 Alanis
Morrisette - (b. 6/1/1974)
Multi-Platinum-selling Singer, Songwriter - 7
Grammy Awards! Jagged Little Pill - the biggest-selling
female debut LP of all-time! One of the VH1:
100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll. One
of the most successful singer/songwriters in Rock-n-Roll history,
Alanis Nadine Morissette and her two brothers were raised in Ottawa,
Canada by a French-Canadian father and Hungarian Mother. In her early
youth, Alanis's family moved around a lot, including a stay in West
Germany and attending a Roman Catholic school. Alanis learned ballet,
jazz dancing, and the piano by the age of 7 and was writing songs
for the fun of it by age 9. By the age of 10, the precocious Morissette
had landed a role on the Nickelodean TV show "You Can't Do That
on Television" and recorded her first single, "Fate Stay
With Me." She spent most of her pre-pubescent years performing
throughout Canada, singing "O' Canada" at sporting events
and even making the de rigueur appearance on "Star Search."
Her foray into teeny bopper music was fortunately
short lived. She began to pursue darker, edgier themes and found
representation. The resulting demo tape was shopped around to the
major labels and Madonna's Maverick imprint eventually signed Morissette.
Jagged Little Pill, was released in the summer of 1995. On
the strength of the break-out single "You Oughta Know,"
the album reached platinum status and the Top 10. Follow-up singles
"Hand in My Pocket," "All I Really Want" and "Ironic"
went #1 for 12 weeks and kept Jagged Little Pill on the album
charts the next two years, hitting 16x Platinum in the US and ultimately
selling over 30 million copies worldwide.
Morissette was showered with industry awards for Jagged Little Pill,
including Grammys for Album of the Year, Best Female Rock Vocal Performance,
Best Rock Song and Best Rock Album. Her much-anticipated follow-up,
Supposed
Former Infatuation Junkie, debuted at #1 on the Billboard
200 Albums chart (where it spent 2 weeks) with sales of over 460,000
copies, setting a new record for 1-week sales by a female artist.
She hit #1 again with Uninvited and Thank U. The album
went 3x US Platinum.
Her 1999 Alanis
Unplugged went US Gold and featured the #1 hit "Uninvited,"
and she performed an incredible arrangement of it live at the Grammy's.
In February, 2002, she released Under
Rug Swept which went US Platinum and # 1.
Trivia:
- Alanis sings in Hungarian on the CD entitled,
"Prayer
Cycle."
- In 1990, the poor thing was the opening act for
rapper Vanilla Ice.
See Rock
on the Net
|
 Freddie
Prinze Sr. (b. 1/28/1954, NY, d. 1/29/1977 (self-inflicted gunshot)
Actor, Comedian The son of a Puerto Rican mother
and a Hungarian father (A Hungarican as Freddie would say), Freddie
Prinze was a 20 year-old stand-up comedian when he earned a spot on
the TV sitcom, Chico and the Man. The show made its debut in
1974, was a ratings success, and by 1977 Prinze was one of the biggest
stars on TV. At the height of his popularity, despondent over personal
problems and apparently under the influence of drugs, he shot himself
in the head and died several hours later.
Extra credit: Prinze is the father of movie star Freddie
Prinze, Jr. Prinze's career, like that of Bill Cosby, took off
after he appeared on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.
- See Who2.com,
The
Freddie Prinze Sr. "Chico" Homepage, or his filmography
at IMDB
- See pictures of his early childhood and his family at the Freddie
Prinze Photo Gallery l and hear Prinze
Performance Clips
|
 Freddie
Prinze, Jr. (b. 3/8/1976, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA)
Actor and Heart-Throb! "Young Hollywood's
Leading Man" After
starting out in television, Freddie Prinze, Jr. made his big screen
debut opposite Claire Danes in 1996's To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday.
In 1997 he starred in the horror film I Know What You Did Last
Summer, and its success made Prinze a star. (He also appeared
in the 1998 sequel.) By 2001 he had made more than a dozen movies,
including the hit teen romance She's All That and Head Over
Heels (2001). In April of 2001 Prinze became engaged to actress
Sarah Michelle
Gellar; the two co-star in the 2002 live-action film of the cartoon
Scooby Doo
He enjoys Martial
arts and was listed on On People's 'Best-Dressed' and '50 Most Beautiful
People' lists.
See the very
well-designed I Love Freddie.com
(or directly to their Photo
Gallery), Who2.com
or more at IMDB
|
 Jules
White (b. 1900 Budapest, d. 1985)
 Four-time
Oscar-Nominated Producer / Director of "The Three Stooges"
and More! When you think of Columbia Pictures,
think of Jules White. White was born Juliusz Weisz and started out
as a child actor working for Pathe Studios during the 1910s. He came
to America with his family in 1904. Soon after founding Columbia Pictures
in 1924, Harry Cohn hired White to produce comedy short-subjects.
During his 25-year tenure at Columbia Pictures, he became the head
of Columbia's short film division in 1933 and directed 136 Three Stooges
shorts. He also produced or directed many other films with such stars
as Charley Chase, Andy Clyde, Harry Langdon and Buster Keaton.
 White
also created the "Dogville Comedies," a popular series of
short subjects. In these one-reel shorts, trained dogs dressed as
people acted out the plots of popular movies of the day, sometimes
assisted directly by the movie they were spoofing, as in the case
of "The Dogway Melody," which borrowed the soundtrack recording
of "Singin' in the Rain" from The Broadway Melody (1929).
- Oscar Nominated for Hiss and Yell in 1946
- Oscar Nominated for The Jury Goes Round ‘n’
Round in 1945
- Oscar Nominated for Oh, My Nerves (Broadway
Comedies Series) in 1935
- Oscar Nominated Men in Black (The Three
Stooges Series) in 1934
- See his production
credits or
- Purchase videos at Amazon.com
|
 Éva
Márton - (b. 1943, Budapest)
Heavenly Soprano Internationally celebrated
as one of opera's greatest singers today. Eva began singing in the
children's choir of the government's radio station, which she eventually
left to begin serious training as a soloist. She entered the Franz
Liszt Academy and finished with a diploma in both opera and vocal
teaching. She made her professional debut as Kate Pinkerton in Madame
Butterfly at the Summer Festival of Margaret
Island, and this, in turn, led to a scholarship at the Hungarian State
Opera. In 1972, after her phenomenal success in Hungary, she was invited
by fellow Hungarian listee Christoph von Dohnanyi to make her debut
as the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Frankfurt Opera.
Her international fame was now assured. From 1981 to 1986 she was
selected three times among the best artists of the year by the New
York Times. Eva has also become one of the
most recorded artists. She has more than 20 complete operas to her
credit, as well as solo recital programs, aria albums, and symphonic
works.
- Special thanks to EvaMarton.com
for her picture and biographical information (this great site includes
contact information, music clips, and much more).
- Buy her CD's at a Hungary Page recommended site in Hungary: Folio
|
 Frank
Darabont (b. 1/28/1959, Montbeliard, France)
Director/Writer - Two Oscar Nominations for The Green Mile, "One
of the best writer/directors of his generation"
Frank Darabont's parents fled Hungary
during the 1956 revolution and settled in a French refugee camp, where
he was born. He came to the US while still an infant and settled in
Chicago.
