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Film, the Arts, & Media I, II >> This list is far from inclusive, but exemplifies, along with the other sections, the Hungarian Genius!  The Atomic Bomb, Model T, Matches, Television, Hollywood Movies, modern Computers and Binary, Supersonic Flight, the Telephone Exchange, the Carburetor, the Zeppelin, the Automatic Gearbox, the Moon Rover, and the Intel Corporation, all owe their existence to Hungarians!  According to the Associated Press, (AP-NY-10-26-96 1604EDT) people with some claim to Hungarian ancestry have been nominated for Oscars 136 times since 1929, when the first ones were handed out, and have taken home 30 of the golden statuettes. There's an old joke from the '30s about a sign on a movie studio wall reading "It's not enough to be Hungarian. You have to have talent." The joke refers to how a relatively small country had such an impact on the history of the movies. Another sign above MGM's commissary wrote: "Just because you're Hungarian, doesn't mean you're a genius!" I receive contributions to this list from all over the world. As I indicated earlier, I do get quite a bit of hate mail regarding this site and this list. I assure you that names are not added to this list until verified.  Click to [Submit] a Famous Hungarian. Please include a resource for verification purposes.

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Adolph Zukor - (b. 1873, Ricse, Hungary, d. 1976, Century City, CA)  "Mr. Motion Pictures" and Oscar Winner Producer and Founder of the Paramount Pictures Empire and Loew's Theatres. Produced the first full-length motion picture, "The Prisoner of Zenda." Received a special Academy Award in 1948 for his "contribution to the industry." One of the original studio "moguls." Zukor arrived in the US at 16, got one of his first jobs as a furrier's apprentice. Zukor worked his way up to become a well-heeled Chicago furrier and, in 1903, teamed with Marcus Loew to open the first of a series of penny arcades. Two years later the team formed Loew's Consolidated, with Zukor as treasurer of the far-flung empire of theaters. 80 years later, he was still going to work every day at Paramount Pictures. Adolph Zukor ruled Paramount Studios with an iron hand for decades, forming alliances with such other powerful and influential figures like these, shown left to Right: Jesse L. Lasky, Adolph Zukor, Samuel Goldfish (later Goldwyn), Cecil B. DeMille and Albert Kaufman - More at Hollywood.com

Joseph Pulitzer -  Publisher: Responsible for building of the Statue of Liberty He was a veteran of the Civil War and a member of the 1st New York Cavalry Regiment which he joined almost immediately upon his arrival in the US. After a time in NewYork sweatshops, he went west and became a reporter. He saved his money, bought partial ownership of the Westliche Post, and when successful sold it. He then bought the St. Louis Dispatch which he merged with the Evening Post, and once that was a success, went to New York, bought the New York World, and a publishing tycoon was born. He then turned his attention to the Statue of Liberty which sat disassembled in disgrace with New York refusing to pay for its erection. Pulitzer started a fund with this aim and put the name of anyone donating to this project in his newspaper. He understood snob appeal and the rest is history. This from www.pulitzer.org: "In the latter years of the 19th century, Joseph Pulitzer stood out as the very embodiment of American journalism. Hungarian-born, an intense indomitable figure, Pulitzer was the most skillful of newspaper publishers, a passionate crusader against dishonest government, a fierce, hawk-like competitor who did not shrink from sensationalism in circulation struggles, and a visionary who richly endowed his profession. His innovative New York World and St. Louis Post-Dispatch reshaped newspaper journalism. Pulitzer was the first to call for the training of journalists at the university level in a school of journalism. And certainly, the lasting influence of the Pulitzer Prizes on journalism, literature, music, and drama is to be attributed to his visionary acumen. In writing his 1904 will, which made provision for the establishment of the Pulitzer Prizes as an incentive to excellence, Pulitzer specified solely four awards in journalism, four in letters and drama, one for education, and four traveling scholarships."

Andrew Vajna -  Producer, Hollywood Legend: President of Cinergi Productions, co-Founder of Carolco Pictures Another Hungarian-born Hollywood "Mogul." Fled Soviet troops and left Hungary in 1956. During a career that spanned the globe, he has been one of the most important producers in Hollywood for the past 20 years. Carolco made motion picture history when it introduced a new cinematic hero, Rambo. Other Carolco projects include Music Box, Total Recall, Air America and Jacob's Ladder. Other films include Die Hard: With a Vengeance, Terminator, Color of Night, Judge Dredd, The Scarlett Letter, Oliver Stone's Nixon, Evita, An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, Shadow Conspiracy, Out of Order / A Miniszter félrelép and The 13th Warrior. Also founded Cinergi.  His recent film, An American Rhapsody, won international critical acclaim.  The film was close to Andrew Vajna as he is also Hungarian and left the country as a child.  - Read more at Hollywood.com or this article.

George Cukor - (b. 7/7/1899, New York, d. 1/23/1983, Los Angeles) Double Oscar Winning Director (seen on left with Audrey Hepburn) Best known in his earlier days as the man who brought many a classic costume novel to the screen, George Cukor's 50-plus year directing career later expanded to include thrillers, screwball romantic comedies, and even musicals.  Cukor lead eight of his leading ladies to Best Actress-nominated performances and himself received five Best Director nominations over the course of his career. Received the coveted prize for "Wizard of Oz," "My Fair Lady."  Other well-known films include "It Should Happen to You" (1954) and A Star is Born (1954). - Read more at Reel Classics or see film summaries and commentary here! - Filmography and more at IMDB

William Fox - (born Vilmos Fried, 1/1/1879, Tulchva, Hungary, d. 5/8/1952, New York) Producer and Hollywood Mogul - Founder of Fox Studios!  Fox began his US career in the garment trade and moved into the penny arcade business in 1904. He went on to develop successful film exhibition, distribution, and production operations, merging all three interests with the formation, in 1915, of the Fox Film Corporation, one of the most powerful and creative studios of the silent era. At the peak of his power, Fox owned over 500 movie houses in the US (he bought control of the giant Loew's, Inc.) and the Gaumont Theatres chain in Great Britain. By the end of the 1920s the company had accumulated several top stars and directors and produced a number of prestigious films; the stock market crash of 1929, however, forced the overextended Fox to sell his shares in the corporation. His company merged with 20th Century Pictures to form 20th Century Fox in 1935. In 1936, a year after Fox studios merged with 20th Century, 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. No industry representative came to eulogize at his funeral. Fox invented the global media newsgathering organization emulated today by CNN, BBC, ITN, DW and others. Fox secured his place in history by commercializing talking pictures and then introducing a larger movie screen.  Read about his patent fights for Talking Pictures and more at Media Visions.com - See his impressive Filmography at IMDB,  FabulousFox.com, or William Fox

Miklós Rózsa - (b. 1907, Budapest) Triple Oscar Winning Film Composer    Miklos Rozsa's exquisite string arrangements, powerful use of percussion and unconventional approach to composition would revolutionize the film score, raising the field to greater dramatic and evocative heights. A born musician, Rózsa began studying the violin at age five and became steeped in the folk music of his native land, an influence that could be detected in much of his later work. While his parents tried to steer him towards a more practical lifestyle, insisting he major in chemistry at the University of Leipzig, it wasn't long before he was enrolled in Leipzig Conservatory, training in musicology, preparing him for a long, successful and influential career in music. He began scoring films for fellow Hungarian Alexander Korda in England in the 1930s and went with him to Hollywood to make The Thief of Bagdad (1940). Rózsa's work ranges from the The Jungle Book (1942) to the intimate, disturbing accompaniment for Spellbound (1945) to the epic, scores of Julius Caesar (1953), Ben-Hur (1959) and El Cid (1961).  For twenty years, from 1945 to 1965, he was a professor at the University of Southern California, teaching and continuing to compose classical works.  Trivia: It was Rosza who began the vogue for recorded film scores, and he remained the most recorded of film composers for at least 40 years. Rozsa came up with the "dum dum dum dum" beginning of Dragnet! - See Miklos Rozsa  - The Ensemble Sospeso has an excellent article on Miklos - Read more on Hollywood.com or IMDB with an extensive Filmography

