The Hungarian Connection
A roster of Hollywood professionals with some notable connection to the country of Hungary. The purpose of this list is to help me remember my many compatriots working in the English-speaking movie industry, for future reference. Names are mostly added as I encounter them while watching movies, old and new. Suggestions are also welcome in the comment section! (It has to be said, though, that due to some weird glitch in the site's comment system, I cannot see any of the entries unless I copy-paste them into a text document - which I do so from time to time, but not daily. Also, some comments seem to vanish randomly, and to boot it all, IMDB does not notify me when a new entry is made or an old one is removed, so please don't get upset if I fail to respond relatively soon!)
Edit: Facebook-plugin seems to be fixed, I can see the comments now!
Many thanks to the following commenters for their suggestions (indicated in parentheses):
Diana Marton Alf (Tony Curtis)
Patricia Nolan-Hall (Paul Lukas)
Mercedes Marton (Eva and Magda Gabor)
Philip Mammano (Jerry Seinfeld)
Szonja Zemkó (Franciska Gaal, Vilma Bánky, Charles Vidor, Paul Fejos)
Paul Gottlieb (Cornel Wilde)
Edit: Facebook-plugin seems to be fixed, I can see the comments now!
Many thanks to the following commenters for their suggestions (indicated in parentheses):
Diana Marton Alf (Tony Curtis)
Patricia Nolan-Hall (Paul Lukas)
Mercedes Marton (Eva and Magda Gabor)
Philip Mammano (Jerry Seinfeld)
Szonja Zemkó (Franciska Gaal, Vilma Bánky, Charles Vidor, Paul Fejos)
Paul Gottlieb (Cornel Wilde)
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Bela Lugosi was born Béla Ferenc Dezsö Blaskó on October 20, 1882, Lugos, Hungary, Austria-Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania), to Paula de Vojnich and István Blaskó, a banker. He was the youngest of four children. During WWI, he volunteered and was commissioned as an infantry lieutenant, and was wounded three times.
A distinguished stage actor in his native Hungary, Austria-Hungary, he began his stage career in 1901 and started appearing in films during World War I, fleeing to Germany in 1919 as a result of his left-wing political activity (he organized an actors' union). In 1920 he emigrated to the US and made a living as a character actor, shooting to fame when he played Count Dracula in the legendary 1927 Broadway stage adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel. It ran for three years, and was subsequently, and memorably, filmed by Tod Browning in 1931, establishing Lugosi as one of the screen's greatest personifications of pure evil. Also in 1931, he became a U.S. citizen. Sadly, his reputation rapidly declined, mainly because he had been blacklisted by the main studios and had no choice but to accept any part (and script) handed to him, and ended up playing parodies of his greatest role, in low-grade poverty row films. Due to shady blacklisting among the top Hollywood studio executives, he refused to sell out or to compromise his integrity, and therefore ended his career working for the legendary Worst Director of All Time, Edward D. Wood Jr..
Lugosi was married to Ilona Szmik (1917 - 1920), Ilona von Montagh (? - ?), and Lillian Arch (1933 - 1951). He is the father of Bela Lugosi Jr. (1938). Lugosi helped organize the Screen Actors Guild in the mid-'30s, joining as member number 28.
Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack August 16, 1956. He was buried in a Dracula costume, including a cape, but not the ones used in the 1931 film, contrary to popular--but unfounded--rumors.Born as "Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó"; emigrated Hungarian.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Peter Lorre was born László Löwenstein in Rózsahegy in the Slovak area of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the son of Hungarian Jewish parents. He learned both Hungarian and German languages from birth, and was educated in elementary and secondary schools in the Austria-Hungary capitol Vienna, but did not complete. As a youth he ran away from home, first working as a bank clerk, and after stage training in Vienna, Austria, made his acting debut at age 17 in 1922 in Zurich, Switzerland. He traveled for several years acting on stage throughout his home region, Vienna, Berlin, and Zurich, including working with Bertolt Brecht, until Fritz Lang cast him in a starring role as the psychopathic child killer in the German film M (1931).
After several more films in Germany, including a couple roles for which he learned to speak French, Lorre left as the Nazis came to power, going first to Paris where he made one film, then London where Alfred Hitchcock cast him as a creepy villain in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), where he learned his lines phonetically, and finally arrived in Hollywood in 1935. In his first two roles there he starred as a mad scientist in Mad Love (1935) directed by recent fellow-expatriate Karl Freund, and the leading part of Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment (1935), by another expatriate German director Josef von Sternberg, a successful movie made at Lorre's own suggestion. He returned to England for a role in another Hitchcock film, Secret Agent (1936), then back to the US for a few more films before checking into a rehab facility to cure himself of a morphine addiction.
After shaking his addiction, in order to get any kind of acting work, Lorre reluctantly accepted the starring part as the Japanese secret agent in Thank You, Mr. Moto (1937), wearing makeup to alter his already very round eyes for the part. He ended up committed to repeating the role for eight more "Mr. Moto" movies over the next two years.
Lorre played numerous memorable villain roles, spy characters, comedic roles, and even a romantic type, throughout the 1940s, beginning with his graduation from 30s B-pictures The Maltese Falcon (1941). Among his most famous films, Casablanca (1942), and a comedic role in the Broadway hit film Arsenic and Old Lace (1944).
After the war, between 1946 and '49 Lorre concentrated largely on radio and the stage, while continuing to appear in movies. In Autumn 1950 he traveled to West Gemany where he wrote, directed and starred in the critically acclaimed but generally unknown German-language film The Lost Man (1951), adapted from Lorre's own novel.