From IMDB.com: The two-time writer
Academy Award nominee made his debut in the movie industries beginning
first in writing horror movies including The
Blob (1988), Nightmare
On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, A (1987), & The
Fly II (1989), and one episode of "Tales
from the Crypt" (1989).
Frank is a close friend of two of the
biggest directors of the movie industries, George Lucas & Steven
Spielberg both of whom he worked for at some time. Frank wrote some
episodes of Lucas's TV-series "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles,
The" (1992). He worked on the Frankenstein (1994) script. His
adaptation of Stephen King's serialized novel The
Green Mile (1999), starring Tom Hanks, was nominated for four
Academy Awards including Best Picture. The death row drama follows
his powerful Shawshank
Redemption. His latest success was "The
Majestic." He is busy on upcoming blockbusters.
- See more on IMDB,
including filmography and photo gallery
- See eOnline!
|
 Paul
Frederic Simon (b. October 13, 1941 in Newark, New Jersey)
Musician, Singer, Songwriter - American Legend of "Simon &
Garfunkel" fame! 12 Grammys and Rock-n-Roll Hall of Famer.
 Simon
and Garfunkel was the name of the American team of singer/songwriter
Paul Simon and singer Art Garfunkel who recorded between 1964 and
1970. Their shimmering harmonies and acoustic concerts stood in stark
contrast to the rest of the spectacle that marked rock acts of the
'60s. They originally gained attention as a folk act (and some record
stores continue to file their records under 'folk'), but it was Simon's
songs, which frequently dealt with alienation and loneliness that
seemed to strike a chord with an entire generation. By the time of
the split, they were the most successful duo in pop music history.
Paul's parents were Hungarian Jews, Louis and Belle
Simon. His father was a bass player bandleader who appeared on CBS-TV's
Arthur Godfrey, Jackie Gleason and Gary Moore shows, sometimes under
the name Lee Sims. He later went back to school to earn his master's
degree in teaching, and taught at New York Community College. His
mother was a high school English teacher before her children were
born.
Paul Simon grew up in Queens, New York City, and attended
Forest Hills High School alongside Art Garfunkel. The friends together
sang Paul's first song, "The Girls for Me," when they were
both 15. Billed as Tom and Jerry, the two had their first hit record
at 16: "Hey Schoolgirl," a disarmingly romantic rocker that
got the boys their first gig on "American Bandstand" as
well as their first appearance on the Billboard charts. Tom and Jerry
went their separate ways after high school, but Simon and Garfunkel
soon got together again and American music would never be the same.
- See the Kennedy
Center Honors
|
 Sylvia
Sass - (b. Near Budapest, 1951)
Another Heavenly Soprano, "the
New Callas" Sylvia Sass
(pronounced shush) was born into a very musical family. Her mother
was a coloratura soprano and her father was a high school music teacher.
At the age of 14, Sass made her stage debut with the school orchestra
in Adam's operetta Nurnberger Puppe. Soon after, she studied
music at Hungary's Liszt Academy, where she completed a five-year
program in just two years. She then began her seven-year stay with
the Hungarian State Opera. This led to her professional debut as Frasquita
in Carmen in 1971. By the age of 25 was already being heralded
as the new Callas, who she met many times. She has been honored with
many awards, her first in 1972 when she won first prize at the Kodály
Voice Competition in Budapest. In 1973, she won the Grand Prix as
Violetta in La Traviata at the International Opera Competition
for Young Singers. In 1974. she won the Silver Medal (there was no
First Prize) at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
She was also made an Honored Artist of Hungary in 1977.
Someone once said to her, "I hear that
you're the new Maria Callas." Sass replied by saying,
"No, I am the first Sylvia Sass."
- See Sylvia
Sass for more details
- Read an interview with great additional details on her life and
career at "The
Great Opera"
- Buy her CD's at a Hungary Page recommended site in Hungary: Folio
|
 Antal
Doráti - (b. 4/9/1906, Budapest, d. 11/13/1988, Gerzensee,
Switzerland)
Acclaimed Conductor and Composer Antal
Dorati rose to become the youngest ever conductor of the Royal Opera
House in his native city soon after graduating at age 18. In 1928
he went to Dresden as assistant to Fritz Busch and subsequently was
engaged as conductor at the opera house in Münster / Westfalia, where
he stayed until 1933. From 1934-1941 he was first second conductor,
later music director of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and, subsequently,
of the American Ballet
Theater in New York. His American debut as a symphony conductor
came in 1937, when he guest-conducted the National Symphony in Washington,
D.C. He became an American citizen in 1947. From 1945-1949 Doráti
directed and greatly revitalized the Dallas
Symphony. He became music director of the Minneapolis Symphony
in 1949, where he stayed for 11 years.
In 1963 he was appointed Chief conductor
of the BBC
Orchestra, a post he held for 4 years. This was followed by a
similar position with the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (from 1965-1972).
Parallel to his European activities he became music director of the
National Symphony in Washington in 1970, followed by the same position
1977 in Detroit. At the same time (since 1975) Antal Doráti accepted
the Royal Philharmonic's
invitation to become their chief conductor. From 1981 he became "Conductor
Laureate" for life of 3 orchestras (RPO
London, Stockholm Philharmonic and Detroit
Symphony). He was also a prolific and quite individual composer;
he studied with Kodaly
and Leo Weiner.
- Visit his International
Homepage
|
 Bob
Babbitt (b. Pittsburgh, PA)
Legendary, Two-time Grammy-award winning Electric Bass Player earning
25 Gold and platinum records playing on over 200
top 40 hits. An "Icon of the Groove" helping
to "define the era of the 1960's." Part of the Funk Brothers:
"the Greatest Hit Machine in Modern Music."
Who's playing the music?
 Bob
was part of the legendary "Funk Brothers" who were the primary
studio musicians on almost all of the Motown hits that were recorded
and the ones who defined the music era of the 1960's. The Funk Brothers'
music is famous around the world, though their names are not. The
Funk Brothers put the backbeat - the soul - into the hits of Motown
Records creating music that helped to define the era of the 1960s
and has remained a vital influence to this day,
these musicians played on more #1 records than the Beatles, the Beach
Boys, The Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley combined.
Bob was the bass groove behind some of my favorite
tunes including Marvin Gaye's "Mercy, Mercy, Me," Gladys
Knight's "Midnight Train to Georgia," Smokey Robinson's
"Tears of a Clown," Robert Palmer's "Every Kind of
People," and the Spinners' "Rubber Band Man."
 Bob's
long journey didn't start in New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, or any
other city with a rich studio tradition. It began in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
a town renowned more for its steel-making than its hit-making. Born
Robert Kreiner to Hungarian parents, Bob received classical training
on upright bass, although he says the gypsy music to which his family
exposed him at a young age was far more influential. At 15, inspired
by early rhythm & blues, he began performing in local nightclubs.
Bob recalls his early days: "My parents sang with the Gypsies.
They were Hungarian, and they got me a job with a Gypsy band. I think
I made $15.00. It was in the late ’50s."
Bob studied at the Detroit Institute Of Arts, majoring
in Harmony & Theory for Bass.
- Bob appeared as himself in the critically acclaimed
documentary "Standing
in the Shadows of Motown." Watch the movie trailer and see
him play! The film won Best Documentary at the National Society of
Film Critics in 2002. It also won the New York Film Critics Circle
in 2002.