Béla Lugósi -  Actor - The Original Dracula!  Born Béla Ferenc Deszö Blaskó in Lugos, Hungary, in the Bánát, another part of Hungary awarded to Rumania. Some early tidbits: At the age of 13, Lugosi ran away from home to become an actor, but instead found himself working in the mines at Resicabanya (now Resita, Romania), located about 200 miles south of Lugos. At about the age of 17, he moved to Szabadka (now Subotica, Vojvodina, after Serbian annexation). He lived with his sister and widowed mother and went to work in the railway yard. It was in Szabadka that Lugosi got his first opportunity on the stage - as a chorus boy in an operetta, which was produced in the Nepszinhaz, or People's Theatre. By 1903, Lugosi was appearing at the Ferenc Jozsef Szinhaz (Franz Joseph Theatre) in Temesvar, the capital of Lugosi's home province of the Banat. In 1914, he enlisted in the Hungarian army. He was discharged in 1916 after convincing officials that he was "mentally unstable." Not soon after, he was married to Ilona Szmik on June 25, 1917. It was also during this time that he began appearing in movies. His first picture was A Leopárd, in which he played the lead role. He emigrated to the United States of America in December of 1920 with the Treaty of Trianon in which virtually all of the towns he lived and worked in, including his birthplace, were awarded to other countries. His first American film was 1923's The Silent Command, a suspenseful spy movie in which Bela played the bad guy. He officially became a US citizen on June 26, 1931. He took on the role of Count Dracula in Horace Liveright's play in place of actor Raymond Huntley in 1929. It played for 33 weeks on Broadway, and also toured the entire West Coast. Soon after, the rights to play were picked up by Universal Studios. Universal wanted Lon Chaney, Sr. to play the lead role, but Chaney died of throat cancer in 1930. It wasn't until after Chaney's death that Bela was even considered for the part of Count Dracula. The rest is history! Bela had a truly remarkable film career. See: Click HERE to listen to Bela speak as Dracula or hear many more at The Pit! - Visit the Béla Lugósi Homepage and see Béla Lugósi Films - See the well-designed Chamber of Dr. Werdegast for more, including bio, filmography and pictures! or IMDB

Franz Liszt - (b. Oct. 22, 1811 - Doborján, Hungary (AKA, Raiding after Austrian annexation); d. July 31, 1886 - Bayreuth, Germany) Classical Composer, "Greatest Pianist of All Time" A truly monumental composer. From the Franz Liszt Page: "Franz Liszt has emerged as one of the most awe-inspiring figures in all of music history. Regarded as the greatest pianist of all time, who outplayed such greats as Chopin and Thalberg, his genius extended far beyond the piano to expand musical composition and performance well beyond its 19th Century limitations. His unique compositions bewildered, inspired and inflamed the imaginations of his own era, yet quite miraculously he also laid the seeds for a series of schools that would flourish in the near and distant future. Namely, the Late Romantic, Impressionist and Atonal schools. For this Liszt is unique, and his immense-influence... monumental. He invented the symphonic poem, a new and elastic single-movement form, which many subsequent composers, like Richard Strauss & Saint-Saëns, embraced and is at the core of much contemporary and even popular music forms today." - For a short biography and zipped MIDI files, see The Classical Music Page or Visit The Franz Liszt Page.  - You can hear MIDI recordings of many Liszt favorites at the Classical Music Archive.   - The American Liszt Society maintains an excellent site with numerous links as well as a list of "Liszt Medal of Excellence" recipients.  - For those of you interested in studying music, visit the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. This world-renowned and former Royal Academy had Liszt as it's first President, and was home to such great musicians as Dohnanyi and Kodaly.

Tony Curtis  Oscar-Nominated Actor, Artist, and Hollywood Legend! The COOLEST cat ever to grace Hollywood! The son of a Hungarian immigrant (who had been an amateur actor in Budapest), Curtis was involved with street gangs as a child, but eventually joined the Navy during World War II. Upon his release, he used the GI educational program to study drama at New York's Dramatic Workshop. While playing the lead in a production of "Golden Boy," a Universal talent scout spotted him and Bernie Schwartz was signed to a seven-year contract (starting at $100 a week). His name was changed to "Anthony Curtis." He started his career at the movies in 1949. Tony has been called by critics, "The World's Favorite Movie Actor." Star of 106 films, including "The Defiant Ones," in 1958 (Oscar Nomination!), "Some Like it Hot" with Marilyn Monroe in 1959, "Trapeze," "Spartacus," "the Great Race,"  "Sweet Smell of Success" and "The Boston Strangler," in 1968. He also played the title role in a film about his fellow countryman, Houdini with his first wife, Janet Leigh, with whom he fathered the beautiful Jamie Lee Curtis. My favorite Tony quote: "What's the secret to a long and happy life? Young women's saliva!" As an artist, he has won international acclaim. From his site: "His bright acrylic canvases, which have been compared to Matisse, assemblages, collages and boxes are in the private collections of Billy Wilder, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, Frank and Kathy Lee Gifford, Lew Wasserman, Frank Sinatra, Arsenio Hall, Walter Mathau, Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. Tony's originals are also on display at the Butler Institute of American Art, the Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, The Toronto Museum, National Hungarian Museum, Harrods Department Store, Spago Restaurant, The Navy Memorial, The Mirage in Las Vegas, and the Caitlyn Gallery in St. Louis." Tony writes about his painting on the right: "My father and mother were Hungarian. When I was a young boy, my father regaled me with stories of the Hungarian countryside and gypsies. Living and growing up in New York City, I felt like a gypsy in that huge metropolis. Thus, you see the Gypsy Prince. It is based on a portrait of yours truly." - For more biographical info, visit: IMDB or Mr. Showbiz  - The Official Tony Curtis Fan Page with great picture gallery and links - See a Tony Curtis Fan's Page - See and BUY Tony's Art on tonycurtis.com!

Gene Simmons of KISS Legendary Rock-n-Roller! Born Chaim Witz in Haifa Israel in 1949, his mother Florence was a Hungarian survivor of a Nazi concentration camp, and his father Yechiel was a carpenter. Five years after his birth his parents separated, and when Chaim was only nine his mother brought him to live in the "Land of Opportunity" - the United States of America. Mother and son settled in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. Here's what Gene once said in a Goldmine interview with Ken Sharp:   "I was starting to learn English by watching TV, but certainly when I saw Pinocchio I thought the little cricket was talking to me. 'You, Gene, I'm talking to you. When you wish upon a star your dreams come true.'"  Gene also used comic books to learn English and was fascinated by the colors and pictures. The step from comics to horror movies and thrillers was a natural one after seeing a documentary on the great Lon Chaney. After seeing the historic Beatles appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 Gene's life was changed. It would be in this, his fifteenth year, that his mother would give him a secondhand Kent guitar, which she purchased for $15. "When I saw the Beatles on that program in 1964, I said, “Gee, you don’t have to get in line and do stuff like the Temptations, you can pick up a guitar and you don’t have to dance, you certainly don’t need a band in back of you, and anybody can do it." - Guitar Player 1978 Gene Speaks Hungarian, Turkish, Hebrew, and Spanish. He was also a sixth-grade teacher in Spanish Harlem!  - Read all about KISS at the KISS Asylum  - Read about Gene at Kissinuk.com, The Gene Simmons Biography, or Kiss Online.com

Brent Spiner - (b. 2/2/1949, Houston, TX) Actor and Trekkies' favorite android, Lieutenant Commander Data! "Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Spiner moved to New York after college, where he performed in numerous off-Broadway plays. "The play that finally pushed me over into the serious-actor category was a public theater production of 'The Seagull' [Anton Chekhov] for Joseph Papp," he says. Spiner eventually won roles in the Broadway musical productions of "Sunday in the Park with George," "The Three Musketeers" and "Big River," which was based on the story of Huckleberry Finn. After moving to Los Angeles in 1984, Spiner appeared in the Westwood Playhouse production of "Little Shop of Horrors." His other credits include the Woody Allen film "Stardust Memories," a cameo in the movie "The Miss Firecracker Contest" and guest-starring roles in such television series as Cheers, Twilight Zone, Night Court and Hill Street Blues. Spiner has also featured in the films "Phenomenon," "Independence Day" and "Out to Sea." In 2000, Brent portrayed Stromboli in Disney's musical live action version of "Geppetto." Spiner also appeared in the 2000 mini-series "A Girl Thing."  - from Star Trek.com - See the interview in Timeout NY Magazine  - See his filmography, pictures, and more at IMDB