Lorre returned to the US in 1952, somewhat heavier in stature, where he used his abilities as a stage actor appearing in many live television productions throughout the 50s, including the first James Bond adaptation Casino Royale (1954), broadcast just a few months after Ian Fleming had published that first Bond novel. In that decade, Lorre had various roles, often to type but also as comedic caricatures of himself, in many episodes of TV series, and variety shows, though he continued to work in motion pictures, including the Academy Award winning Around the World in 80 Days (1956), and a stellar role as a clown in The Big Circus (1959).
In the late 50s and early 1960s he worked in several low-budget films, with producer-director Roger Corman, and producer-writer-director Irwin Allen, including the aforementioned The Big Circus and two adventurous Disney movies with Allen. He died from a stroke the year he made his last movie, playing a stooge in Jerry Lewis' The Patsy (1964).Born as "László Löwenstein"; emigrated Hungarian.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
The great American escape artist and magician Houdini (immortalized by a memorable performance by Tony Curtis in the eponymous 1953 film) was born Erich Weiss on March 24, 1874 in Budapest, Hungary, though he often gave his birthplace as Appleton, Wisconsin, where he was raised. One of five brothers and one daughter born to rabbi Samuel Weiss and his wife Cecilia, the future Houdini was four years old when his parents emigrated to the U.S., where Weiss, as "Harry Houdini", became one of the major celebrities of the first age dominated by the mass media.
His boyhood was spent in poverty and, when he was 17, he conjured up a magic act with his friend Jack Hayman, in order to escape the poverty and anonymity of manual labor which would likely have been his lot in life. Young Erich had been fascinated with magic since he was a young lad, when he was in the audience of a magic show put on by a traveling magician named Dr. Lynch. Billing themselves as the "Houdini Bros." in tribute to French magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, Erich Weiss became an entertainer, though it took him some seven years to catch on.
Weiss and Hayman specialized in the Crate Escape (eventually known as Metamorphosis or The Substitution Trunk), and Houdini's brother Theodore replaced Hayman when he became uninterested in the act. Eventually, Theodore -- billed as Hardeen -- was replaced by Wilhemina Rahner (known as Bess), the woman "Harry Houdini" would eventually marry. The marriage on June 22, 1894 caused a conflict with his Jewish family as Bess was a Roman Catholic. They married in secret, then again at a synagogue and in a Catholic church to please both of their families.
While developing his act, Houdini was not above the old carny trick of posing as a spirit medium, making the rounds of the town clerk's office and nearby cemeteries in order to provide "messages from beyond". In 1896, while visiting a doctor friend in Nova Scotia, he saw his first strait jacket, which gave him the idea of developing an act in which he would escape from it.
Houdini finally hit the big-time when he was 24 years old with his Challenge Act in 1898, while he was making the rounds of vaudeville. Houdini's Challenge Act consisted of him escaping from a pair of handcuffs produced by an audience member. Eventually, this evolved into escapes from strait jackets, boxes, crates, safes, and other instruments and devices (such as his Water Torture Cell), as well as from jail cells. Houdini was also adept at escaping from being "buried alive". Hand-cuffed and strait-jacketed, he could escape while being hung upside down from a crane, or while lowered from a bridge, or even make his escape from padlocked crates lowered into a river.
Houdini also became famous as a debunker of mediums and "experts" of the paranormal, but this was done in hope he could find an actual medium that could communicate with the dead so that he could communicate with his beloved mother Cecilia after she passed away. He became quite famous in the ragtime age of the first quarter of the last century, even appearing in motion pictures produced by his own company.
Harry Houdini, the greatest magician ever produced by America, died in Detroit, Michigan during a national tour. The cause of death officially was peritonitis from a ruptured appendix. His death came nine days after having been punched in the stomach during the Canadian leg of the tour by J. Gordon Whitehead, a McGill University student who was testing Houdini's famed ability to take body blows. Always the trouper, Houdini had soldiered on despite stomach pains. (Early during the tour, he had broken an ankle but did not let it stop him or the tour.) His wife Bess, to whom Houdini left his half-million dollar estate, collected a double indemnity on his life insurance policy, as the blow was considered to have shortened the great magician's life and contributed to his premature death at the age of 52.
The date of his death was October 31, 1926 -- Halloween, one of three days (October 31-November 2) of Samhain, the Celtic New Year, when the veil between the living and the dead allegedly is at its thinnest and the living can make contact with the dead. Annually on Halloween from 1927 to 1937, Bess held a séance to try to contact her departed husband. She did not succeed, though she helped keep the memory of her husband alive in the American consciousness. Even today, magicians worldwide conduct séances on Halloween in an effort to contact the late escapologist.Born as "Erik Weisz"; emigrated Hungarian.- Additional Crew
- Producer
- Actor
Adolph Zukor was a poor Hungarian immigrant when he arrived in the United States in 1889. He tried his hand in the fur trade (starting as a sweeper for $2 a week pay) and proved his entrepreneurial acumen by steady advancement, eventually setting up successful businesses in New York and Chicago. By the time he reached thirty, he had already amassed a considerable personal fortune. As early as 1903, Zukor astutely forecast the prospective financial rewards to be made from the burgeoning celluloid medium. Within a decade, he became heavily involved in the independent production of 'flickers', setting up penny arcades with nickelodeons and shooting galleries. In partnership with Marcus Loew, Zukor soon operated a major chain of cinemas. In 1912, he acquired the American rights to a popular French four-reel feature film, Les amours de la reine Élisabeth (1912), starring Sarah Bernhardt. The picture premiered at New York's Lyceum Theatre and its inevitable box office success led Zukor to challenge the notion -- commonly held by thespians of the period -- that motion pictures were inferior to the stage and were 'beneath' stage actors. In short order, he succeeded in persuading important Broadway-based stars like Minnie Maddern Fiske and James K. Hackett to join his Famous Players Film Company (set up in partnership with Loew Enterprises and veteran impresario Daniel Frohman). Other big names soon followed: Marie Doro, Pauline Frederick, Henry Ainley, Florence Reed, to name but a few. The undisputed star on the Famous Players roster, however, was Mary Pickford -- signed for two years in August 1916.