- See his Official Site: bobbabbitt.com
- Listen to the Funk Brothers show on Boston's Public Radio at
the
Connection.org
|
 Ferenc
Molnár - (1/12/1878, Budapest - 4/2/1952, New York)
Playwright Ferenc Molnar studied
criminal law in Budapest and Geneva and became a journalist for the
Budapest newspaper Budapesti Napló as the full-time Paris correspondent.
In 1901, after writing a number of short stories, he published his
first book, The Hungry City, a story of dirty politics, corruption,
social inequality and anti-semitism and became the the darling of
Budapest café society. Molnár was the ringleader of a circle of artists
and musicians in Budapest. They were called "The Elastics,"
because they wore a new kind of laceless shoe with elastic on the
side. The group comprised of young playwrights, writers of farce and
light comedy, as well as some musicians, operetta composers and conductors
from operetta and musical theatres. A friend commissioned him to write
a play for the National Theatre, a farce. Although this play, The
Lawyer, was never performed at the National Theatre, it played
in 1902 at the new Comedy Theatre and audiences demanded more from
Molnár. But he wanted to write something more serious, so he wrote
The Devil, which was very modern, slightly Freudian and very
titillating (in fact, it was banned in London) and brought him international
acclaim. His most famous work, Liliom, was translated to English
and performed in 1926 in London with Charles Laughton. He moved
to New York in 1939, one of the many talented immigrants that were
part of the "Hungarian Invasion" of New York Theatre, and
Liliom was revived to rave reviews. Liliom provided
the plot for Rodgers' and Hammerstein's famed musical, "Carousel"
which debuted in 1945. Some of his plays were adapted for the Big
Screen, including The
Swan, starring Grace Kelly, Charles Vidor, Alec Guiness, and Louis
Jourdan.
- Read more at The
Play's the Thing
- Buy other movies based on Ferenc Molnar's works at Barnes
and Noble
|
 Jeffrey
Tambor (b. 7/8/1944, San Franciso, CA)
Actor Large-framed and prematurely bald,
American actor Jeffrey Tambor excelled in character parts from the
time he was draft age. Tambor spent nearly two decades in regional
theatre, appearing in the classic comedy roles (his favorite was Aguecheek
from Twelfth Night: "One hundred lines, one hundred laughs").
While his propensity for scene-stealing did not always endear him
to his fellow actors, Tambor was able to matriculate to films and
television by the end of the '70s. He was occasionally seen on the
early-'80s police drama Hill Street Blues as cross-dressing
attorney (and later judge) Alan Wachtel. He was in his mid-thirties
when he made his film debut in the Al Pacino courtroom vehicle, …And
Jutice for All (1979). His film roles usually consisted of corporate
blowhards and backstabbing CEOS (e.g. 1983's Mister Mom). In
1986, Tambor starred in the situation comedy Mister Sunshine,
playing a blind English professor (the series' gratuitous slapstick,
which Tambor invariably performed brilliantly, incurred the wrath
of several professional advocates for the sightless). Some of Tambor's
more notable subsequent films include City Slickers (1991),
Life Stinks (1991) (as Mel Brooks's villainous rival), Dr.
Dolittle (1998), and Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas
(2000) and Pollock (2000). More recently, Jeffrey Tambor
has been seen as the Uriah Heep-ish sidekick of scabrous talk show
host Garry Shandling in cable TV's The Larry Sanders Show.
A quote: "I come from a Hungarian
Russian background," he says while perusing the menu for something
low-fat. "Their way of
showing love was food and the amount of food. The motto of our family
was 'Did you eat? What did you eat? When are you going to eat?'
It's that European culture. My lunches in school were enormous--mine
were in shopping bags!"
- See this article from the LA
Times or
- See his filmography and more photos on Yahoo
Movies or IMDB
|
 Drew Barrymore - (b. 2/22/1975, Culver
City, California)
Actress, Model, Producer, Philanthropist, America's
Sweetheart
Her mother is actress and "wild child"
Ildiko
Jaid Mako. While waitressing at the Troubadour, a music club on
Santa Monica Blvd., Ildiko met John Barrymore Jr. They dated for 5
years (from 1970-1975) when they gave birth to their child, Drew Blythe
Barrymore. John was abusive and Jaid left him before Drew was born.
Normalcy for Drew would be hard to come by...
This international superstar of the legendary Barrymore
family appeared in her first TV commercial for Puppy Choice dog food
before her first birthday. At the ripe old age of 11 months she made
her first TV appearance when she appeared in a dog food commercial.
At the age of two she made her first TV movie, playing a boy in Suddenly,
Love. Her first feature film happened at age five when the young
Barrymore apeared in Altered States. Two years later Drew landed
her most famous role playing Gertie in the hugely popular E.T.
The Extra-Terrestrial. Appearing in one of the top films of all
time helps to put an actress on the map. In 1984, Drew appeared in
Firestarter and earned a Golden Globe nomination for her role
in Irreconcilable Differences. That's when things started to
go bad for Drew. At age 9, she was drunk at a party thrown for Rob
Lowe. At age 10, she was smoking pot and by her thirteenth year she
had escalated to cocaine. At an age when most teens are getting ready
for high school, Drew was checking in to rehab.
Drew felt she had finally beaten her demons and that
same year she also legally declared herself free of her mother's control;
the two had shared a rocky relationship for years. Clean and sixteen,
Drew co-authored a book, Little Girl Lost, that chronicled
her life so far. Drew now started working on getting her career back
on track. In 1992, she turned in an incredible performance in the
steamy thriller Poison Ivy. In October 1993, it was Drew Barrymore
that surprised the world as the new "GUESS
Girl." In 1995 she appeared in movies like Mad Love,
Batman Forever, and Boys on the Side. In 1996 she appeared
in the teen horror parody Scream and worked opposite Edward
Norton in Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You. She teamed
up with Adam Sandler in 1998 to appear in the wildly popular hit The
Wedding Singer and ended the year with a strong performance in
Ever After. The now hard-working actress turned her hand to
producing as well. In 1999 she produced and starred in both Never
Been Kissed and in 2000 Charlie's Angels which co-starred
Cameron Diaz
and Lucy Liu. In 2001 she produced Donnie Darko and starred
in Riding in Cars with Boys. Flower Films is her sown production
company, .
Trivia:
- Godmother to Courtney
Love's daughter Frances Bean
- Steven
Spielberg is her godfather
- Anna
Strasberg is her godmother.
- (1997) Chosen by "People" magazine as
one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World
- Was the youngest person to ever host Saturday Night
Live at seven years old
- See filmography, details, pictures and more at IMDB
- Buy videos, access more Drew-related sites at Star
Pulse
|
 Jerry
Seinfeld (b. 4/29/1954, Brooklyn, NY)
Actor / Comedian: American Icon!
The most successful and influential comedian of his generation!
Critically acclaimed and successful as a stand-up
comic, television actor, best-selling author and advertising pitchman,
Jerry was born to Hungarian Kalman Seinfeld, a signmaker, and his
wife, Betty. Jerry was the second of the couple's two children. The
Seinfeld family moved to Long Island when Jerry was a child, and he
spent most of his youth there. After graduating from high school,
Seinfeld went on to college, first attending the State University
of New York at Oswego, and then moving on to Queens College of the
City University of New York, where he received a Bachelor's Degree
in 1976. Seinfeld developed a keen interest in performing while in
college (his degree from Queens was in communications and theater),
and after graduation he began working New York comedy clubs, often
without pay, while holding down a number of odd jobs.