Paul Newman - (b. 1/26/25, Cleveland) Oscar Winning Actor - Eight Oscar Nominations! His numerous acclaimed films include: "Cool Hand Luke," "Hud," "The Hustler," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "The Sting," "The Verdict," "Absence of Malice," "The Verdict," and "The Color of Money" in which he finally won the Oscar on his seventh try. Paul Newman has managed to maintain his matinee-idol status for over 40 years. His famous baby blues were as striking at 70, when he collected his eighth Best Actor Oscar nomination, for 1994's Nobody's Fool, as they had been at 30, when he made his feature-film debut in 1954's The Chalice. Newman was born in the brew-drenched burg of Cleveland, Ohio, the second and youngest child of German and Hungarian parents. His father was a partner in a successful sporting goods store, and thus Newman was raised in Cleveland's swanky Shaker Heights. suburb. "The embarrassing thing is that the salad dressing is out-grossing my films." In the twilight of his storied career, he became an ardent philanthropist; by the time the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored him with its Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1994, Newman had raised over $80 million in support of various charities. Proceeds from his "Newman's Own" line of food products go to charity. Nominated for Best Actor 1958 : CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF Nominated for Best Actor 1961 : THE HUSTLER Nominated for Best Actor 1963 : HUD Nominated for Actor 1967 : COOL HAND LUKE Nominated for Best Picture 1968 : RACHEL, RACHEL, Producer Nominated for Best Actor 1981 : ABSENCE OF MALICE Nominated for Best Actor 1982 : THE VERDICT - AMC TV and IMDB are excellent resources for all sorts of Paul Newman info.  - You can also visit a Paul Newman Biography

Michael Curtiz - (b. Manó Kertész Kaminer, 12/24,1898 Budapest, d. 4/10/1962, Hollywood, California) Oscar Winning Director of "Casablanca" From IMBD: He got his diploma at the School for Dramatic Arts in 1906. First he went to Pécs, then Szeged. He began acting in and then directing films in his native Hungary in 1912. The next year he went to Denmark to study the newest achievements of the new art in the studios of the then flourishing Nordisk company. Here he worked as assistant and director, acting as the main character in Atlantis (1913). Having returned in 1914 he went to the Jenő Janovics film factory in Kolozsvár (Cluj). In 1915 he moved back to the capital. In 1916 he worked for the Kinoriport, then he became a director for Phönix until Fall 1918. He shot 38 production in Hungary altogether. In 1919 he filmed the popular poem of Antal Farkas with the title Jön az öcsém (1919). During the Commune he settled down in Vienna. He was one of the most productive and most educated artist in Hungary at the beginning of the era of the silent film. After WWI he continued his filmmaking career in Austria and Germany and into the early 1920's 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 30's and 40's encompassed nearly every genre imaginable and some, including Casablanca (1942) (see him on the right directing Bogart and Bacall) and Mildred Pierce (1945), are considered to be film classics. Other credits include: 1935's Captain Blood, 1936's The Charge of the Light Brigade, 1938's Angels With Dirty Faces (Oscar nomination), 1938's The Adventures of Robin Hood,  1938's Four Daughters (Oscar nomination), 1940's The Sea Hawk, 1942's Yankee Doodle Dandy (Oscar nomination),  1943's This Is the Army, 1946's Night and Day and 1954's White Christmas. He even directed one of Elvis Presley's most credible films, King Creole in 1958. He died of cancer in 1962. Trivia: Member of the Hungarian fencing team at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics! - See Arjan's Michael Curtiz page for movie posters, pictures, trivia, and more!  (Thanks for the images) - See his filmography and more at IMDB or Hollywood.com

Frida Kahlo (b. 1907, in Coyoacán, Mexico City; died 13th. July, 1954) Acclaimed Artist and Mexican Icon: One of the most influential artists of the middle twentieth century She was born Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón. Her father, Guillermo Kahlo, was a Jewish Hungarian immigrant photographer who had been born in Germany. Her mother, Matilde Calderon, was a Catholic Mexican whose origins were Spanish and Native American. She died when Frida Kahlo was in her twenties. Frida Kahlo suffered from polio when she was six. Nevertheless she was very tomboyish which won her father's favor. It was not common for girls to go to school at that time in Mexico, but her father had advanced ideas and in 1922 he sent her to the Preparatoria (National Preparatory School) which was the most prestigious educational institution in Mexico. The school had only just started taking girls, and Frida Kahlo was one of only 35 girls out 2000 pupils. It was at school where she met her future husband Diego Rivera who was fulfilling a mural painting commission there.  In 1925 when she was 18 she was in a bus which collided with a tramcar causing serious injuries to her leg and pelvis. The accident destroyed her dream of becoming a doctor and affected the rest of her life. During her convalescence she started painting and sent some of her work to Diego Rivera. They would marry in August 1929. She shared his faith in communism and passionate interest in the indigenous cultures of Mexico. Rivera encouraged Kahlo in her work, extolling her as authentic, unspoiled and primitive, and stressing the Indian aspects of her heritage. During this period "Mexicanismo," the fervent embrace of pre-Hispanic Mexican history and culture, gave great currency to the notion of native roots. The suffering of women is a constant theme in her sometimes shocking pictures. The Frida Kahlo Museum was opened in her house in Coyoacán in 1958. Nicolas Muray (1892-1965) was a close friend and lover of Frida Kahlo. The Hungarian-born photographer's celebrity portraits appeared regularly in Vanity Fair and Harper's Bazaar. He also took numerous photographs of Kahlo and purchased many of Kahlo's paintings, helping her financially while she was struggling during her brief eleven-month divorce from Rivera. She was having an affair with Muray when she and Rivera filed for divorce in 1939; although it is unclear whether the cause of the separation was Kahlo's or Rivera's infidelity. These intimate letters attest to Kahlo's close relationship with Muray. Salma Hayek portrays her in the Hollywood film on Frida's life. - Read more about her

Mariska Hargitay - (b. 1/23/64, Los Angeles) Actress The beautiful and talented daughter of Jayne Mansfeild and Mickey (Miklós) Hargitay, and a wonderful actor in her own right. Now starring in "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit." Hargitay is also known to millions of viewers from her recurring role on ER as Dr. Greene's (Anthony Edwards) girlfriend Cynthia Hooper in the 1997-98 season of the top-rated show.  She also gained notice as a cast regular in the sitcom "Can't Hurry Love," guest roles on NBC's "Seinfeld," "Ellen," "thirtysomething," "Wiseguy" and "In the Heat of the Night" and as a regular on the popular series Falcon Crest and Prince Street. Hargitay was also seen in the made-for-television movies The Advocate's Devil and Night Sins. Her film credits include the critically acclaimed Leaving Las Vegas. Miss Beverly Hills (1982).  She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, California; B.A., Theater.  - See NBC.com for more!

