Hungarian Heritage Review, 1991 (20. évfolyam, 1-11. szám)
1991-03-01 / 3. szám
Actors Lya de Putti (appearing under the stage name of Lia Putty in Hungary) was one of the first silent film stars. She played lead parts in several early Hollywood pictures (Variety, 1926; The Sorrows of Satan, 1926; The Prince of Tempters, 1926; and Manón Lescaut, 1926.) Born in 1897 in Vecse, Hungary, she died in New York in 1931. Vilma Banky was a brunette sweetheart of the silent screen and the early talkies. She costarred with Ronald Colman in The Dark Angel(1925), The Night of Love (1927), The Magic Flame (1927) and Two Lovers (1928), while with Rudolph Valentino she starred in The Eagle (1925) and The Son of the Sheik (1926). In The Winning of Barbara Worth she headed a cast featuring Ronald Colman and Gary Cooper. In a Lady to Love (1930) Edward G. Robinson shared billing with her, while in The Rebel (1933) she starred with fellow Hungarian, Victor Varconi. Her acting ability was always glowingly critiqued, even when the vechile wasn't quite up to snuff. A New York Times review of the 1929 production This Is Heaven and entitled "Vilma Bankas Voice" reports that "Samuel Goldwyn's lovely Hungarian star... (who) for the first time speaks her lines. . . has a charming accent . . . Whether she is silent or talking, Miss Banky is always radiant. She really gives a clever performance in this piece of fluff." Victor Varconi (1891-1976), a protigy of American picture mogul, Cecil B. De Mille, masterfully relates his colorful Hollywood career in his posthumously released autobiography entitled It's not enough to be Hungarian (Denver: Graphic Impressions, 1976.192 p.) Performing in Hungary as Mihály Varkonyi, Victor Varconi's Hollywood career encompassed principal or lead roles in some 50 pictures including The Volga Boatman (1926), The King of Kings (1927), Roberta (1935), Suez (1938), Strange Cargo (1940) and For Whom the Bell Tolls, the 1943 adaption of the Hemingway novel. The career of lovely, elegant and blonde Ilona Massey (born Ilona Hajmassy) lasted nearly a quarter of a century. Her performances include Balalaika (1939) and Invisible Agent (1942) with Peter Lorre. She died in 1974. The superb character actor who appeared in innumerable films in his native Hungary under the professional name, Szoeke Szakall, modified his stage name to S.Z. Sakall in the States where he amassed an equally formidable roster of credits: 39 films between 1940 and 1951 with nary a minor role among them. His performances were consistently praised, as a matter of fact, in discussing the casting of roles in a major picture he appeared in, the New York Times exclaimed "who else" but Sakall could have been satisfactorily cast in a particular part. Paul Lukas was born Pal Lukacs in 1895 in Budapest. In America alone his career spanned 40 years and totalled 77 films - more than the prolific - Peter Lorre - not to mention numerous television performances. On Lukas' list of credits we can enumerate The Shopworn Angels (1929), Halfway to Heaven (1929), Strictly Dishonorable (1931), A Passport to Hell (1932), Little Women (1933), The Three Musketeers (1935), Dinner at the Ritz (1937), Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939), Strange Cargo (1940), They Dare Not Love (1941), Watch on the Rhine (1943). Berlin Express (1948), 20,000 Leagues Linder the Sea (1954) and Tender Is the Night (1962). Eva Bartók was born Marta Szőke in Budapest in 1929. She starred in such British films as Her Crime Was Love. Over the period from 1952 to 1965 her Hollywood credits included co-starring with Burt Lancaster in The Crimson Pirate (1952), with Gina Lollobrigida in A Tale of Five Women (1953), with Richard Todd in The Assassin (1953), and with Jack Hawkins in Front Page Story (1955). She was a smash success in Ten Thousand Bedrooms, the 1957 farce with Walter Slezak, Dean Martin and Anna Maria Alberghetti. She also made two pictures with Curt Jurgens: The Last Walt (1958) and Circus of Love (1958). A Bela Lugosi cult flourishes in perhaps every corner of the world. Best known for his characterization of Count Dracula, he also played Frankenstein, not to mention the variety of straight dramatic and comedic roles he undertook. Lugosi's film appeareances include The Rejected Woman (1924), Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) , Chandu the Magician (1932), Best Man Wins (1935), The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1935) and Ninotchka (1939). Peter Lorre was a character of near legendary magnitude whose devotees included Error Flynn, Humphery Bogart, and still include director-actor John Huston. Born in Hungary June 26, 1904 as László Loewenstein he was a highly individual character actor who already in 1935 was touted by Charlie Chaplin to be "the greatest living actor". In 1922 with a group of Viennese actors he pioneered the technique of improvisational acting. He made his first films in Germany, attracting international notice with "M" (1933) . After two films in Britain he settled mainly in Hollywood where upon his arrival he vowed never to work rather than be typecast as a murderous character - as the cliche goes, '"the rest is history ..." One of the screen's classic criminals, off screen the little 5'3" Hungarian enjoyed popularity as a cordial fellow exercising a keen sense of humor. He was a good friend of Bela Lugosi, another delight off screen. Lorre's credits of some 70 films include 8 "Mr. Moto" films, Strange Cargo (1940) with Paul Lukas and Mr. District Attorney (1941). He was a mainstay in the starstudded cast of the 1942 Casablanca, and appeared in The Maltese Falcon (1941), Invisible Agent (1942), Passage to Marseille (1944), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), The Chase (1946), Casbah (1948), and The Buster Keaton Story (1957). He died of a stroke March 24, 1964 at the age of 59 in his Hollywood home. His last picture, Torn Curtain, was released in 1966. 18 HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW MARCH 1991