Four days after Pickford signed her contract, Zukor inaugurated the forthcoming wave of Hollywood mergers by combining his interests with those of pioneer producer Jesse L. Lasky to create Famous Players-Lasky. Several other companies -- Morosco, Bosworth and Pallas -- were also acquired. The distribution chain Paramount Pictures Corporation, jointly created by Zukor and Lasky in 1914, served to ensure nationwide distribution (more than a hundred additional cinemas were purchased near the end of the decade, including prestige venues such as the Rialto and Rivoli on Broadway). By 1919, Zukor effectively dominated the film industry in America. At least half of the major stars in the business were on his payroll. Realart Pictures Corporation was added to the mix as an outlet for second features while the A-grade output was released through Artcraft. Two production facilities were in place, one in Hollywood, the other, Astoria Studios, in New York. A partnership between Zukor and newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst also resulted in the formation of Cosmopolitan Productions (as a vehicle for films starring Hearst's mistress, Marion Davies). In 1924, Zukor's theatres began to proliferate even in Europe with the opening of the Paris Paramount and the London Plaza. Zukor further cemented this preeminent position in the industry by promoting the practice of 'block-booking'. This was a way of coercing independent theatre owners who wished to exhibit the films of a bankable box office star to also take a package -- sight unseen -- which was bound to include much of the lesser Realart product.
Between 1920 and 1923, Paramount averaged an annual profit of $4.5 million. By 1930, that figure had risen to $18.4 million. Wile this was largely the result of clever marketing and effective distribution, Zukor's shrewd, multifarious financial machinations had also contributed greatly to that success. He was not particularly concerned with film making itself, other than the monetary aspects (a long-standing dispute between Zukor and Cecil B. DeMille over budgets and salary demands led to Paramount's premier director departing the company in 1925). The artistic impetus for Paramount's rise to preeminence in the 20's was provided by the likes of Lasky and the creative genius of B.P. Schulberg (an independent producer with a keen eye for talent, hired in 1926 to head the West Coast studios as vice president in charge of production). Zukor, conversely, rarely left New York (except for a brief visit West in 1936 to help restructure the company).
In 1932, Paramount went bankrupt and declared a $ 15.8 million deficit. Chiefly to blame for this decline was an over-expansion propelled by Zukor himself, in particular the acquisition of the Publix theatre chain which had been bought with Paramount stock -- stock rendered all but worthless after the Wall Street Crash. Heads rolled, including those of Schulberg, sales chief Sidney Kent, and, ultimately, Lasky. Zukor, the consummate survivor, remained in place as company president until 1936, thereafter holding the position of chairman of the board and chairman emeritus until his death at the extraordinary age of 103. He went on to preside over a revitalised and profitable organisation (though no longer the industry leader it had been the 1920's -- a mantle now held by MGM). During the 1940's, Paramount showed record profits ($39.2 million in 1946)), a trend which continued through the 50's.
Zukor was described as mild-mannered, lean and aquiline in appearance, a reserved man who did not make friends easily. He also had a reputation for ruthlessness, which people like Samuel Goldwyn and Lewis J. Selznick could certainly attest to. Above all, he was a shrewd financier, never more than a self-proclaimed merchant with a 'calculated vision' who 'looked ahead a little and gambled a lot'.Born as "Adolf Zukor"; emigrated Hungarian.
Founder of Paramount Pictures.- Additional Crew
- Producer
- Writer
Starting at the age 8 he had a series of jobs before starting his own business in 1900, which was sold to buy a Brooklyn nickelodeon in 1904. As the new owner with an empty house, Fox hired a coin manipulator and a barker to attract patrons into the dark 146-seat theatre. Once audiences adequately understood what moving pictures were, live acts were dispensed with. More nickelodeons were opened and he became a successful film exhibitor. He then won a long legal battle against Thomas Edison's Motion Pictures Patent Company, ending the film trust and allowing him to start his own production company in 1913. Operations were consolidated into the Fox Film Corporation in 1915. Theda Bara and Tom Mix starred in successful pictures made at the Fox Hollywood studios and the profits from them, and from the 1000 house Fox theatre chain, paid for "artistic" projects like Sunrise (1926), for awards and critical acclaim. In 1927, Fox acquired the American patent rights to the sound-on-film process developed by a Swiss firm. Fox pioneered the widescreen film with The Big Trail (1930). Poised for the future of talkies, he attempted to buy MGM just in time for 1929s stock market crash. In 1930 Fox was forced out of his company after a federal anti-trust investigation. His version is told in 1933 Upton Sinclair's book, 'Upton Sinclair Presents William Fox.' In 1936, a year after Darryl F. Zanuck's 20th Century Pictures merged with Fox Films, Fox bribed a judge during the liquidation of his holdings in bankruptcy proceedings. His sentence, a year in prison, began in 1941. Paroled in 1943, he was a pariah in Hollywood. Though secure from his many patent holdings, the industry for which he had been so visionary was closed to him. A virtual pariah at the time of his death, no industry representative came to eulogize at his funeral.Born as "Vilmos Fried"; emigrated Hungarian.