Seinfeld's first big break came when his bright but
understated observational humor caught the eye of standup legend Rodney
Dangerfield, who featured Seinfeld on a special for HBO. The
exposure helped establish Seinfeld on the comedy club circuit, and
won him a recurring role on the situation comedy Benson. In
1981, Seinfeld appeared for the first time on The Tonight Show,
then hosted by Johnny Carson, and made a strong impression on both
the audience and the host; he became a frequent guest on the Carson
show, as well as David Letterman's late-night talk show. As Seinfeld's
fame began to rise, he starred in several cable TV specials, and was
approached to star in several TV series. Seinfeld and his good friend
Larry David began working up an idea for a situation comedy to be
called The Seinfeld Chronicles. In 1989, NBC took the bait, and a
year later the show premiered under the streamlined name Seinfeld.
Concerning standup comic Jerry Seinfeld and the often odd everyday
occurrences of his circle of friends (many of whom were based on people
Seinfeld and David knew in real life), Seinfeld got off to a slow
start, but began to win a healthy audience in its second season, and
in time became one of NBC's biggest hits.
- See his filmography and more photos on Yahoo
Movies or IMDB
|
 Paul
Lukas (b. Pál Lukács 5/26/1824, Budapest, d. 8/15/1971, Tangier,
Morocco) -
Actor, Oscar
Winner for "Watch on the Rhine"
Lukas trained for the stage at the Hungarian Actors
Academy, and in 1916 he went to Kassa (now Kosice after Czech annexation)
to become an actor, In 1918 he entered into engagement with the Theatre
for Comedy and later debuted on the Budapest stage in Ferenc Molnár's
"Liliom." He soon became Star of the Hungarian Stage and
appeared in a number of Max Reinhardt productions before arriving
in the US in 1927 and establishing himself as one of Hollywood's favorite
suave European types. For a time in the early 1930s, the dapper Lukas
was a romantic lead of films including "Strictly Dishonorable"
(1931), "Little Women" (1933), "By Candlelight"
(1933), and "The Fountain" (1934).
He did, however, have more than a touch of the roue about him, which
manifested itself in "Affairs of a Gentleman" (1934), "The
Three Musketeers" (1935) and in his splendid supporting performance
as one of the heroine's illicit romances in William Wyler's "Dodsworth"
(1936). Alfred Hitchcock's delightful thriller "The Lady Vanishes"
(1938) found Lukas playing an outright, though still sneaky, villain,
and he played a number of unsympathetic roles in wartime films, memorably
as Hedy Lamarr's dangerous husband in "Experiment Perilous"
(1944).
The most notably exception to Lukas's roles during
this period was his fine Oscar-winning lead performance (recreating
his stage role) as a heroic resistance fighter in the well-intentioned
but stodgy "Watch on the Rhine" (1943). During his later
years Lukas played a number of gentler roles, keeping busy in "Twenty
Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" (1954, as Prof. Aronnax) and
"Tender Is the Night" (1962), but the gentlemanly if sometimes
deceptive Continental suavity which was always his trademark never
left him.
- Buy Paul Lukas movies at Barnes
and Noble
- See his filmography at IMDB
|
 Johnny
Weissmuller (b. 6/2/1904, Szabadfalu (Freisdorf), Hungary, [awarded
to Rumania after WWI], d. 1/20/1984, Acapulco, Mexico)
The one and only Tarzan and
FIVE-time Gold Olympic swimming legend! "The greatest swimmer of
all time" Johnny was born Janos Weiszmueller
in Szabadfulu (Freetown or in German, Freidorf), near Temesvar [now
Timisoara after Rumanian annexation] in the Banat region of Hungary
where many "Schwabians" / "Donauschwaben" / "Danube
Swabians" or ethnic Germans had settled after the pullout of
the Ottoman Turks in the 17th century. His parents were Peter Weiszmueller,
a day worker from Varjas, and Erzsebet Kersch, of Szabadfalu (the
name for Freidorf at the time). His Godparents were Janos Borstner
and Katharina Erbesz. The Weissmuller family arrived in New York on
the S.S. Rotterdam on Jan 26, 1905 when Johnny was three.
Johnny often claimed he was born in Windber, PA because
of Olympic eligibility issues. Weissmuller was the winner of the 100m
freestyle in 1924 and 1928 and a member of the winning 4x200m relay
team in both years. He also won a bronze medal in the 1924 water polo
competition at the Olympics. He broke three records at the 1924 Olympics
in Paris. Weissmuller set 28 world records and such was his margin
of superiority over his contemporaries that many authorities still
rate him ahead of Mark Spitz as the greatest swimmer of all time.
Because of the limited number of events available to Weissmuller,
his Olympic record cannot be fairly compared with that of Spitz but
the longevity of his records is a testament to his greatness. His
1927 world record for the 100 yard freestyle was unbeaten for 17 years,
a remarkable length of time during a period of rapid development in
the sport. From 1921-29 he won every free style race he entered. In
addition to his Olympic Triumph, he won 18 Gold Medals at the USA
National Championships (1921 - 1923,1925 -1928). Much of his success
was due to his revolutionary high-riding stroke, flutter kick and
head-turning breathing.
After modeling BVD's and successfully playing a fig-leafed
Adonis, MGM took notice and invited for a screen test for the role
of Tarzan. Weissmuller was chosen over 150 other applicants and went
on to become the most famous screen Tarzan of all, playing the role
in 12 movies between 1932 and 1948. After 1942 MGM had used up its
options; it dropped Tarzan and Weissmuller who then moved to RKO and
made six more Tarzans. After that he made sixteen programmed Jungle
Jim (1948) movies for Columbia, finally retiring from movies to
private businesses in Fort Lauderdale FL. Weissmuller died in Acapulco,
Mexico after a series of strokes.
Trivia:
- Had three children with Beryl: Johnny Scott Weissmuller,
Jr.; Heidi Elizabeth Weissmuller; and Wendy Anne Weissmuller.
- Weissmuller had a close call in Cuba during the
time of the Cuban Revolution. While playing golf, he and his friends
found themselves suddenly surrounded by a group of Castro's soldiers
intent on kidnapping them or worse. Thinking fast, Weissmuller immediately
gave his trademark Tarzan yell. The soldiers immediately recognized
it and were so delighted to meet Tarzan that they escorted the group
back to a safe area.
- When Weissmuller was introduced to the first
Cheetah in his Tarzan films in 1931 (he worked with 8 chimpanzees
altogether), the chimp's trainer told him to show no fear or the
animal would attack him. As Weissmuller, dressed in his Tarzan loincloth
and hunting knife, walked up to the animal, it bared its teeth,
growled at him and lunged as if to attack him. Weissmuller took
the knife out of the sheath and held it in front of the chimp's
nose, to make sure he saw and smelled it. He then slammed the animal
on the side of the head with the knife handle. He put the knife
back in its sheath and held out his hand to the chimp. It glared
at him, bared his teeth again, then changed its mind, grinned at
Weissmuller and jumped up and hugged him. Weissmuller never had
any further problems with the chimp--although other cast and crew
members did--and it followed him around like a puppy dog during
all the pictures they worked together.