Charles A. Csuri -  "Father of Digital Art!" "...The goal is to achieve a balance between technology and an aesthetic domain to make a meaningful artistic statement." "Charles Csuri could have played professional football. Named "All-American" for football at Ohio State, Csuri turned down offers to play professionally and chose to study art at the graduate level. In school, he became friends with Roy Lichtenstein; afterwards, both of them joined the faculty at Ohio State where he is now Professor Emiritus. Painting and teaching, Csuri became interested in the digital computer as a means of imaging in 1964, when he saw a computer generated face in a publication from the Department of Electrical Engineering. This started Csuri down the path which made him a Computer Graphics Pioneer."  Co-founder of Cranston and Csuri Productions whose credits include the acclaimed "Living Body" series. He has directed over 25 major research projects for the National Science Foundation, Navy and Air Force and the findings have been applied to flight simulation, computer aided design, and the special effects industry. In 1995 Csuri was featured in the cover article for Smithsonian Magazine. His work has been exhibited at, among other venues, the Smithsonian Institution and the Institute for Contemporary Art in London. He is represented in a number of collections, including that of New York's Museum of Modern Art. - See this great article at Ohio State: Digital Patriarch or see his Ohio State professional profile - For more see the Charles Csuri: Computer Artist

Albrecht Durer (b. 5/21/1471, Nürnberg, d. 4/6/1528) Reniassance Master - perhaps the Greatest "German" artist of the Renaissance era. Also the most important of the Renaissance Mathematicians - Father of Descriptive Geometry Albrecht Durer was the third son of Albrecht Ajtos and Barbara Holfer. He was one of their eighteen children. The Ajtos family came from Hungary. The name Ajtos means "door" in Hungarian. When Albrecht Ajtos senior and his brothers came to Germany they chose the name Türer which sounds like the German "Tür" meaning door. The name changed to Dürer but Albrecht Dürer senior always signed himself Türer rather than Dürer. Durer began his career in the Imperial Free City of Nürnberg with his father, a Hungarian goldsmith who had emigrated to Germany in 1455. Despite his goldsmith origins, however, by 1484 Durer had already begun painting. In 1486 he was apprenticed to the painter and printmaker Michael Wolgumut and began to work with woodcuts and copper engravings as well. His mastery of perspective came through his study of geometry and mathematical theories of proportion. Fascinated by mathematics, Durer traveled extensively. Durer began to explore the "mathematical secrets of art" and delved yet more deeply into the study of mathematics.  After returning to Nürnberg, Dürer's health became still worse. He did not slacken his work on either mathematics or painting but most of his effort went into his work Treatise on proportion. Durer expressed his theories on proportion in The Four Books on Human Proportions. Although it was completed in 1523, Dürer realised that it required mathematical knowledge which went well beyond what any reader could be expected to have, so he decided to write a more elementary text. He published this more elementary treatise, in four books, in 1525 publishing the work through his own publishing company. This treatise, Unterweisung der Messung mit dem Zirkel und Richtscheit, is the first mathematics book published in German (if one discounts an earlier commercial arithmetic book) and places Dürer as one of the most important of the Renaissance mathematicians. Dürer's remarkable achievement was through applying mathematics to art, he developed such fundamentally new and important ideas within mathematics itself and gave rise to the field of "descriptive geometry." - See Albrecht Durer - See the History of Mathematics at the University of St. Andrews in the UK

Gerard Schurmann World-renowned Double Oscar Winning Composer: Orchestrated "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Exodus" Gerard Schurmann was born of a Dutch father and Hungarian mother in the former Dutch East Indies. He left his home at an early age and grew up in England in the care of an uncle, thus avoiding the Japanese occupation of the islands. Influences from his colorful background manifest themselves in music of a distinctive character. Inherent in his individual musical language are the intervals derived from pentatonic scales which he absorbed as a boy from the local gamelan music of Java and from the Hungarian heritage of his mother, a gifted pianist and accompanist. These melodic derivations, with their harmonic resonances, give rise to an exotic and often heightened emotional intensity in his music. At the age of 17, Schurmann volunteered for active wartime flying duty in the Dutch 320 Squadron of the Royal Air Force. In addition to his operational duties in Coastal Command, he was invited by the British Council to give piano recitals and make recordings for the troops. At the end of the war, Schurmann combined his by now busy concert career as a pianist with the position of acting Cultural Attaché at the Netherlands Embassy in London.  He later became resident orchestral conductor at Dutch Radio. At the end of his contract, he returned to England determined to devote his life mainly to composition, henceforth limiting his conducting activities to guest appearances. As a composer, Schurmann found himself able to earn a living by writing music for films. In 1980, he was invited by the U.S. State Department to tour orchestras and universities in the United States, a five months visit also partly sponsored by the British Council. In 1981, he moved to the USA, where he settled in the Hollywood Hills, California. He continued to receive many commissions for concert works and became associated with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He scored many films and won Oscars for his orchestration of Lawrence of Arabia and Exodus. He also received two Oscar nominations (The Two-Headed Spy, and The Ceremony). Trivia: He was invited to choreograph to music the Fountains of Bellagio, the most ambitious WET Design water feature to date. - See Gerard Schurmann.com

Rachel Weisz - b. 3/7/71, London Actress and Model Film credits include: The Mummy, The Mummy II, Enemy at the Gates, Stealing Beauty, Chain Reaction, Swept from the Sea, Sunshine, Beautiful Creatures.  Rachel studied English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.  She formed the Talking Tongues theater company and at 1991's Edinburgh Festival won a student drama award for a play she wrote and acted in. Her mother, Edith, is a Viennese-born psychotherapist (wanted to act herself, encouraged Rachel to try theatre). Her father, George, is a Hungarian-born inventor credited with inventing life-saving respiratory medical equipment. - Biography at Heavenly Celebrities,  - bio and filmography at IMDB.com - For pictures: Rachel Weisz Picture Galleries or Actress Archives.com  - A filmography at videoflicks.com

Gyorgy Kepes (b. Selyp, Hungary in 1906, d. 1/16/2002) Painter, designer, author and educator who founded and directed the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT “Gyorgy Kepes was the greatest pioneer in the marriage of art and technology in America, if not the world. He was a visionary, a towering intellect and a breathtaking artist. He single-handedly created the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT and turned it into an internationally acclaimed program for the development of the finest in late 20th-century art. His work will endure for many centuries to come,” said Alan Brody, associate provost for the arts. Kepes studied painting at the School of Arts in Budapest. The horrors of World War I convinced him that “only film could bring into a single focus my joy in the visual world and the social goals to be realized in this world,” he wrote. In 1930 he went to Berlin, collaborating on film, stage and exhibitions, and graphic design with Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, one of the principals in the Bauhaus movement. Kepes came to the United States in 1937 as head of the Light and Color Department of the Institute of Design in Chicago, then known as the New Bauhaus. He joined MIT in 1946 as associate professor of visual design, becoming a full professor in 1949. He was appointed Institute Professor in 1970. Kepes founded the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) in 1967 and served as its director until 1972.  In addition to his career as an artist and an educator, Kepes was a prolific author. He published “The Language of Vision,” a summary of educational ideals and methods, in 1944; “The New Landscape in Art and Science” in 1956, and the seven-volume “Vision and Value” series in 1965 and 1966. Throughout his career, Kepes continued working as a designer, producing both small and large-scale works. The First and Second Church in Boston commissioned him to make stained glass windows, and he designed a window and all sculpture for a church in Japan. His paintings are included in 30 permanent collections including the Brooklyn Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington and the Whitney Museum in New York City. In 1995 the Hungarian government endowed a museum in Eger, Hungary, devoted to housing a major collection of Kepes’ paintings, drawings and photographs as well as his archives. A permanent collection of his photographs is in Hungary’s National Photography Museum. The Kepes Prize is presented annually at MIT.  Among many tributes, Kepes was awarded the Fine Arts Medal of the American Institute of Arts and Letters. He was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1996, he received both the Medal of Honor and the Middle Cross of the Republic of Hungary. See MIT Tech Talk or Gyorgy Kepes, Exemplar of the Visual Arts (includes a gallery)

Uri Geller - (b. 1946, Israel) Psychic/Entertainer Some call him "One of the Most Controversial Men of Modern Times," Uri is undoubtedly the most famous psychic in the world, first known for his spoon bending.   His "powers" have been under scientific scrutiny for years. Visit "Uri Geller," for biographical information, a picture gallery, paranormal research, Uri's paintings, and more.   Uri's own home page at www.urigeller.com is also a great resource on his activities.