Founder of Fox Films (which merged with 20th Century Pictures in 1935, and is now known as 20th Century Fox).- Producer
- Production Manager
- Director
The son of an out-of-work bookkeeper, Pasternak arrived in the U.S. from Hungary in 1921. After working in a belt factory in Philadelphia, he moved to New York where he plucked chickens and worked in a cafeteria. Becoming increasingly infatuated with the film business, it didn't take him long to find a job at the Long Island Paramount studio as a busboy and washing dishes in the commissary for 15 $ a week. His easy manner earned him the sobriquet 'Smiling Joe' and he was invited to do a screen test, which went rather badly. As acting seemed out of the question, one of Paramount's directors took pity on the young man and gave him a tryout as fourth assistant. By 1923, Joe had advanced to second assistant and was regularly associated with the films of his protégé, Allan Dwan. When Paramount closed their Long Island facility, Joe made the trip to Hollywood, but found work scarce. However, his effort as director of a low budget two-reel comedy was noticed by the director Wesley Ruggles, who promptly engaged him as his assistant at Universal studios. In 1926, he was packed off to Europe to act as talent scout and, after another two years, was offered the position of manager of their European operation, Deutsche Universal-Film AG, based in Berlin.
From 1929, Joe also worked as producer of a string of German, Austrian and Hungarian light entertainments, a mixture of musicals, comedies and romances. In 1935, Universal, in dire financial straits, wound down their European unit and a new management recalled Joe to Hollywood. Within a year, he managed to almost single-handedly save the studio from bankruptcy through his canny promotion of charismatic teenage singing sensation Deanna Durbin (a recent acquisition from MGM) to star status. At the same time, he imported several fellow Hungarian émigrés into Hollywood, notably his close friend, the talented director Henry Koster, and his brother-in-law, the character actor S.Z. Sakall, who was to become fondly known as 'Cuddles'. Assigning direction to Koster, Joe produced the hugely successful box office hit Three Smart Girls (1936), followed by nine more musical outings in a similar vein, which brought fame and fortune to both Deanna and Joe, and put Universal financially in the pink. Joe stuck to the same formula (wholesome , Cinderella-type stories with polished musical interludes) on every occasion, using a tried-and-tested crew of writers and directors - all musical comedy experts - including Koster, Norman Krasna, Edward Ludwig and Norman Taurog. After launching the career of another talented juvenile soprano named Gloria Jean, Joe proceeded to revive the flagging fortunes of former Paramount star Marlene Dietrich, remodelling her image into one that was more approachable to a general audience. He effectively recast her original 'Blue Angel' bar room singer as wisecracking, good-hearted saloon girl Frenchy in Destry Rides Again (1939), a gently self-mocking western, which turned out to be one of the biggest hits for Universal in 1939.
In 1941, now firmly ensconced in Hollywood as the 'king of musicals', Joe made the natural progression by joining MGM, the organisation most adept at this particular genre. While Arthur Freed headed the A-team, Joe was assigned the second string production unit at MGM, which handled operettas and light musical entertainments. During his tenure, Joe became protégé to Kathryn Grayson and Jane Powell and helped to make swimming talent Esther Williams into a bankable movie star. He had huge successes with operatic films, like Mario Lanza's The Great Caruso (1951) and The Merry Widow (1952). He also handled some lavish, big budget extravaganzas, including Thousands Cheer (1943), Anchors Aweigh (1945) and the compelling, though fictionalised, story of Ruth Etting, Love Me or Leave Me (1955). Joe rounded off his career with a trio of Elvis Presley musicals and produced the 1966 Academy Award ceremonies (the first to be filmed in colour), at which one of the most honoured films was the David Lean-directed epic Doctor Zhivago (1965) - which just happened to have been authored by Joe's distant relative Boris Pasternak. Joe retired in 1968 with an impressive one hundred production credits to his name, and died in Hollywood in September 1991 at the age of 89.Born as "Paszternák Jakab", emigrated Hungarian.- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Curtiz began acting in and then directing films in his native Hungary in 1912. After WWI, he continued his filmmaking career in Austria and Germany and into the early 1920s when he directed films in other countries in Europe. Moving to the US in 1926, he started making films in Hollywood for Warner Bros. and became thoroughly entrenched in the studio system. His films during the 1930s and '40s encompassed nearly every genre imaginable and some, including Casablanca (1942) and Mildred Pierce (1945), are considered to be film classics. His brilliance waned in the 1950s when he made a number of mediocre films for studios other than Warner. He directed his last film in 1961, a year before his death at 74.Born as "Kaminer Manó", later known as "Mihály Kertész"; emigrated Hungarian.- Additional Crew
Jolie Gabor was born on 30 September 1896 in Budapest, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Budapest, Hungary). She is known for Captain Blackjack (1950), The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950) and All Star Revue (1950). She was married to Count Edmond de Szigethy, Peter Howard Christman and Vilmos Gabor. She died on 1 April 1997 in Rancho Mirage, California, USA.Born as "Janka Tilleman"; emigrated Hungarian.
Mother of Magda, Eva and Zsa Zsa Gabor.- Magda Gabor was born on 11 June 1914 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]. She was an actress, known for Mai lányok (1937), Tokaji rapszódia (1937) and The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950). She was married to Tibor Heltai, George Sanders, Tony Gallucci, Sidney R. Warren, William Rankin and Jan de Bichovsky. She died on 6 June 1997 in Palm Springs, California, USA.Born as "Magda Gábor"; emigrated Hungarian.
Daughter of Jolie Gabor, sister of Eva and Zsa Zsa Gabor. - Actress
- Soundtrack
Eva Gabor was born on February 11, 1919 in Budapest, Hungary, to Jolie Gabor (née Janka Tilleman) and Vilmos Gabor (born Farkas Miklós Grün), a soldier. Her older siblings were Magda Gabor, an actress, and Zsa Zsa Gabor, an actress and socialite. Her parents were both from Jewish families. She went to Hollywood, California, to act in the 1930s. Her mother escaped from Nazi-occupied Budapest in the 1940s, also settling in the U.S.