- See the International
Olympic Committee
- For extensive photos and filmography see IMDB
- See my Sports page
|
 András
Schiff - (b. 12/21/1953, Budapest)
Acclaimed Classical Pianist Andras Schiff
occupies a prominent position among the world's leading musicians.
Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1953, he began piano lessons at age five
with Elisabeth Vadász and continued his musical studies at the Ferenc
Liszt Academy with Professor Pál Kadosa, György Kurtág and Ferenc
Rados. He also worked with George Malcolm in London. Among other honors,
András Schiff was awarded the Bartók Prize in 1991 and the "Claudio
Arrau Memorial Medal" from the Robert Schumann Society in Dusseldorf
in 1994. In March 1996, Mr. Schiff received the highest Hungarian
distinction, the "Kossuth Prize" and in May 1997, he received
the "Leonie Sonnings Music Prize" in Copenhagen. He makes
his home in Florence, Italy.
- Read more
- See his impressive Discography at his agency, Kirshbaum
Demler & Associates
- Buy his CD's at Barnes
& Noble
|
 Andre
Watts - (b. 6/20/1946, Nürnberg, Germany)
Acclaimed Classical Pianist - one of the "Great
Pianists of the 20th Century" The
first African-American concert pianist to achieve international superstardom.
Critics have called Watts electrifying, sensational, daring,
colorful, imaginative, powerful, and a supervirtuoso. André
Watts is the son of an American career soldier stationed in Germany
and a Hungarian refugee. Watts began studying the violin at age four.
By the time he was six he made it known that his preference was for
the piano, so his mother, a pianist herself, gave him his first lessons.
As is frequently the case, he loved to play but hated to practice.
When his habit persisted, his mother began relaying stories of her
countryman, pianist and composer Franz Liszt, emphasizing the fact
that he practiced faithfully. Liszt soon became Watts's hero, and
he even adopted Liszt's bravura playing style.
At 10 he performed a Haydn concerto with the Philadelphia
Orchestra. He burst upon the music world at the age of 16, when Leonard
Bernstein chose him to make his debut with the New York Philharmonic
in their Young People’s Concerts, broadcast nationwide on CBS-TV.
He became an overnight sensation. More than 30 years later, André
Watts remains one of today’s most celebrated and beloved superstars.
His performances each year with the world’s great orchestras and conductors
and his sold-out recitals and appearances at the most prestigious
international festivals bring him to every corner of the globe. A
much-honored artist who has played before royalty in Europe and heads
of government in nations all over the world, André Watts was selected
to receive the Avery Fisher Prize in 1988. At age 26, he was the youngest
person ever to receive an Honorary Doctorate from Yale University.
- Read more at Cramer/Marder
Artists Agency or
- www.africanpubs.com
|
 Béla
Bartók - (3/25/1881, Nagyszentmiklós, Hungary,
d. 9/26/1945, New York)
Composer, ethnomusicologist Bela Bartok
was one of the most significant musicians of the twentieth century.
He shared with his friend Zoltán Kodály, another leading Hungarian
composer, a passion for ethnomusicology. His music was invigorated
by the themes, modes, and rhythmic patterns of the Hungarian and other
folk music traditions he studied, which he synthesized with influences
from his contemporaries into his own distinctive style. Bartók grew
up in that part of Hungary annexed by Rumania at the Treaty of Trianon
after World War I. His birthplace, Nagyszentmiklós (Great St
Nicholas), in Transylvania, became Sînnicolau Mare, Romania.
In 1894, Pozsony (now called Bratislava after Slovakia
was created out of Northern Hungary) the former Hungarian Capital,
became their new home. He attended school, studied the piano with
Laszlo Erkel and Anton Hyrtl, and composed sonatas and quartets.
In 1898 he was accepted by the Vienna Conservatory, but decided rather
to attend the Budapest Academy, where he studied the piano as a pupil
of Franz
Liszt as well as studying composition. He deepened his acquaintance
with Richard
Wagner during these times, though it was the music of Richard
Strauss, who he met at the Budapest premiere, that had most influence.
He wrote a symphonic poem, Kossuth, using Strauss's methods combined
with Hungarian elements in Liszt's manner.
Trivia: Béla showed precocious
musical ability and began to compose dances at the age of nine.
- See Thinkquest
- See much more at the Unitarian
Church's Bartok site
- See Matt
Boynick's site for more on Bartok including a picture gallery.
|
|  Zoltan
Kodály (b. 12/16/1882 Kecskemét, Hungary, d. 3/6/1967, Budapest)
Composer, educator, ethnomusicologist, linguist, author and philosopher.
Along with Bartók and
Ligeti, Zoltan Kodaly is one of the three major figures in Hungarian
music this century. Kodály's many compositions show a strong affinity
with the folk traditions of his country and include ballad operas,
orchestral works, chamber music, choral works, songs, folk song arrangements
and music for children.
Kodály was born in Kecskemét,
a small town in central Hungary. Much of his childhood was spent in
the Hungarian villages. It was here that Kodály developed a great
love for the Hungarian countryside and for the folk traditions of
his culture.From a young age Kodály showed great aptitude and interest
in music. His father, an amateur musician, encouraged this interest,
particularly the young boy's interest in composition. By the time
Kodály reached secondary school he was composing his own music. After
completing his school education, Kodály studied at The Franz List
Academy (Hungary's most prestigious music institution) where he
met Bela Bartok with whom they collected Magyar folk music, elements
of which they would eventually use in their compositions. He later
attended the University of Hungary where he earned a degree
in Hungarian, German and then, later, a Doctor of Philosophy in linguistics.
As a composer, Kodály did much to bridge the gap between Hungarian
folk music and the European art music tradition. In later years Kodály
was president of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, president of The
International Folk Music Council, and honorary president of the International
Society for Music Education.
Trivia: His hand
signals teaching method was seen in the movie Close Encounters
of the Third Kind
- Read more at Emory
University
- See this Photo
Gallery
|
 Edward
James Olmos (b. 2/24/1947, East Lost Angeles, California, USA)
Oscar and Tony Nominated and Emmy Award Winning Actor, Producer,
Director, and Activist. The "Olivier
of the Latino World" and People's 2000 Sexiest Man Alive
"I come from a dysfunctional family,
I'm a minority, I have no natural talent, but I did it.
If I can do it, anybody can do it. I take away all the excuses."
 Olmos's
passion for education is a gift from his parents. He was born to Pedro
Olmos and Eleanor Huizar. His father had left Mexico City, Mexico,
at the age of twenty-one and settled in Los Angeles. Olmos claims
to be Chicano-American first, Asian second, and European third. Olmos
is a Hungarian name and his ancestry includes Moranos or Transversos,
Jews who converted to Catholicism during the Spanish Inquisition to
avoid religious persecution and torture. He also includes African
ancestry. It is this global heritage 'that made me brown," he
says with pride.
Olmos spent nine years trying to establish himself
as an actor, making his film debut (billing himself as Eddie Olmos)
as an extra in Aloha, Bobby and Rose in 1975. Prior to that, Olmos
had worked as a bit player and extra in several early '70s television
shows ranging from Medical Center to Hawaii Five-O.