Stefan Hatos (b. Aurora, Illinois, on 8/ 20/1920, d. Lakeside Golf Club in Toluca Lake, California 1999) Television producer of "Let's Make a Deal" fame Stefan Hatos was a first generation American with Hungarian parents.  His father was an iron peddler by trade. Stefan was the second of three sons and a daughter. He began playing piano and oboe at age eight. While attending college on a music (and basketball) scholarship, he played Oboe and English Horn with the Detroit Civic Symphony and also played Tenor & Bass Saxophone in dance bands to work his way through school. He got his start in media when he became staff announcer at a Detroit radio station and later on the NBC radio network.  He was always more interested in writing and production than in performing. While an announcer, he wrote episodes of The Lone Ranger (1940), The Green Hornet, and a psycho-thriller Hermit’s Cave. After serving 37 months as commanding officer of PT 328 during WWII, and surviving being wounded twice, he returned to CBS Radio as a Staff Director and Writer in New York and Chicago.  He next joined ad agency Foote, Cone & Belding as staff Producer-Director for radio shows Readers Digest with big name stars and The Wayne King Show (CBS Radio).  He directed Lucky Strike Hit Parade for NBC Radio.  He moved into television in 1949, and created and produced one of the first nighttime game shows on the first inter-connected network of seventeen TV stations on ABC-TV. The name of the show was Fun for the Money. He produced numerous radio and television shows and hit it big with "Let's Make a Deal" with Monty Hall which debuted in 1963 and ran for over 4,600 shows and continues today in syndication! Trivia: He was among those photographed for LIFE magazine at the liberation of a Prisoner of War camp at Kuching, Sarawak, Borneo in August, 1945 Read more on the Official Let's Make a Deal Website (thanks for the above information!)

Iván Tôrs - (b. 6/12/1916 d. 6/4/1983) Producer/Director, Underwater Film Pioneer Although Ivan Tors died in 1983, his impact on conservation, wildlife awareness, and even recreational scuba has been huge. By means of his work as a filmmaker and producer, Ivan brought the underwater world home to millions via television and movies. He is the man who created Sea Hunt in the 1960s, but even back in 1958 he was innovating underwater cinematography with features like "Underwater Warrior." Another milestone in Tors' career was the 1960s TV series "Flipper," forever endearing the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin to Homo sapiens. Other Ivan Tors productions included "Namu, the Killer Whale," "Around the World Under the Sea," and "Hello Down There." Other television series created by Ivan Tors during the 1970s included "The Aquarians," "Primus," and "Salty." By means of his creative cinematography and innovative narrative, Ivan Tors communicated his vision of the sea to so many when so few knew what wonders lie beneath the sea. Tors also handled underwater sequences for the early Bond films such as "Thunderball." Inducted into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame. Though he worked extensively with captive dolphins and other animals, he spent much of his later years campaigning against dolphin captivity... - See his filmography here

Peter Lorre - (born Lászlo Loewenstein, 6/26/1904 Rozsahegy [Rosenberg], Hungary, d. 3/23/1964)  Actor: Chaplin called him "the greatest actor alive" Superstar of Horror film classics, some with countryman Bela Lugosi, as well as acclaimed supporting roles in "Casablanca," the "Maltese Falcon," and "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea." Born in Rozsahegy, Hungary (now Ruzomberok, Slovakia after the Treaty of Trianon), his grandfather was a rabbi and his father, Alois Loewenstein, was a middle-class landowner. After the family fortune was decimated by the 1919 Hungarian Communist revolution, Alois relocated his family in Vienna and attempted to settle his son into a respectable career as a banker. "Laczy," however, was determined to become an actor, and spent much of the 1920s learning his trade in various small theatrical companies. In 1928, at the recommendation of his mentor Jacob Moreno, he adopted the stage name Peter Lorre. During the late 1920s and early 1930s Lorre made an impression in the art theaters of Berlin. In 1931 Lorre had a phenomenal success with his first film appearance as a serial killer in Fritz Lang's thriller "M,"  now considered a classic of German cinema. Peter Lorre's performance in M remains one of the greatest in the history of cinema.  Almost as quickly as he achieved world-wide fame, Lorre became typecast. In spite of his diminuitive size, Lorre became synonymous with dread. Fleeing the Nazi machine, Lorre left Germany in 1933, landing in England, where Alfred Hitchcock exploited his image by casting him in is first English-speaking role as the head of a ring of kidnappers who menace young Nova Pilbeam in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934). He then relocated to southern California, and, for better or worse, settled in as a permanent resident of Hollywood's star colony.  Two years later Hitchcock cast him in a similar role in Secret Agent. For Mad Love (1935), his first American film and a rare foray into horror for MGM, Lorre's head was shaved, further emphasizing his bulging eyes and giving him a slick, reptilian appearance. In his second Hollywood outing he met with more critical acclaim as yet another murderer, Raskolnikov, in Sternberg's version of Crime and Punishment (1935). Between 1937 and 1939 Lorre stepped into a more conventional role, playing the Japanese detective Mr. Moto in eight films for 20th Century-Fox. By the end of the decade, Lorre's face and silken voice had become so recognizable that he was caricatured in Warner Bros. cartoons and on Spike Jones records. During the 1950s, health problems forced Lorre to take fewer roles, although he did expand his repertoire with a musical, Silk Stockings (1957) and several comedies. His comedic talent was displayed in a 1960s series of comedy/horror films for American-International Pictures. His precise timing and droll delivery in The Raven (1963) suggested that Hollywood never fully explored Lorre's range as an actor. Vincent Price said of him, "His voice. . . face . . . the way he moved . . . laughed.  He was the most identifiable actor I have ever known." Trivia:  Brecht wrote a Broadway musical for him and invited him to play Hamlet with his Berliner Ensemble. He was the first director in post-WWII Germany to make a film critical of the Nazis. He talked Humphrey Bogart into marrying Lauren Bacall! Was the very first James Bond villain; he played Le Chiffre in a 1954 version of Casino Royale on TV. During the anti-Communist witch hunts of the late 1940s, Federal agents came to his house to question him about whether or not he knew any suspicious persons. He responded by telling them the names of everyone he'd ever met. They left him alone after that. He's mentioned in the novels On the Road, Catcher in the Rye, and Under the Volcano. Click HERE to Listen to Peter or hear more at The Pit - See Walking the Shark: a Peter Lorre Page for more; Peter Lorre by Michael Ferguson; The Peter Lorre Story, with numerous pictures and anecdotes; more biographical info, filmography, and more at IMDB; or his filmography

Harry Houdini (b. 3/24/1874, Budapest, d. 10/31/1926, Detroit) The "Greatest Magician on Earth," Actor, Pioneer Pilot Houdini fascinated audiences with his great escapes and illusions for decades.  To this day he is the one magicians aspire to. He was honored as first to fly a plane in Australia and also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his film career. Harry was the third of five children. When he was about four years old, his father, Rabbi Dr. Mayer Samuel Weiss, who was a religious scholar and teacher, moved the family to Appleton, Wisconsin where he became the first rabbi of a new congregation. He told everyone for his entire life that he was born in Appleton, so they would accept him as an American. In later years, in a magazine interview, Houdini said about Appleton, "the greatest escape I ever made was when I left Appleton, Wisconsin." He was always concerned about physical fitness and staying in shape. He won awards in track and swimming and later used these talents as an escape artist. When I was 15, I read an autobiography by the French Magician named Jean Robert-Houdin. This changed my life forever. I wanted to be just like Robert-Houdin, so I added the letter “I” which means “like” to his name, and I became Houdini. He career was storied to the say the least.  In 1926, he lay underwater over 90 minutes in a sealed casket to beat the world record. Later that year, on October 22, 1926, while in his dressing room at the Princess Theater in Montreal with several students from McGill University, he was asked if he could actually withstand a punch to the stomach thrown by any man. This is something he would routinely do, but before he could prepare himself by tightening his stomach muscles, J. Gordon Whitehead hit him three times. He didn’t know it at the time, but his appendix had burst. He did several shows at the Garrick after that, but soon became ill. Nine days later in room 401 of Detroit's old Grace Hospital, he died from peritonitis, which is inflammation of the appendix. He died at the age of 52, on October 31, -- Halloween. Trivia: "Genius of Escape Who Will Startle and Amaze" Fellow Hungarian (see him on this page) Tony Curtis played Harry in the film. A US stamp was issued in his honor - See Houdini Biography or The Houdini Tribute for more. - Learn all about Houdini, hear his voice (VERY RARE!), see many photos and resources, and buy stuff at Hounidiana - an amazing site full of information - "The Largest Electronic Archive in the World on Houdini" - or Shop at Houdini.com.   - See videos and other multimedia at Houdini Tribute.  Read a more detailed biography at Houdini: A Biographical Chronology ______ His brother, Theo, known as "Hardeen" was also a well-known act, performing many of Houdini's astonishing escapes.