Eva appeared both in films and on Broadway in the 1950s, as well as in several "A"-movies, including The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), starring Elizabeth Taylor, and Artists and Models (1955), which featured Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
In 1953, she was given her own television talk show, The Eva Gabor Show (1953). Throughout the rest of the 1950s and early 1960s, she appeared on television and in movies. She appeared on one episode of the mystery series Justice (1954), and was on the game show What's My Line? (1950) as the "mystery challenger". Her film appearances during this period include a remake of My Man Godfrey (1957), Gigi (1958) and It Started with a Kiss (1959).
However, she is best remembered as Lisa Douglas, the socialite turned farm wife on Green Acres (1965) with co-star Eddie Albert playing her attorney husband Oliver Wendell Douglas. Eva Gabor died at age 76 from respiratory failure and pneumonia on July 4, 1995 in Los Angeles, California.Born as "Éva Gábor"; emigrated Hungarian.
Daughter of Jolie Gabor, sister of Magda and Zsa Zsa Gabor.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Undoubtedly the woman who had come to epitomize what we recognize today as "celebrity," Zsa Zsa Gabor, is better known for her many marriages, personal appearances, her "dahlink" catchphrase, her actions, gossip, and quotations on men, rather than her film career.
Zsa Zsa was born as Sári Gabor on February 6, 1917 in Budapest, Hungary, to Jolie Gabor (née Janka Tilleman) and Vilmos Gabor (born Farkas Miklós Grün), both of Jewish descent. Her siblings were Eva Gabor and Magda Gabor. Zsa Zsa studied at a Swiss finishing school, was second runner-up in the fifth Miss Hungary pageant, and began her stage career in Vienna in 1934. In 1941, the year she obtained her first divorce, she followed younger sister Eva to Hollywood.
A radiant, beautiful blonde, Zsa Zsa began to appear on television series and occasional films. Her first film was at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Lovely to Look At (1952), co-starring Kathryn Grayson and Red Skelton. She next made a comedy called We're Not Married! (1952) at 20th Century Fox with Ginger Rogers. It was far from a star billing; she appeared several names down the cast as a supporting actress. But in 1952 she broke into films big time with her starring role opposite José Ferrer in Moulin Rouge (1952), although it has been said that throughout filming, director John Huston gave her a very difficult time.
In the following years, Zsa Zsa slipped back into supporting roles in films such as Lili (1953) and 3 Ring Circus (1954). Her main period of film work was in the 1950s, with other roles in Death of a Scoundrel (1956), with Yvonne De Carlo, and The Man Who Wouldn't Talk (1958) with Anna Neagle; again, these were supporting roles. By the 1960s, Zsa Zsa was appearing more as herself in films. She now appeared to follow her own persona around, and cameo appearances were the order of the day in films such as Pepe (1960) and Jack of Diamonds (1967). This continued throughout the 1970s.
She was memorable as herself in The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991), in which she humorously poked fun at a 1989 incident where she was convicted of slapping a police officer (Paul Kramer) during a traffic stop. She spent three days in jail and had to do 120 hours of community service. Such infamous incidents contributed to her becoming one of the most all-time recognizable of Hollywood celebrities, and sometimes ridiculed as a result. She was also memorable to British television viewers on The Ruby Wax Show (1997).
In 2002, Gabor was reported to be in a coma in a Los Angeles hospital after a horrifying car accident. The 85-year-old star was injured when the car she was traveling in hit a utility pole in West Hollywood, California. The reports about her coma eventually proved to be inaccurate.
Zsa Zsa's life, spanning two continents, nine husbands, and 11 decades, came to an end on December 18, 2016, when she died of cardiac arrest in Los Angeles, California. She was 99.Born as "Sári Gábor"; emigrated Hungarian.
Daughter of Jolie Gabor, sister of Magda and Eva Gabor.- Vilma Bánky appeared in Hungarian, Austrian and French movies between 1920 and 1925, the year in which Samuel Goldwyn signed her, in Budapest, to a Hollywood contract. In Hollywood she was billed as the "The Hungarian Rhapsody". In the mid and late 1920s she was Goldwyn's biggest money maker, especially playing with Ronald Colman. Her best-known works were with Rudolph Valentino: daughter of a Russian aristocrat in The Eagle (1925) and an Arab dancer in The Son of the Sheik (1926). Her first talking movie was This Is Heaven (1929). She toured the U.S. in "Cherries Are Ripe" with her husband Rod La Rocque in 1930-1 and, the next year, went with him to Germany to make her last film.Born as "Vilma Koncsics"; emigrated Hungarian.
Sister of Viktor Bánky. - Editor
- Director
- Writer
Viktor Bánky was born on 17 January 1899 in Nagydorog, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]. Viktor was an editor and director, known for Bors István (1939), Ma, tegnap, holnap (1941) and Boldoggá teszlek (1944). Viktor was married to Panni Kéry and Pókay, Magda. Viktor died on 13 March 1967 in Munich, West Germany.Born as "Viktor Koncsics"; emigrated Hungarian.
Brother of Vilma Bánky.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Hungarian-born Karoly Vidor spent the First World War as a lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian infantry. Following the armistice, he made his way to Berlin and worked for the German film company Ufa, as editor and assistant director. In 1924, he emigrated to the U.S. and, for several years, earned his living as a singer in Broadway choruses and (at one time) with a Wagnerian troupe. While little detail is extant of this period in his career, it enabled him to accumulate the means with which to finance his own project: an experimental short film entitled The Bridge (1929). On the strength of this, he was signed by MGM to co-direct his first feature film The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932). For the remainder of the decade, Vidor worked with relatively undistinguished material at various studios, notably RKO (1935) and Paramount (1936-37). In 1939, he joined Columbia, where he remained under contract until 1948.
