Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2010 (22. évfolyam, 1-50. szám)
2010-10-08 / 38. szám
Hungarian Journal Tony Curtis, the Ultimate Movie Star Is Dead We knew him and we loved him and in the back of our minds there was always the thought that he was Hungarian - a poor Hungarian boy from the Bronx who made it big in Hollywood. He was proud of his Hungarian heritage too - a few years ago on a plane trip to Budapest, I heard him talk about it (it was a short film that every homecoming Hungarian could see on the Malév flights). For a few years, he lived in the Bel Air Crest enclosed property where the Consul General of Hungary has his residence and organizes events at the Clubhouse. He was a frequent guest at those events with his wife, the tall and beautiful fill. Once he posed for us with the Hírlap in his hand, but it was before the days of great digital cameras and all-knowing computers. It was not developed well, and now who knows where the negative is... Pictures may get lost or they may fade - I know the memory of Tony Curtis will never fade in our hearts. - Susan Jancso -HENDERSON, Nevada - Tony Curtis shaped himself from a 1950s movie heartthrob into a respected actor, showing a determined streak that served him well in such films as “Sweet Smell of Success,” “The Defiant Ones” and “Some Like It Hot.” The Oscar-nominated actor died Wednesday evening of cardiac arrest at home in the Las Vegas-area city of Henderson, Clark County Coroner Mike Murphy said Thursday. He was 85. “He died peacefully here, surrounded by those who love him and have been caring for him,” his wife, Jill Curtis, told The Associated Press outside their home. “All Tony ever wanted to be was a movie star. He didn’t want to be the most dramatic actor. He wanted to be a movie star, ever since he was a little kid.” Curtis began in acting with frivolous movies that exploited his handsome physique and appealing personality, but then steadily moved to more substantial roles, starting in 1957 in the harrowing show business tale “Sweet Smell of Success.” In 1958, “The Defiant Ones” brought him an Academy Award nomination as best actor for his portrayal of a white racist who escaped from prison handcuffed to a black man, Sidney Poitier. The following year, he domed women’s clothing and sparred with Marilyn Monroe in one of the most acclaimed film comedies ever, Billy Wilder’s “Some Like It Hot.” His first wife was actress Janet Leigh of “Psycho” fame; actress Jamie Lee Curtis is their daughter. “My father leaves behind a legacy of great performances in movies and in his paintings and assemblages,” Jamie Lee Curtis said in a statement Thursday. “He leaves behind children and their families who loved him and respected him and a wife and in-laws who were devoted to him. He also leaves behind fans all over the world.” Curtis struggled against drug and alcohol abuse as starring roles became fewer, but then bounced back in film and television as a character actor. His brash optimism returned, and he allowed his once-shiny black hair to turn silver. Again he came back after even those opportunities began to wane, reinventing himself as a writer and painter whose canvasses sold for as much as $20,000. “I’m not ready to settle down like an elderly Jewish gentleman, sitting on a bench and leaning on a cane,” he said at 60. “I’ve got a helluva lot of living to do.” Describing Curtis’ death as “a personal loss for me,” actor Kirk Douglas said in a statement Thursday: “Tony and I were two Jewish kids from poverty-level families who could not believe our luck in making it as big Hollywood stars.... I did three movies with him, and he was a much better actor than people realize: Look at ‘Some Like It Hof or ‘The Defiant Ones.’”" Poitier told The Times Thursday: “Tony Curtis loved life and life loved him. That’s as I found him throughout the shoot and across all the years that followed. “I think he left a mark as a presence and a person. And I’m sure that many males around the world saw him as kind of like a model for themselves. He was young and he was handsome and he was full of life. And he was available to people. But that was a part of the man’s nature.”' “He was a fine actor ... I shall miss him,” said British actor Roger Moore, who starred alongside Curtis in TV’s “The Persuaders.” “He was great fun to work with, a great sense of humor and wonderful ad libs,” Moore told Sky News. Another memorable role we saw Tony Curtis in, alongside with Roger Moore: The Persuaders Minden lében két kanál”) így láttuk először Magyarországon - a Trapéz-ben, a szélesvásznú Corvin mozi egyik első műsorában Gina Lollobrigidával Október 8,2010 S) SUBSCRIBE TO THE HÍRLAP! “We had the best of times.” Actress and activist Mario Thomas said she was saddened that Curtis’ death so closely followed the Sept. 22 death in Berkeley, Calif., of Eddie Fisher, a superstar singer of the 1950s who was married to Debbie Reynolds and then to Elizabeth Taylor. Fisher was 82. “Tony Curtis and Eddie Fisher in the same week. It’s very sad,” said Thomas, who starred in the late-1960s sitcom “That Girl” and won Emmy, Golden Globe, Grammy and Peabody awards. Thomas was in New York on Thursday promoting her book, “Growing up Laughing.” “He was funny, so very funny, very talented and a great spirit,” Thomas said of Curtis. “I found him to be a darling guy.” “From 22 to about 37,1 was lucky,” Curtis told Interview magazine in the 1980s, “but by the middle ‘60s, I wasn’t getting the kind of parts I wanted, and it kind of soured me. ... But I had to go through the drug inundation before I was able to come to grips with it and realize that it had nothing to do with me, that people weren’t picking on me.” He recovered in the early ‘80s after a 30-day treatment at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif. “Mine was a textbook case,” he said in a 1985 interview. “My life had become unmanageable because of booze and dope. Work became a strain and a struggle. Because I didn’t want to face the challenge, I simply made myself unavailable.” One role during that era of struggle did bring him an Emmy nomination: his portrayal of David O. Selznick in the TV movie “The Scarlett O’Hara War,” in 1980. He remained vigorous following heart bypass surgery in 1994, although his health had declined in recent years. Jill Curtis, his sixth wife, said Curtis had been hospitalized several times in recent weeks for treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung problems she blamed on smoking 30 years ago. She said he recently returned home, where died in his sleep. “His heart survived things that Tony would always say would kill an ordinary man,” she said. “This time, his heart was ready to go and ready to be at peace.” In a 2007 interview with the Las Vegas Sun, Tony Curtis described his frustration during a lengthy hospitalization for a bout with pneumonia in 2006. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported he was hospitalized several times in more recent years in Henderson and New York with breathing trouble, including once in July. Curtis took a fatherly pride in daughter Jamie’s success. They were estranged for a long period, then reconciled. “I understand him better now,” she said, “perhaps not as a father but as a man.” He also had five other children. Daughters Kelly, also with Leigh, and Allegra, with second wife Christine Kaufmann, also became actresses. His other wives were Leslie Allen, Andria Savio, Lisa Deutsch and Jill VandenBerg, whom he married in 1998. DUNA Travel 8530 Holloway Dr. #102 W. Hollywood, CA 90069 Spa, Hotel foglalások, Kocsi bérlés Kedvezményes repülőjegy árak LAX-BUD-LAX $575 -tői + Tax + Fee (2010. augusztus 30-tól) Információért hívják ZSUZSÁT TEL: (310) 652-5294 FAX: (310) 652-5287 1-888-532-0168 AMERIKA] Hfagyar Hírlap