Mark (b. 8/12/1949, Glasgow) and David Knopfler (b. 12/27/1951) Legendary, Grammy Award-winning Rock Musicians of Dire Straits: "The Sultans of Rock" and "the finest British band of all time." Mark Freuder Knopfler was born to Erwin Knopfler and Louisa Mary Knopfler. Erwin Knopfler, an architect, was a Hungarian Jew who had fled from the Nazis in 1939, and settled in Glasgow. A daughter, Ruth had been born in 1947. Later, in 1952, Mrs. Knopfler gave birth to a second son, David. When Mark was seven or eight, the Knopflers moved from Glasgow to Newcastle.  Dire Straits was formed in London by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and lead guitar) and his brother David (guitar), with John Illsley (bass), and Pick Withers (drums). In the late 70s, the band emerged with a refreshing rock sound mixed with blues, jazz and even country. The band's sound was strengthened by the meshing of players and Knopfler's lyrics. Mark Knopfler is and always has been the face and force of Dire Straits. Their first demo gets airtime thanks to a chance friendship with London Radio DJ Charlie Gillent. Dire Straits (named after their financial condition) then is born. A record company deal and the first album, the self-titled Dire Straits, follow the next year. Thus began the meteoric rise of the one of the finest British band of all time. The first single of their album Brothers In Arms, "Money For Nothing," went to Number 1 on pop and rock charts. Follow-up hits included the Top 10 "Walk Of Life" and "So Far Away." The band used the popularity of the "new" CD format to give listeners longer versions of their songs. Tracks such as "Your Latest Trick" and "Brothers In Arms" became even more of a treat to listeners with the longer format. The LP sold over 9 million copies in the U.S. and many more millions around the world. The LP went #1 in Canada, Brazil, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Portugal, France, German, Greece, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Israel. 1986 Grammy Awards: Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal ("Money For Nothing") and Best Country Instrumental Performance ("Cosmic Square Dance" awared to Mark Knopfler and Chet Atkins). Trivia: Prior to forming the band, Knopfler worked as a rock critic and taught English. "Money For Nothing" with Sting as guest vocalist, is Dire Straits' first American Number 1 single. Knopfler scored the film Wag The Dog. - See discography and more on neck-and-neck.com - Read more on The Sultans of Rock or - the official Mark-Knopfler.com or - Rock on the Net

Louis CK (Szekely?) (b. 9/12/1967, New York) Emmy Award-winning comedian and writer, television and film producer and director Louis CK uses his peculiar last name because his "Hungarian name has too many letters." It is funny too, and tells you a lot about this comic genius. Though his first foray into comedy in 1984 was unsuccessful, by 1989 he was appearing on virtually all the popular comedy shows of the time from Evening at the Improv, MTV Half Hour Comedy Hour, Comic Strip Live, and Comedy on the Road. He was even on Star Search but lost to a fellow named Steve Mc'grew. Besides writing and doing standup comedy, Louis has directed over half a dozen crowd-pleasing short films which have aired on Bravo and the Independent Film Channel. His feature debut, "Tomorrow Night," received popular acclaim after being screened at the Sundance Film Festival. His film, "Ceasar's Salad," in 1990, earned a Silver Plaque Award from the Chicago Film Festival. The New Orleans Film and Video Festival gave it the "Best Comedy" award. Louis was on his way! The next phase of Louis' career was in Television comedy writing, something which has earned him Four Emmy Nominations and one EMMY AWARD WIN! In 1993, The Conan O'brien Show hired Louis as a writer. He was a member of the original writing staff that launched the show. Louis also made his network television debut as a stand up on Conan; he was the first stand up comedian to appear on Conan's show! In 1996, Louis made his own HBO Half Hour stand up comedy Special. And he got hired as a Producer and writer on the Chris Rock Show on HBO, where in 1999, he won an Emmy for his work. He also Created and starred in a show for comedy Central called "Louis C.K.'s Filthy Stupid Talent Show." In 2000 Louis directed and wrote his first studio movie, called "Pootie Tang" starring a character Louis created on the Chris Rock show. In 2001, he made his very first appearence on the Tonight Show on NBC. He also co-wrote Down To Earth, starring Chris Rock. In 2003 - 2004, Louis was a big hit at the Montreal Comedy Festival and the Aspen Comedy Festival and he signed with CBS and Warner Brothers to do another sitcom pilot. This one was called "Saint Louie." This year, 2005, has been an incredible year for Louis. especially April. In that one month, he wrote, Executive Produced and starred in a sitcom pilot for HBO, shot his second HBO half hour standup special in New York, and his wife gave birth to his second daughter, all within two weeks of each other! The standup special turned out great and premiered on August 19th of 2005. The pilot was picked up by HBO for series and Louis is currently in production, writing, producing and starring in 12 episodes of the show which will begin airing in 2006. This show will mark HBO's first multi-camera sitcom(in front of an audience) ever. Awards - Won Emmy Award for best writing on a variety show 1999 - Ace Award for best variety show (producer) 1997 - Grand Prize at Aspen Shortfest for "Ice Cream" 1993 - See his wonderful debut on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno! - See other performances, filmography, and even purchase his videos on his official site: www.louisck.com - Read a recent review from the UK on Chortle.com

Lehár, Franz (b. 4/30/1870 Komárom (now called Komarno in Slovakia after annexation at Trianon) - d. 10/24/1948, Bad Ischl, Austria) Foremost composer of 20th century operettas. Best known as a composer of operettas, he studied with his father, a military bandmaster, and at the age of 15, from 1882 to 1888 he was a pupil at the Prague Conservatory, studying violin and music theory. On the advice of Dvorak, he concentrated on composition. After graduation, he played violin in the opera orchestra at Elberfeld. Later, he joined his father's band, the Fiftieth Infantry, in Vienna, as assistant bandmaster. In Vienna, he also free-lanced as a conductor, and in the Spring of 1902, became conductor at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna. His opera Wiener Frauen was produced there in November, 1902. From that time, he lived in Vienna, and devoted his time to composition. “The man in the street may love The Merry Widow,” observed Ernest Newman, “but the musician, in addition to loving it, admires and wonders at it, so fresh and varied is the melodic invention in it, so deft, for all their economy, the harmonization and the scoring.” Franz Lehar wrote nearly forty operettas. His greatest success was The Merry Widow, which was first produced at Theater an der Wien on December 30, 1905. which had more than five thousand performances. At one time, it ran simultaneously in five different languages in five different theaters, all in Buenos Aires. Other major successes include The Count of Luxemburg (1911) and Land of Smiles (1923), Gypsy Love, Eva and other sonatas, symphonic poems, marches, and dances. In February 1935 Lehár decided to found his own publishing house in order to have the greatest possible control over the performance and availability of his works. He incorporated Glocken Verlag Vienna on 15 February 1935. He reacquired most of his oeuvre from other publishers to whom he had previously sold various rights and devoted much time to the publication of definitive editions. He died in Bad Ischl on 24 October 1948. - Read more Here or at this great biography "Franz Lehár Considered from the Objectivist Point of View" - Read more about him and his family's military history at Austro-Hungarian Army.com

Gábor Csupó - (b. 1952, Budapest) Co-founder of Klasky-Csupo, one of the world's leading independent animation studios, Founder of Tone Casualties, Musician. 5 EMMYS and 2 CABLE ACE Awards - produced Rugrats and the Simpsons Walt Disney eat your heart out. But there is no dispute that this Hungarian born genius is the leader of the new generation of animation. He received his animation education at Hungary's famed Pannonia studio. In 1975 he fled Communist Hungary by walking for 2.5 hours through a darkened railway tunnel to Austria. Eventually in Stockholm, he helped produce Sweden's first animated feature. While in Stockholm, he met graphic designer Arlene Klasky. The couple relocated to Los Angeles, California and formed Klasky Csupo, Inc. in late 1981 in the spare room of their apartment. Klasky Csupo has won 5 EMMYS and 2 CABLE ACE Awards plus a host of other top honors.  They produced Rugrats, the Simpsons, and even the opening to the hit show "In Living Color."   - Visit KlaskyCsupo.com for more info on the company and background on Gábor.  - See his music at Liquid Fire, the title of his new CD, "A hypnotic musical journey for dark ambient, electronic, trip-hop, drum & bass, acid jazz, avant-dance and progressive groove lovers. East meets West with a bang." The site's main page plays a modern rendition of the Kossuth Anthem! - Read an interview at Club Cool Tunes - Read a history of Hungarian Animation

