Haldun Dormen

Ahmet Haldun Dormen His father Sait Ömer Bey was a Cypriot businessman, while his mother Nimet Rüştü Hanım was the daughter of a pasha from Istanbul. He finished his education at the Robert College. At the age of eight, his left foot was injured due to an accident.

Dormen later directed two cinematic movies: Bozuk Düzen and Güzel Bir Gün İçin. Alongside the Dormen Theater squad, the likes of Belgin Doruk, Ekrem Bora, Nurhan Nur, Müşfik Kenter, and Nedret Güvenç appeared in these movies. The two movies received seven awards in total at the Golden Orange Film Festival in 1966 and 1967, but they weren't commercially successful in the box office. and Popstar Türkiye. He then joined Milliyet as a journalist and contributed to the column Variations. His career in Milliyet lasted for eight years.

In 1981, he met Egemen Bostancı. Later, he wrote and directed the musicals Hisseli Harikalar Kumpanyası and Şen Sazın Bülbülleri. In 1984, with Egemen Bostancı's insistence, he re-established the Dormen Theater again and the organization continued to operate for 17 years. In the same years, he brought The Luxurious Life back to stage at the Istanbul City Theatres with Gencay Gürün serving as the producer. He later directed The Luxurious Life for the İzmir and Mersin Opera and the Eskişehir City Theater.

In 2002, he closed his theater due to economic reasons but continued to act and directed in various theaters.

Haldun Dormen wrote more than nine books, including four biographies ("Sürç-ü Lisan Ettikse", "Antrakt", "İkinci Perde", "Nerede Kalmıştık"), and two plays. His play Kantocu, which sheds light on the experiences of female stage artists during the foundation years of the Republic, was staged in Istanbul, Eskişehir, and Ankara.

Dormen married Betül Mardin, a world-renowned figure in public relations in 1959, and a son named Ömer was born from this marriage that lasted eight years.

Dormen, as the art consultant of the Sahne Tozu Theater in İzmir, staged various plays in their salon. (Sahne Tozu Theater Haldun Dormen Stage in İzmir). He also gave musical lessons at the Sahne Tozu Theater Nişantaşı Academy.

Dormen died at a hospital in Istanbul, where he was treated, on 21 January 2026, at the age of 97.