In 1979, he made a splash on Broadway playing Pachuco in Luis Valdez's
Zoot
Suit. The play was originally staged in L.A. and represented the
first time in which Olmos was paid to act on-stage. During the show's
New York run, Olmos earned a Tony Nomination and a Drama Critics Circle
Award. In 1982, he played a creepy police detective in Blade
Runner. Olmos became a star when he played the super-pragmatic
Lieutenant Castillo on the hip police drama Miami
Vice (1984-1989) and in 1985 won an Emmy for his efforts. He earned
an Oscar nomination for his inspirational performance as a determined
teacher who helps a troubled group of urban kids excel in math and
science in Stand
and Deliver (1986). He made his  feature
film directorial bow in 1992 with the powerful American
Me, a grim look at a reformed gangster's attempts to stay away
from the violent, criminal ways of his old cohorts. Other notable
1990s efforts include Gregory Navahos' beautiful My
Family/Mi Familia (1995). Other credits include Selena
with Jennifer Lopez and the voice of the Chief in The Road to El Dorado.
Olmos' humanitarian activities include acting as a
United States Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, being the national spokesman
for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, serving a place on the boards
of the Miami and Los Angeles Children's Hospitals, serving as the
executive director of the Hazard Education Project, and contributing
to the foundation for the Advancement of Silence and Education. For
his many good works, Olmos has received Honorary Doctorates from five
educational institutions including the University of Colorado, California
State University at Fresno, and the American Film Institute in Hollywood.
- Visit the Edward
James Olmos Page
- See his Martin Luther King Jr. Day keynote
address at the University of Michigan
- See Celebrating
Hispanic Heritage - Biography
- Buy his videos at Barnes
and Noble.com
|
 Robert
Capa -
Acclaimed Photojournalist (b. Endre Erno Friedmann, Budapest,
1913, d. May 25, 1954 (Thai Binh, Vietnam). "One
of the greatest photojournalists of the 20th century"
- Brittanica "The Greatest
War Photographer in the World: Robert Capa"- Picture
Post  Capa
left Hungary as a boy, lived in Paris in 1930's and covered many wars:
Spanish Civil war, China, WW II (north Africa, Italy, D-Day, Liberation
of Paris, Israeli War of Independence (1948), and the French Indo-China
war. He was killed after stepping on a landmine.
His most famous photo is of the "Falling Soldier,
" from the Spanish Civil War in 1936 published in Life
magazine in 1937. He was one of the co-founders of the Magnum photo
agency. His brother, Cornell Capa, is current director of the International
Photography Centre in New York.
Trivia: Famous love affair with Ingrid Bergman
-1945
Pierce Brosnan will soon portray Robert Capa in "Blood
and Champagne"
|
 Éva
Gárdos
Acclaimed Screenwriter, Director, and Editor Eva
Gardos grew up in rural communist Hungary in the 1950s, away from
film and television. She began her film career as an editor on 1983’s
Valley Girl and later worked on films such as Mask,
Barfly, Valleygirl, Tales from the Crypt, and Time
of the Butterflies. An
American Rhapsody marked Eva’s debut as both a screenwriter
and director. Her screenplay, a semi-biographical tale depicting
the personal odyssey of a family's escape from Communist Hungary on
which she worked for seven years, won the prestigious Hartley-Merrill
International Screenwriting Prize. The award led production company
Seven Arts International (now Fireworks Pictures) to greenlight her
as director. An American Rhapsody won both the Audience Award
for Best Feature, and the Perrier Bubbling Under Award for promising
first-time directors at the 2001 Nantucket Film Festival.
Buy her videos at Barnes
& Noble
|
 Leslie
Howard - (b. 4/3/1893, London, d. 6/1/1943, Bay of Biscay ,casualty
of war)
Actor (born Lászlo Steiner). See on the left in 'Gone With
the Wind." He was born to Hungarian parents,
Lilian and Frank Steiner, in London. Frank worked as a stockbroker.
Leslie's younger years were spent in Vienna. After school, Leslie
worked as a bank clerk until the outbreak of World War I. In 1917,
diagnosed as shell shocked, he was mustered out and advised to take
up acting as therapy. In a few years, his name was known on the stages
of London and New York. He became known as the perfect Englishman,
slim, tall, intellectual and sensitive, a part that he would play
in many movies and a part women would dream about.
He made his first movie in 1930, 'Outward Bound',
a film adaptation of his stage performance of the same name. In 'Never
the Twain Shall Meet (1931)' and 'Smilin Through (1932)',
he was playing the Englishman role to the hilt. His screen persona
could perhaps be best summed up by his role as Sir Percy Blakeney
in 'The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)', a foppish member of society.
It was Leslie who insisted that Humphrey Bogart get the role of Duke
Mantee, in 'The Petrified Forest (1936), the character that
Bogart played in the stage production.
With success, he became quite picky about which roles
he would do and usually did but two films per year. In 1939, he would
play the character that would always be associated with him - that
of Ashley Wilkes, the honor bound disillusioned intellectual southern
gentleman in 'Gone with the Wind'. But war clouds were gathering
over England and Leslie devoted all his energy on behalf of the war
effort. He directed films, wrote articles and made radio broadcasts.
Howard returned to his native England after World War 2 began, and
was shot down by Nazi fighter planes while flying from Portugal in
1943.
Trivia:
- His son is actor Ronald Howard, who played
Sherlock Holmes on television.
- The oldest of 5 children, Leslie's youngest brother,
Arthur Howard
(1910-1995), was also an actor.
- His sister, Irene, also worked in the studios
in Hollywood.
- A nephew of Leslie's, Alan Howard, below,
is an acclaimed stage actor in Britain, who was awarded the C.B.E.
in 1997.
See above and much more at the IMDB
|
Goldie Hawn -
Very Cute Actress and Academy Award
Nominee for Private Benjamin. Tentative honoree
- NEED ADDITIONAL VERIFICATION RESOURCES.
|
 André
Kertész (b. Budapest, 1894 - d. New York, 1985)
Acclaimed photographer One of the pioneers
of "street photography." He said, "technique is unimportant,"
"it is important to think." With a small camera he captured
the poetic and absurdity of ordinary life. A major force, he made
his mark on different kinds of photography, making documentary an
art form. Kertesz began taking pictures when he was sixteen. He was
called to arms in World War I and took his camera with him. These
early war photos set him apart as he captured images not of blood
and war, but often the tender side of the lives of ordinary soldiers.
In 1925 he moved to Paris, where he met and photographed painters
and writers. In 1927 he presented the first one-man photographic exhibition
ever held.
From About.com:
Hungary, a small land-locked country in the center of Europe, nurtured
far more than its share of genius in the first half of 20th century.
It was Hungarian scientists who drove forward the Manhattan project
to produce the first atomic bomb and invented the biro and the hologram;
Hungarian footballers who showed that England could be defeated and
Hungarian photographers who shone in the world of photojournalism
and modernism. Among them were Brassai (Gyula Halasz),
the great recorder of the Paris demimonde, Cornell and Robert
Capa, the inspiration of Magnum, Lazlo
Moholy-Nagy who brought the ideas of the Bauhaus to found
the Institute of Design in Chicago, Martin Munkasci,
and, perhaps the greatest of them all, André Kertész.
The photographs of Andre Kertesz can be found in several
collections: the Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum of Modern Art,
Harvard University, University of Kansas Museum of Art, Mint Museum
of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, Wellesley College Museum and
Pompidou Center to name a few.