Tommy Ramone (b. 1/29/1952, Budapest, Hungary) Drummer and Producer of the Legendary, Pioneering Punk Rockers, the Ramones! Born Thomas Erdelyi, he emigrated from Hungary at the age of four. The Ramones formed in 1974, after the foursome graduated or left high school in Forest Hills, New York. The original lineup featured Joey on drums, Dee Dee sharing guitar with Johnny, and Tommy as manager, but soon became the band's drummer. In the mid-'70s, the Ramones shaped the sound of punk rock in New York with simple, fast songs, deadpan lyrics, no solos, and an impenetrable wall of guitar chords. Each band member changed his name to Ramone.  "All the better-known punk groups that followed - The Sex Pistols, The Clash, whoever - they would be the first ones to say that without the Ramones the whole punk movement never would have happened," Spin magazine editor-in-chief Alan Light. The Ramones have released 14 studio albums of "arguably the greatest American Rock-n-Roll ever," contributor Fred Mintz. Tommy's last show was May 4, 1978, at CBGB in New York. Tommy left under amiable terms, citing a dislike of touring and desire to be a producer.  He returned to produce the albums Road to Ruin and Too Tough To Die. Trivia: Where did the name "Ramones" come from? There have been numerous answers given to this question.  One is that Paul McCartney used the name Paul Ramone when the Beatles were know as the Silver Beatles.  Another explanation is that while in the Beatles, Paul would use the surname Ramone when checking into hotels to hide his true identity.  Dee Dee said the band liked producer Phil Ramone (Billy Joel, Simon and Garfunkel). - See RollingStone.com or  - VH1.com

George Pál (b. 1/2/1908, Cegléd, Hungary, d. 5/2/1980, Beverly Hills, California) -  Cartoonist - Winner of SIX Oscars, and pioneer of stop-action animation! "Before Spielberg... Before Lucas... There was...George Pal, The original Wizard of Sci-Fi & Fantasy!" Since the early history of animation, Hungarians have been involved in this field (see Csupo above), and this history dates back to its earliest in 1914, and then follows through to Paramount Studios in Hollywood when in the 1940s Hungarian émigré George Pal developed methods of integrating animated special effects with live action. These methods were to become the accepted process for motion pictures for decades thereafter. In the annals of Hollywood, George Pal will always be remembered as a titan. A brilliant visionary who profoundly shaped the art of motion pictures. As an animator, Pal was a pioneer of stop-action animation and a peer of Walt Disney and Walter Lantz. George Pal was born into a Hungarian theatrical family. Both parents, Maria and George Pal, Sr., were famous stage celebrities. George attended the Budapest Academy to train as an architect, but a clerical error put him in illustration classes... A medical school just down the street offered classes in anatomy to its students. Pal found that by simply slipping on a white smock, he could sneak into the classes and learn anatomy. "The doctors," he says, "had to learn how to draw muscles and bones -- no matter how badly -- so that they knew them. I drew pretty good. So I reproduced my drawings and sold them to the medical students. I had to make money somehow. I think the medical professor got suspicious because so many students turned in similar drawings. But he let it pass." ... as they say, the rest is history. George graduated with an architectural degree when Hungary was in no need of architects, but there were jobs for animation illustrators at Hunnia films. Pal convinced his girlfriend Zsoka to marry him, and only then found that his new job was un unpaid apprenticeship. They migrated to Berlin (Zsoka's excellent idea), where he found similar (but paid) work at the famous UFA studio. Within sixty days, he was in charge of their cartoon production. The rising tide of Nazi Germany pushed Pal to move to Holland. where he created his revolutionary short, "Ship of the Ether." As World War II loomed on the horizon, Pal realized an old dream and headed to the U.S. for Hollywood.  It was there that Pal was to profoundly influence the movie industry and shape the imaginations of a later generation of filmmakers. Working at Paramount, Pal applied his experience in animation to create a beautiful series of musical short subjects. "George Pal's Puppetoons" utilized meticulously carved wooden puppets and stop-action photography to create three-dimensional animation the likes of which had never been seen before. Puppets gracefully twirl and swoop in a ballroom to the strains of a Strauss waltz. The Puppetoons earned Pal an Academy Award (Oscar) - the first of six in his career. In the '50s Pal turned to live-action films as a producer (as did his friend Walt Disney seen with Pal and Lantz on the right). His first film. "Destination Moon," (Oscar)  was a 'futuristic documentary' chronicling man's exploration of Earth's nearest neighbor. As veteran director Robert Wise observes in the documentary, "’Destination Moon’" was a major turning point in film history." He later brought to the screen such classics as H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" (Oscar) and "The Time Machine" (Oscar), and "When World Collide" (Oscar).. But there was a warm and gentle side to this artist as well. Today Pal is also honored for the beautiful and charming fantasies "Tom Thumb," (Oscar) "The Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm" (his son David was also an animator), and "7 Faces of Dr. Lao." Pal's cinematic legacy can be traced today in the works of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Gene Roddenberry. Trivia:  Co-Authored "Time Machine II," a sequel to the H.G. Wells classic. He designed the Morlocks in The Time Machine. Some familiar puppets he created are the Pillsbury Doughboy and the Planter's Peanut Guy! - For more biographical information, see IMDB, The Legacy Of George Pal, A Brief Biography of George Pal, The Time Machine, or Sci-fi station.com - Read a history of Hungarian Animation  - See a filmography I, filmography II (IMDB), or filmography III, and purchase his videos at Moviegoods.com or Videoflicks.com - Purchase the video of his legendary career, "The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal"

Kristof (Christoph) von Dohnányi - (b. 9/28/1929, Berlin) Conductor (Cleveland) of the "Country's Greatest Orchestra" Time Magazine, 1994 Born in Berlin, Christoph von Dohnanyi began the study of the piano as a 5-year-old, and although he studied law in Munich after the war, he decided to devote himself exclusively to music. His most important teacher was his grandfather, the composer Ernst von Dohnanyi, with whom he studied at the Florida State Universitry. Dohnanyi also took conducting courses in Tanglewood under Leonard Bernstein. His career began when Sir Georg Solti called him to the Frankfurt Opera in 1953, where he was choral conductor and later orchestral conductor. He then took posts in various German cities before serving as principal conductor and general manager of the Hamburg State Opera from 1978 to 1984. As a regular guest at the Salzburg Festival, Christoph von Dohnányi has led the Vienna Philharmonic in several new productions. He has conducted such orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, New York Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared in major international opera houses such as the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, La Scala, Milan and Vienna State Opera. Dohnanyi was appointed music director of the Cleveland Orchestra in 1984. "They don't have to love you, but respect is essential," he says of his relationship with the players. Today, Dohnanyi and the Cleveland Orchestra are considered as one of the great musical teams of our time, both in the U.S. and internationally. His programs in Cleveland have drawn widespread admiration and won him the ASCAP Prize for progressive concert programs in 1989.  From Case Western Reserve University: "Under your direction, the Cleveland Orchestra has become the most recorded American orchestra, and has brought insight and enjoyment to millions of listeners and fame to this community through your performances here and throughout the world. Christoph von Dohnanyi, musician, leader, adventurer, world citizen, and our close partner in this extraordinary neighborhood known as University Circle. On the recommendation of the University Faculty and the vote of the Board of Trustees, it is a privilege to admit you to the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto. In token of this act, we bestow upon you the hood of this University and grant you this diploma." Trivia: His father, Dr. Hans von Dohnanyi (b. 1/1/1902, d. 4/8/1945) was a WWII hero of German resistance! He played a major role in helping to plan the September 1938 and October 1939 coup attempts and was later hanged by the Gestapo. (See Military) - See Honoring conductor Christoph von Dohnanyi on his 70th birthday - See Classical Plus and listen to audio clips, see a more detailed bio, and buy his CD's

