disclaimer about any of the stories being false so i am assuming that its true. either that or barnes and nobels are hardcore liars and the guy that wrote that book is the most amazing writer ive ever read.

Go Ahead, Make My Day
-"Dirty" Harry Callahan
Sudden Impact.

I doubt the story is true as told. Howev 5b4 er. . .

I actually saw Savalas tell that story himself many years ago on a talk show. Don't recall which. Maybe "Tonight" or "Letterman" in the early 80s.

But he definitely told it as true.

Sounds like a reverse of the old story about the unsuspecting driver who picks up the ghost of a young girl.


At the top of the mountain, we are all Snow Leopards. -Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

Well anyone who wishes to can write his nephew and ask him.He posts here on his uncles board from time to time.His name is Nick.He can be reached at nick@savalas.tv

"Do not let thorns in your side become nails in your coffin".-Bruce Richard Bundy 10/2006

The story, as Irish retells it, is basically true. Some of the details are in error, as happens to tales retold over and over.

This happened in the mid-50's, and Telly Savalas wasn't an actor yet. He was a producer for the ABC Gillette Cavalcade of Sports, and was driving alone because Howard Cosell, whom Telly 'discovered' (he was a N.Y. lawyer), had left him stranded at the Manhattan studio, though he'd promised to drive him home to Long Island. A stage hand lent him a car, rather than letting him take the train home.

Telly ran very low on gas and pulled into a very isolated gas station. He had misplaced his wallet, the man lent him $10.

The next day, Telly went to return the cash, met the wife, who asked, "What kind of gag was this?". Her husband had been dead for 10 years. He gave the wife $100, apologized for her loss and his obvious mistake, and left.

Afterward, he returned to the place he'd seen the husband. The gas station had been turned into a diner 8 years before.

I was with Telly the day the wallet was anonymously returned by mail. It was his birthday, Jan. 1987; the unmarked envelope was postmarked less than a week earlier, from Garden City, Long Island. It contained $90 in 1950's bills.

Nicholas Savalas, Nephew
http://savalas.tv

great story I remember your uncle telling it on a uk chat show, maybe Parkinson.Keep the memory alive, god bless

It's an enormously interesting story, to be sure. Check this out: http://youtube.com/watch?v=zzksX-9vh9s

That clip comes from an Australian TV show called "The Extraordinary". I remember watching it when it aired in New Zealand in...I think it would have been 1994. I was already familiar with the story by then, though.

Then there's this version of the story: http://www.underworldtales.com/telly.htm

Huge differences between the two, like the driver's name and cause of death.

Interestingl 111c y, the driver's name in the underworldtales version is Harry Agganis. There was a gentleman of that name playing for the Boston Red Sox who died in June 1955 aged 26. But it wasn't suicide.

I'm looking for more versions, preferably told by the fellow himself.

Sounds like Telly slipped into the Twilight Zone a few years before his confrontation with "Talky Tina". :)

The story, as Irish retells it, is basically true. Some of the details are in error, as happens to tales retold over and over.

This happened in the mid-50's, and Telly Savalas wasn't an actor yet. He was a producer for the ABC Gillette Cavalcade of Sports, and was driving alone because Howard Cosell, whom Telly 'discovered' (he was a N.Y. lawyer), had left him stranded at the Manhattan studio, though he'd promised to drive him home to Long Island. A stage hand lent him a car, rather than letting him take the train home.

Telly ran very low on gas and pulled into a very isolated gas station. He had misplaced his wallet, the man lent him $10.

The next day, Telly went to return the cash, met the wife, who asked, "What kind of gag was this?". Her husband had been dead for 10 years. He gave the wife $100, apologized for her loss and his obvious mistake, and left.

Afterward, he returned to the place he'd seen the husband. The gas station had been turned into a diner 8 years before.

I was with Telly the day the wallet was anonymously returned by mail. It was his birthday, Jan. 1987; the unmarked envelope was postmarked less than a week earlier, from Garden City, Long Island. It contained $90 in 1950's bills.

Nicholas Savalas, Solutions Architect
http://savalas.tv

Now that would make the hair on your neck stand up! Major creepy and scary at the same time.

The Divine Genealogy Goddess

great story.