- Read the full About.com
article or
- See the PBS series, American
Masters, and watch video and more on Kertesz
- See an Interview
- You can see some of his works and purchase from his estate
|
 Debra
Winger - (b. 5/16/1955, Cleveland)
Actress - 2 Oscar
Nominations! In 1961, her family
left Cleveland for sunny California when she was 6 years old. As a
teenager, she emigrated to Israel, where she worked for two years
on a collective farm and served in the Army. Upon returning to the
States, she was involved in a serious accident that left her in a
coma. Partially paralyzed and blinded in one eye for several months,
Winger thought long and hard about where her life was going, and decided
that upon recuperating she would become an actress. She did, making
several commercials before being cast as Lynda Carter's little sister
Drusilla on the popular "Wonder Woman" TV series.
Her determination has paid off with a successful career that includes
starring roles in "Urban Cowboy," "Legal
Eagles," "Betrayed," "Black Widow,"
and Oscar Nominated performances in "An Officer and a Gentleman"
and "Shadowlands."
See more at IMDB
or at Debra Winger
|
 Jamie
Lee Curtis (b. 11/22/1958)
Actress...Best Legs in Hollywood?
Jamie Lee Curtis was born to legendary
parents Janet
Leigh and Tony Curtis. She got her big break at acting in 1978
when she won the role of Laurie Strode in Halloween (1978) and rose
to cult stardom playing the straightlaced teenage baby sitter imperiled
by an unknown slasher. After that she became very famous for roles
in movies like Trading Places (1983), Perfect (1985), and A Fish Called
Wanda (1988). She soon starred in one of the biggest action films
ever, True Lies (1994) in which she won a Golden Globe for her performance.
In 1998 she starred in Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1998) in
which she reprised her role that made her famous back in 1978. She
then appeared in Virus in 1991 and Tailor of Panama in 2001.
Trivia:
- Married to actor Christopher
Guest since 1984, Curtis became a Baroness, Lady Haden-Guest,
when her husband inherited the Barony in 1996.
- Her sisters are also well known: Kelly Curtis is
also an actress; Alexandra
Curtis is a Theatrical Manager/Director; and Allegra
Curtis is a beautiful Model and Hair-Make Up Consultant.
- For more biographical info., visit Mr.Showbiz or
- IMDB
|
 Kelly
Curtis (b. 61/17/1956, Santa Monica, CA)
Actress Sister of Jamie Lee, and first
child of Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, Kelly Lee Curtis appeared with
her sister in Trading Places as Muffy. She as appeared in screen and
television films, including "The Sentinel" as Lieutenant
Carolyn Plummer, "The Devil's Daughter (AKA The Sect),"
"Search and Rescue," "Thanksgiving Day," and "Almost
Famous." She also appeared in "Star Trek: deep Space Nine"
and "Silk Stalkings."
- See her full filmography and TV appearances at IMDB
- See pictures
of Kelly with her Mom, Janet Leigh
|
 Eugene
(Jenö) Ormándy - (b.11/18/1899, Budapest, Hungary, d. 3/12/1985,
Philadelphia)
Renowned Conductor (Philadelphia) One
of the most famous conductors in musical history, Ormandy graduated
from the Budapest Royal Academy, where he studied violin with Jenö
Hubay, an eminent Hungarian violinist. By the time he was 17, Ormandy
was a professor of violin himself and performed in concerts throughout
Central Europe. In 1921, Ormandy traveled to the United States for
a concert tour. Once in America, however, he cancelled the tour and
became a violinist in the orchestra of the Capitol Theater in New
York City.
During his tenure with this orchestra, Ormandy began
his career as a conductor. He performed light classics for radio,
as well as summer concerts. This led to a position as deputy for Arturo
Toscanini during a major concert series of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
From 1931 to 1936 Ormandy conducted the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra,
achieving national recognition with a series of recordings. In 1936,
he returned to the Philadelphia Orchestra where he shared the conductorship
with Leopold Stokowski. Two years later, Ormandy became principal
conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, a position he held until
his retirement in 1980. Acclaimed for his interpretations of 19th-century
music, he was known to conduct all scores from memory. He emphasized
rich orchestral tones and developed fine, velvety string playing that
became his trademark. Under his direction, the Philadelphia Orchestra
became known for its warm, textured romantic "Philadelphia Sound."
- See the Eugene
Ormandy Pages for CD's and much more.
|
 Lászlo
Kovács ASC - (b. May 14, 1933, Hungary)
Legendary Cinematographer.
"The great achievements of Laszlo
Kovacs, A.S.C., are not only those of a world-renowned and
respected cinematographer, but also those of a man of courage,
strength, and determination who overcame great obstacles to
achieve his filmmaking dreams." - hollywoodawards.com
International Film Festivals have celebrated "the
extraordinary impact Kovacs has made in advancing the art of filmmaking."
They also cited his influence on young filmmakers in every part of
the world. Laszlo Kovacs has compiled more than 60 narrative films
credits, including Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces,
Paper Moon, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Shampoo,
The Rose, New York, New York, What’s Up Doc?, The Last
Waltz, The Runner Stumbles, Ghostbusters, The Mask,
Little Nikita, F.I.S.T., Blow Out, Legal Eagles,
My Best Friend’s Wedding, Return to Me, Copycat, Multiplicity,
Sliver, and Miss Congeniality.
Kovacs was born and raised in Hungary during the World
War II Nazi occupation of his native land. His parents were farmers,
who lived in a small village some 60 miles from Budapest. Despite
his penchant for skipping school to go to the movies and a less-than-perfect
academic record, Kovacs, on his second try, was accepted at the Academy
of Drama and Film Art in Budapest, where George Illes, a legendary
Hungarian filmmaker and head of the cinema department, took him under
his wing. Kovacs was in his final year at school in 1956, when a spontaneous
revolt that began on the streets of Budapest seemed to be on the verge
of moderating the communist regime. Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC,
a recent graduate, borrowed a 35mm camera from the school, along with
a generous supply of film. They used the camera to document incredible
acts of bravery as citizens armed only with homemade weapons tried
to stop Soviet tanks and soldiers when they poured into the city en
masse and brutally crushed the revolt. Kovacs and Zsigmond were forced
to flee or face severe reprisals at the hands of the invading Russians.
They arrived together in the U.S. as political refugees in 1957.
Kovacs worked his way up from prints to documentaries
and a low budget Western. His talents were noticed and he was
introduced to Robert Altman and Peter Bogdanovich with whom he worked
on a number of their earliest films. In 1969, Lewis introduced Kovacs
to Dennis Hopper who was getting ready to shoot a film with Peter
Fonda and Jack Nicholson. The reluctant Kovacs agreed to film "Easy
Rider" and the rest is history!
Trivia: Wears a T-Shirt that says "I
am not Vilmos" (Acclaimed Cinematographer friend and colleague,
Vilmos Zsigmond that is!)
- Read above excerpt in more detail at The
International Cinematographer's Guild
- See his full filmography and more at IMDB.com
- See Cinematographyworld.com,
the American Society of Cinematographers Website.
- See an Interview
with Laszlo Kovacs
- Buy his videos at Barnes
and Noble.com
|
 Vilmos
Zsigmond (ASC) - (b. June 16, 1930, Szeged, Hungary)
Legendary Cinematographer - Oscar Winner
and Multiple Oscar Nominations!