Erno (Ernst) von Dohnányi - (b. 1877, Pozsony, Hungary (now Bratislava after Czech and Slovak annexation) d. -1960) Pianist, composer, conductor, and pedagogue. He had appeared as a pianist and conductor in concert venues throughout Europe and the United States in the five decades since his graduation from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, giving fifteen hundred concerts within the first thirty years of his career. In addition to having received much critical acclaim for his piano-playing, conducting, and composition, he had taught at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik and later at the Franz Liszt Academy. By 1937 Dohnányi was serving as the director of the Franz Liszt Academy, the president and conductor of the Budapest Philharmonic Society, the music director of the Hungarian Radio, and a member of the Hungarian Senate, while continuing to compose and tour internationally. When Hungary became aligned with Nazi Germany in 1941, Dohnányi devoted him self to fighting political injustices. He ultimately resigned from the directorship of the Liszt Academy after being instructed to dismiss György Faragó, a former student of Dohnányi’s who taught piano at the academy, because Faragó was half-Jewish. Dohnányi also continued to employ all the Jewish members of the Budapest Philharmonic until 11 May 1944, two months after Germany occupied Hungary, at which time Dohnányi disbanded the orchestra rather than implement anti-Semitic regulations. The new Russian-controlled Hungarian Government, which was angry with Dohnányi for having signed anti-Soviet legislation as a member of the Hungarian Senate, listed Dohnányi as a war criminal and petitioned the American authorities to extradite him.  To add to Dohnányi’s misery, he learned that his son Matthew, who had become a Captain in the Hungarian Army, had died in a Russian concentration camp. Just a few months later, Dohnányi learned that his other son, Hans (father of the famous conductor Christoph von Dohnányi, see below), had been executed by the Nazis for his involvement in Hungary’s 20 July 1944 assassination plot against Hitler. Dohnányi, fearing for his own life, accepted an offer from Árpád Bubik, who had once been his secretary, to escape Europe and move to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Following the success of a 1948-1949 tour of the United States, Dohnányi was offered positions at several American universities.  However, Dohnányi received an invitation from Karl Kuersteiner, who was the Dean of the FSU School of Music, to become Professor of Piano and Composition at FSU.  Kuersteiner, who had studied violin at the Franz Liszt Academy, enticed the seventy-two-year-old Dohnányi with Florida’s temperate climate and an easy schedule.  Dohnányi accepted FSU’s offer of a professorship starting in the fall semester of 1949. Dohnanyi (left), Bartok (center), Kodaly (right) in 1900 Since Dohnányi’s death, the faculty, students, and alumni of the FSU School of Music have continued to recognize his contributions to the School. In 1987, the School of Music named the 218-seat lecture/recital hall in the Housewright Music Building the “Ernst von Dohnányi Recital Hall,” and in 1998 the School of Music established the “Ernst von Dohnányi Collection” in the Warren D. Allen Music Library. In cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Hungary, this extensive collection of books, scrapbooks, recordings, and manuscripts will soon become the American Branch of the International Dohnányi Research Center. The faculty of School of Music also awards outstanding students and alumni who have demonstrated excellence in performance or composition with the "Ernst von Dohnányi Citation." Recipients of this prestigious award include Pulitzer-prize winning composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, who is now on faculty at FSU as the Francis Eppes Professor of Music. Beginning January 31 through February 2, 2002, the School of Music will continue to honor Dohnányi’s legacy by hosting an International Ernst von Dohnányi Festival. Trivia: His son, Dr. Hans von Dohnanyi (b. 1/1/1902, d. 4/8/1945) was a WWII hero of German resistance! He played a major role in helping to plan the September 1938 and October 1939 coup attempts and was later hanged by the Gestapo. (See Military) - See Florida State University or its Dohnanyi Photo Page or - Buy the book, "Ernst von Dohnanyi: A Bio-Bibliography"

Joe (Joszef) Eszterhás - (b. 11/23/1944, Csákánydoroszló, Hungary) Prolific Screenwriter (Basic Instinct, Sliver, Flashdance) "Highest-paid writer in Hollywood" Writing must run in his genes.  His father, Istvan Eszterhas, was a renowned novelist and author of more than 30 Hungarian historical novels. His mother, Maria Biro, diagnosed as a schizophrenic, died when Eszterhas was 23. Joe Eszterhas began his journalistic career as a reporter for Rolling Stone. Prior to that, Joe worked as a reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. In 1974, Eszterhas authored the popular, award-winning novel Charlie Simpson's Apocalypse. The book was optioned by Hollywood, and though it has not as yet been filmed, it served as the key for Eszterhas' entree into scriptwriting. He is best known for his vicious, sexy, highly literate crime and mystery scripts: The Jagged Edge (1985), Betrayed (1988), and the Sharon Stone starmaker Basic Instinct (1989).  At one point Eszterhas was the highest-paid writer in Hollywood, receiving $3 million up-front money for Basic Instinct alone. Other credits include: Burn Hollywood Burn: An Alan Smithee Film  (1998); Telling Lies in America  (1997); Jade (1995); Showgirls (1995); Sliver  (1993); Checking Out  (1989); Music Box  (1989); Big Shots  (1987); Hearts of Fire  (1987); Flashdance  (1983); and F.I.S.T.  (1978) - Read more at E! Online or IMDB!

Claude-Michel Schönberg (b. 7/6/1944, Vannes, France) Acclaimed Grammy and Tony Award-winning Writer, Composer, and Producer of Les Miserables and Miss Saigon Born of Hungarian parents, Claude-Michel began his career as a singer, writer and producer of popular songs. Schonberg began his collaboration with Alain Boublil in 1973 with the first-ever staged French rock opera La Revolution Francaise, which played to capacity audiences and sold over 350,000 double albums. A year later he sang his own music and lyrics on an album which spawned the hit single "Le Premier Pas'. In 1978, he and Boublil started work on the musical Les Misérables which was presented at the Palais des Sports in Paris in September 1980. The concept album won two gold discs in 1981. When the show was produced on Broadway in 1987, Schönberg won Tony Awards for best score and book, and a Grammy for Best Original Cast recording. Schonberg and Boublil's next project, Miss Saigon, was acclaimed both in London (1989) and New York (1991), and has been successfully presented in many countries throughout the world. He lives in Paris with his wife and two children. - Go to Amazon.com for his recordings

Ilona Staller aka Cicciolina (Cuddles) (b. 11/26/1951, Budapest) Actress, Politician - Queen of Euro Porn through the 80's and 90's - Member of Parliament! Co-founder of Italy's Green Party Ilona Staller's father was an official in the Ministry of the Interior, her mother an obstetrician. She began modeling at the age of 13 and later entered medicine with plans to become a gynecologist before an interest in archaelogy sidetracked her. She then joined M.T.I. Modeling Agency which handled 50 of Hungary's most beautiful models. Staller moved to Italy in 1976 where she hosted a radio show on Radio Luna, and for the first time used the name Cicciolina. In 1979 she helped start Italy's first Green Party while making pornography on the side. She would be world renowned for her haunted girlish beauty and willingness to do any filthy thing imaginable. Ilona was elected to the Italian parliament in 1987 on a platform of "make love, not war." She vowed to fight nuclear energy, experimentation on animals, drug prohibition, capital punishment, cars, unchecked capitalism and censorship. She married American artist Jeff Koons who has exhibited vivid sculptures showing the two engaged in intercourse. Ilona alleged physical abuse and their marriage bitterly broke up in 1992. Their son Ludwig was born shortly afterwards. Staller left the US with the child, and a lengthy custody battle ensued. Koons won custody in 1998 but the son remains with Staller in Italy. Cicciolina continues to be active in politics, advocating a safe future without nuclear energy and with absolute sexual freedom including the right to sex in prisons. She is against all forms of violence including the death penalty and the use of animals for fur or scientific experimentation. She is for the decriminalization of drugs, against censorship of any kind, in favour of sex education in schools, and for objective information about AIDS. She has proposed a t