Vidor's career is something of an enigma. Never a particularly prolific filmmaker, his output has been variable. It includes a good-looking, but decidedly stodgy romance, The Swan (1956) (starring Grace Kelly in her penultimate screen role); and the interminably dull remake of A Farewell to Arms (1957). On the other side of the ledger is the lavish showbiz biopic of singer Ruth Etting, Love Me or Leave Me (1955), for which Vidor elicited powerhouse performances from his stars Doris Day and James Cagney. Frank Sinatra, also, gave one of his best performances as nightclub entertainer Joe E. Lewis, descending into alcoholism in The Joker Is Wild (1957). Other Vidor standouts are Ladies in Retirement (1941), a gothic Victorian thriller, tautly directed and maintaining its suspense, despite a relatively claustrophobic setting (among the cast, as Lucy the maid, was actress Evelyn Keyes, who became Vidor's third wife in 1944). Finally, two Rita Hayworth vehicles, the breezy musical Cover Girl (1944), and Vidor's principal masterpiece, the archetypal film noir Gilda (1946). This cleverly plotted, morally ambiguous tale of intrigue and ménage-a-trois was one of Columbia's biggest money-earners to date.
Some of the wittier dialogue in "Gilda" was voiced in re-takes, long after primary filming had been completed. The same applies to the two main musical numbers, the show-stopping "Put the Blame on Mame", and "Amado Mio". Yet, under Vidor's direction, all the dramatic and musical elements blended perfectly. The film has an undeniably electric atmosphere, largely due to the chemistry between the three leads. When the same material was later re-worked as Affair in Trinidad (1952) (with a bigger budget), that chemistry was notably absent.
In 1948, Vidor fell out with studio boss Harry Cohn, taking him to court for alleged verbal abuse and exploitation. He wanted out of his contract. Having just married Doris Warner, daughter of Warner Brothers president Harry M. Warner, Vidor sensed opportunities in working at a more prestigious studio. Cohn wasn't going to let him go quietly. It was pretty much all over, when actor Steven Geray testified, that he had himself been on the receiving end of invective at the hands of Vidor on the set of "Gilda". Glenn Ford, who thought Vidor opportunistic, then went on the stand, relating, that Cohn routinely used foul language on everyone around him, rather than aiming at any individual in particular. The fact that Vidor was not the easiest man to get along with, became evident during filming of the Liszt biopic Song Without End (1960). Both his stars (Dirk Bogarde and Capucine) found him to be ill-tempered and erratic. However, since Vidor died before the film was completed (George Cukor taking over), other factors may have played a part. In the final analysis, for "Gilda" alone, Charles Vidor deserves a niche in Hollywood heaven.Born as "Károly Vidor"; emigrated Hungarian.- Director
- Writer
- Production Designer
Budapest-born director Paul Fejos first called attention to himself in Kecskemét, Hungary, as a student actor. During World War I he was a soldier in the army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and after the war he became a student of chemistry. His artistic inclination, however, drew him to the scenery workshop of the local opera house. In 1919 he organized the film-scenic affairs of the Government of the Commune. Later he became scenic director of Orient Film and in 1920 he was the leading director for the Mobil Film Co., and also wrote the scripts for his films. His early works are adventure sketches, but even they show his growing reputation for demanding high standards. He still kept his hand in stage work, though, and tried to establish a folklorist passion play in the Hungarian city of Mikófalva.
In 1923, after the failure of his film Egri csillagok (1923), he left Hungary. Arriving in Vienna, Austria, he worked with the legendary Max Reinhardt, then traveled to Berlin to study with Fritz Lang. He later went to the US, working at the Rockefeller Institute for Chemistry as an assistant chemist, eventually becoming a medical bacteriologist. His passion for film never left him, though, and in 1927 he used his own money to produce and direct an avant-garde piece called "Az utolsó pillanat", which told the story of a suicide victim. The film was critically and financially successful, and Universal Pictures put him under contract. His next film was Lonesome (1928), a sweet film about two lonely people who meet at an amusement park, enjoy a wonderful day together but lose each other in the crowd and frantically search for each other. In 1932 he returned to Hungary to shoot two films for a French production company: Ítél a Balaton (1933) and Spring Shower (1932), a tale of a servant girl for a wealthy family who is fired and driven from her village when she gets pregnant by the fiance of the family's daughter.
He stayed in Europe for a while, shooting films in Austria and Denmark, then traveled to Asia and spent several years shooting documentaries. He made his last film in 1941 and switched careers to archaeological and anthropological research. He led an archaeological expedition to ancient Inca towns in South America, and published several scientific papers. He was President of the Wenner-Green Foundation and spent time lecturing on archaeology. He died in New York City in 1963.Born as "Pál Fejős", also known as "Paul Fejos"; emigrated Hungarian.- Actress
- Soundtrack
From the day she was born Martha lived in a world of music. For sure her father was a banker but he was also an amateur pianist. As for her mother, she was a housewife but also a very talented opera singer who had given up her career for the joys of matrimony and motherhood. It does not come as a surprise, under such circumstances, that the little girl's singing capacities were soon discovered. At eight she was already on a scene singing an aria from "The Barber of Seville". A critic attended the show and was impressed by her performance. He introduced her to the director of the Magyar Theater, where she landed her first contract. As of the age of 10 she was hailed as Hungary's "national idol". And it was not long before her triumph became international. An operetta, "Pogasza", was written specially for the crystal-clear-voiced little singer. Among others, she played the role of the doll in "Tales of Hoffmann" and starred in "Das Veilchen vom Montmartre" by Kalman. With the advent of sound films, she found herself very much in demand in the 1930s, bringing her beautiful voice and looks to yet more delighted viewers. It is on the set of "Mein Herz ruft nach dir" that she met Jan Kiepura, another successful opera and operetta singer. Although it was not love at first sight, Jan and Martha gradually fell in love, married two years later, had two sons and were separated only by death with the demise of Jan in 1966. In 1938, the couple fled Austria after its annexation by Hitler and settled down in the South of France first then in the USA. Martha made fewer movies but kept on singing. For instance she co-starred in "The merry Widow" in Broadway for three years with Jan Kiepura. She became an American citizen in the fifties and currently lives in Rye, new York.Born as "Márta Eggerth"; emigrated Hungarian.- Director
- Writer
- Editor
László Kardos was born on 8 October 1905 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]. He was a director and writer, known for The Man Who Turned to Stone (1957), Dark Streets of Cairo (1940) and Small Town Girl (1953). He was married to Lenka Pasternak. He died on 11 April 1962 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Emigrated Hungarian.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Hungarian-born S.Z. Sakall was a veteran of German, Hungarian and British films when he left Europe because of the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi movement. In Hollywood from shortly after the outbreak of World War II, Sakall began appearing in comedies and musicals, often playing a lovable if somewhat excitable and/or befuddled uncle, businessman or neighborhood eccentric. Memorable as the waiter in Casablanca (1942) and as a somewhat lecherous Broadway producer in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). He retired from films in 1954 and died of a heart attack in Hollywood in 1955.Born as "Sándor Gärtner", also known as "Jenő Gerő"; emigrated Hungarian.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Oscar-winning actor Paul Lukas was born in Hungary and graduated from the School for Dramatic Arts. In 1916 he went to Kosice (Kassa) to be an actor; in 1918 he became an actor specializing in comedy. For ten years he was the most popular character player and romantic lead of the company. In 1918 he began making movies in Budapest and in the 1920s he began appearing in films in Austria as well. He journeyed to Hollywood in 1927, where he finally settled down. He wasn't untrue to the stage--he played Dr. Rank to Ruth Gordon's Nora in Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" in the Morosco Theatre in New York in 1937--but concentrated on films until 1948. In the '50s he started appearing on stage more and more, and worked in films and on TV only sporadically.Born as "Pál Lukács"; emigrated Hungarian.- Writer
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Joe Eszterhas was born on 23 November 1944 in Csakanydoroszlo, Hungary. He is a writer and producer, known for Basic Instinct (1992), Showgirls (1995) and Sliver (1993). He has been married to Naomi Baka since 30 July 1994. They have four children. He was previously married to Geraldine Javer.Born as "Jószef Esterhas"; emigrated Hungarian.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Along with László Kovács, a fellow student who fled Hungary in 1956, Zsigmond rose to prominence in the 1970s. He is known for his use of natural light and vivid use of color on features such as The Long Goodbye (1973) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).Emigrated Hungarian.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Director
László Kovács was born on May 14, 1933 in Cece, Hungary. He is known for his work on Easy Rider (1969), Five Easy Pieces (1970), Ghostbusters (1984) and Copycat (1995). He won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the ASC in 2002. He was married to Audrey. He died on July 22, 2007 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.Emigrated Hungarian.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Stunts
Diminutive 2'9" actor and circus performer Mihaly 'Michu' Meszaros was born in 1939 in Budapest, Hungary. Meszaros performed for the Hungarian National Circus prior to coming to America in the 1970s. Not surprisingly, he portrayed circus midgets in both "Big Top Pee-wee" and "Warlock: The Armageddon." Mihaly was best known for donning the furry full body costume as the titular rascally extraterrestrial on the hugely popular 1980s sitcom "ALF" in scenes that featured the little creature walking, running, or standing in complete view. He also appeared on the TV shows "H.R. Pufnstuf" and "Dear John." He performed stunts for the hit comedy "Look Who's Talking." In addition, Meszaros was the tiny butler Hans in the nifty horror flick "Waxworks" and the grotesquely mutated George Ramirez in the hilariously wacky cult favorite "Freaked." Moreover, Mihaly was a member of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. His hobbies included drinking scotch and smoking giant cigars. Meszaros died at age 76 after falling into a coma on June 13, 2016.Emigrated Hungarian.- Producer
- Writer
- Animation Department
Gábor Csupó is a Hungarian animator, film director, and producer. He has had a long career, but he is better known as the co-founder of animation studio Klasky-Csupo, Inc., a graphic design and animation studio based in Hollywood. The other major co-founder was his business partner and wife Arlene Klasky.
Gábor Csupó was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1952. At the time the country was known as the Hungarian People's Republic, a so-called "socialist republic" which served as a satellite state of the Soviet Union. He grew up during the Cold War (1947-1991). He started his animation career c. 1971, working as an animator for the animation studio Pannonia Film Studio. A state-financed company, Pannonia had a virtual monopoly in the Hungarian animation market. Csupó left the company and Hungary itself in 1975, migrating to Western Europe in search of better career opportunities.
While working in Sweden, Gábor Csupó met Arlene Klasky, an expatriate American animator who was a few years older than him. They started a relationship and were married to each other in 1979. Csupó came to the United States with her. He was able to find work as an animator at an American animation studio called Hanna-Barbera, which specialized on animated series for television. His relatively few credits with the company included the series "Casper and the Angels" (1979), "Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo" (1979-1980), and "The World's Greatest Super Friends" (1979-1980). All were short-lived works based on existing properties. None lasted more than 16 episodes.
In 1980, Gábor Csupó left Hanna-Barbera to start their own company with his wife Arlene Klasky their nephew Attila Csupó called Klasky-Csupo, Inc., a graphic design and animation studio based in Hollywood. Due to their lack of funds, the company's initial offices were just a spare room in its founders' apartment. For much of the 1980's, the company mainly worked on logo designs, feature film trailers, television show titles, and promos for various clients. The company acquired a reputation for creativity and originality, which allowed its founders to hire more personnel and expand its offices.
Csupo's first major career break came in 1987. James L. Brooks, founder of Gracie Films, was producing a new television show, "The Tracey Ullman Show" (1987-1990). It would include an animated segment featuring the Simpsons family, based on an idea by Matt Groening. Brooks needed an animation studio to handle production of the animation and hired Klasky Csupo to be that studio.
Csupo's ideas about the design of the Simpsons' characters were considered unorthodox. He and colorist Gyorgyi Peluce came up with the idea that all the characters would have yellow skin, and female character Marge Simpson would have blue hair. They felt that this would give the series a unique look. Gracie Films executives reportedly disliked the idea, but Groening liked it and convinced the others. The Simpsons caught on, and received their own spin-off series, called "The Simpsons" (1989-). Klasky Csupo served as the main company behind the series' animation for the first two seasons.
"The Simpsons" series had a larger cast of characters than the original short episodes for the "Ullman Show". The design of a supporting character called Dr. Nicholas "Dr. Nick" Riviera, an inept quack, was reportedly based on Csupo's own appearance. As the series progressed, Csupo had arguments with the executives of Gracie Film, over budgets and creative decisions. This resulted in Gracie deciding to terminate its relationship with Klasky Csupo in 1992, and to start a business relationship with rival animation studio Film Roman. Loosing its cash-cow series, Klasky Csupo was forced to fire much of its personnel.
The downturn in Klasky Csupo's fate was only temporary. In 1991, cable network Nickelodeon (which previously focused on live-action shows) wanted to add animated series to its line-up. Klasky Csupo's managed to convince the network to sign a contract about an original animation series called "Rugrats" (1991-2004). Starting out as an average television show, it turned to be a major commercial success. Production continued on-and-off for more than a decade, and the series received spin-off films and sequel series.
For most of the 1990s and the early 2000s, Klasky Csupo was a high-profile animation studio, with several television series in production. Gabor Csupo is credited as one of the main creators of "Rugrats", "Aaahh!!! Real Monsters" (1994-1997), "Santo Bugito" (1995-1996), "The Wild Thornberrys" (1998-2004), "Rocket Power" (1999-2004), "All Grown Up" (2003-2008), and "Rugrats Pre-School Daze" (2005). The company also had series by other creators. They worked with various networks, but the company's main customer was always Nickelodeon.
In 2006, Nickelodeon terminated its business relationship with Klasky Csupo, apparently due to its belief that the animation studio was producing work in an outdated style. The company went dormant for a number of years, though it has never been declared defunct. Gabor Csupo, on the other hand, was hired as the director of a live-action film: "Bridge to Terabithia" (2007). It was a relatively low-budget film with a cast consisting mainly of child actors, but tuned out be a minor box office hit (earning about 137 million dollars at the worldwide box office). The film in part served as a star vehicle for female lead AnnaSophia Robb, who was chosen for the role by Csupo himself.
Csupo returned to directing with the adult animated film "Immigrants" (2008). It featured two immigrants, one Hungarian and one Russian, getting in comical misadventures in modern day Los Angeles. Intended to become the start of a new franchise, the film failed to achieve much success.
Csupo next directed another live-action film, the fantasy film "The Secret of Moonacre" (2009). An adaptation of the novel "The Little White Horse" (1946) by Elizabeth Goudge, the film received only a limited release in a hand full of countries. The main star of the film was teenage actress Dakota Blue Richards, relatively popular in her native United Kingdom.
Csupo is living is semi-retirement in Hawaii for most of the 2010s, though he is reputedly attached to new projects and may yet make a comeback.Emigrated Hungarian.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Endre was born and raised in Hungary. He studied music and acting at the famous Cellar Theatre in Budapest, and started writing plays, composing and directing there at the age of 17. He visited regularly Jerzy Grotowski's Laboratory Theatre in Poland, Eugenio Barba's International School of Theatrical Anthropology in Germany, and graduated from the prestigious National University of Theatre and Film Arts as a director. After directing at the National Theatres of Pecs and Szeged, as well as Television and Radio he moved to Paris, then to New York directing for the stage as well as teaching acting, writing and directing at conservatories, universities and workshops all over Europe, North America and Asia, including at New York University, Espace Acteur, Smith College, Bard College, University of Southern California, etc. His directing repertoire spanned from classics to musicals, original and experimental projects to improvisation, with plays by Shakespeare, Moliere, Calderon, Goldoni, Chekhov, Stoppard, Brecht, Pinter, Orton, Ibsen and Miller, among other places, at the Biennale die Paris, Williamstown Theatre Festival, La Mama, New York, the Los Angeles Theatre Center and the Shakespeare World Congress. From New York he moved to Los Angeles to try his hand in films. He became a Producing Fellow at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, where he had written and produced several shorts. In the meantime, he acted in several dozen Hollywood movies and television shows. He has written and sold a dozen feature scripts from comedies to dramas, thrillers, historical adventures, documentaries, and biopics before he finally got his chance to write and direct his first feature, Torn From the Flag, a full-length documentary that went on to win awards at many festivals and had an Oscar run. This was followed by The Maiden Danced, sold on every continent, and invited to over 30 festivals worldwide, and Prima Primavera, which he wrote with director Janos Edelenyi. He continues acting for directors like David Fincher and Ron Howard, as well as guest starring in television series and New Media productions.Emigrated Hungarian.