First cinematographer to use the Panaflex camera on a movie -- "The
Sugarland Express." From
Cinequest.org
- "...Son of a celebrated soccer player and coach, Zsigmond developed
an interest in photography while in high school. After his graduation
from the State University of Motion Picture and Theater Arts in Budapest
(with friend Laszlo Kovacs), the Hungarian Revolution hit. [Along
with Laszlo Kovacs, he filmed footage of the 1956 Hungarian revolution,
supposedly with a camera concealed in a shopping bag.] His escape
from the country and pilgrimage to the United States were underway.
Eventually making connections with U.S. filmmakers, Zsigmond had the
chance to develop his new style of lighting-a combination of the "old"
classical style and the "new" flexible soft lighting. Zsigmond's
evocative look and "altering eye" found outlets in such
masterpieces as John Boorman's Deliverance (1972), Mark Rydell's
The Rose (1979), Richard Donner's Maverick (1994), Sean
Penn's The Crossing Guard (1994) and Steven Hopkins' The
Ghost and the Darkness (1996).
His long-overdue Academy Award came in 1977, with
his powerful achievements on Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters
of the Third Kind. The following year found Zsigmond's dark and
disturbing work on Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978)
receiving an Oscar nomination, and another nomination appeared for
the daring and powerful look he brought to Mark Rydell's The River
(1983)."
Trivia: Wears a T-Shirt that says "I
am not Laszlo" (Acclaimed Cinematographer friend and colleague,
Laszlo Kovacs that is!)
- See his Filmography and more at IMDB.com
- Read: "A
talk with legendary cinematographer and Cinequest honoree Vilmos Zsigmond"
|
 István
Szabó (b. 2/18/1938, Budapest)
Director, Writer, Producer - Academy Award
in 1981 Though he stayed
home in Hungary, he won an Academy Award in 1981 for his acclaimed
film "Mephisto." Other recent credits include "Sunshine,"
"Meeting Venus," and "Oberst Redl."
See his filmography and more at IMDB
|
Beatrix Aruna Pasztor - (b. Budapest,
Hungary)
Costume Designer Beatrix (Beáta) studied
at the Academy of Applied Arts, graduating in 1984. While finishing
her diploma, she designed couture shoes and costumes for theatrical
productions and constructed Bauhaus costumes for Carlos Godzi's 15th
century play The Deer King. These costumes became part of the
first Hungarian theatre exhibition to travel throughout Eastern Europe.
She moved to New York in 1984 to pursue her career, and earned a living
as a hat designer and a window display dresser at Bloomingdale's and
Henry Bendel's before landing jobs on low-budget films in New York.
In 1988 she relocated to Los Angeles and soon found great success.
Altogether, Pasztor has designed costumes for 20 feature films including
Psycho, Indecent Proposal, An American Rhapsody,
John Q, Monkeybone, She's So Lovely, Drugstore Cowboy, U-Turn,
Excess Baggage, Bad Company, The Fisher King, My Own Private
Idaho, A Dog of Flanders, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,
To Die For, and Good Will Hunting.
- See Psycho:
The Production
- Buy her films at Videoflicks
- See her filmography on IMDB
|
 Andre
de Toth (a.k.a. Tóth Endre, b. May 15, Mako, Hungary, 1913)
Director - Oscar Nomination, "The
Gunfighter" The son of
a Hungarian military officer, Andre De Toth studied law at the Royal
Hungarian University in Budapest. His academic career was shelved
when De Toth became involved with the Hungarian film industry, where
he served in several artistic and technical capacities before graduating
to director in 1938. After completing five features in the space of
one year, he was brought to England by fellow Hungarian Alexander
Korda, who hired De Toth as second unit director on The Thief of Baghdad
(1940). Then he moved to Hollywood and worked again for Korda shooting
second-unit for Jungle
Book (1942). A full-fledged Hollywood director by 1943, De Toth
specialized in westerns and adventure films; one of these, Slattery's
Hurricane (1949), co-starred the director's then-wife Veronica
Lake, whose fame was diminishing even as her husband's was descending.
Andre de Toth's second American production, None
Shall Escape in 1944, was a remarkable achievement, an intense,
at times almost harrowing, experience that deals with the issue of
what to do with Nazi war criminals-not on an impersonal level, as
did Judgment at Nuremberg a few years later, but on a one-to-one basis.
De Toth is also well known for his embrace of 3-D films of the 1950s,
House
of Wax (1953) and The
Stranger Wore a Gun (1953); the fact that De Toth had lost one
eye did not diminish his lifelong fascination with stereoscopic photography,
nor his expertise in this field. In 1950, De Toth was nominated for
an Oscar for his work on the screenplay of The Gunfighter (1950).
Though his last official directorial credit was for 1970's El
Condor, De Toth made several significant (and uncredited) contributions
to the 1978 big-budgeter Superman:
The Movie. Arguably de Toth's greatest American films are two
of his last, Day of the Outlaw and Play Dirty. In 1994, Andre De Toth
published Fragments
a memoir.
- See his Filmography and more at IMDB.com
- Read an interesting look at his work "Harsh
Master"
|
Dezsö Magyar (b. Hungary)
Director / Screenwriter: Chair, American Film Institute Conservatory,
Master Filmmaker-in-Residence: Directing From
The American Film Institute:
Born and educated in Hungary, Dezso Magyar was a renowned director
of a number of banned Hungarian films and was the elected head of
the progressive Studio Bala Balazs before coming to the United States.
His Hungarian features are Agitators and Punitive Expedition
(prizes at the Oberhausen Film Festival, the Locarno International
Film Festival and official selection at the Cannes Film Festival).
His American feature film credits include Streets of Gold, No Secrets,
King of America, and Off Beat.
Magyar was Director of the AFI Conservatory between
1989 and 1994. In 1994, he left to become Artistic Director of the
Canadian Film Centre (chaired by Norman Jewison) where he oversaw
curriculum, faculty and production of short dramatic films. He was
also Executive Producer of the Canadian Feature Film Project, the
producer of such acclaimed films as Cube, Rude, Klutch, and
Uncles. Magyar returned and was named chair of the AFI Conservatory
in June of 2000.
See AFI
|
 Lajos
Koltai, HSC, ASC (b. 4/2/1946, Budapest)
Cinematographer - Oscar Nomination for "Malčna"
and worked on numerous Oscar-Nominated Films Lajos
shot his first Super 8 film during a family vacation when he was 14
years old. After that experience, Koltai began writing, directing
and shooting "little films" starring his friends and family.
One year, he won first and second prize at an amateur film festival
where a promising young director named Istvan Szabo headed the jury.
Koltai graduated from the School of Drama and Film in Budapest, which
also nurtured Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC and Laszlo Kovacs, ASC.
Koltai subsequently shot many films with Szabo including
the Oscar-winning Mephisto, the Oscar-nominated Confidence,
Colonel Redl, and most recently the epic multi-generational
family story Sunshine that earned cinematography prizes in
Europe. His body of work also includes Time Stands Still, Taking
Sides, White Palace, Wrestling Ernest Hemingway, Born Yesterday, When
a Man Loves a Woman, Home for the Holidays and Just Cause,
among an eclectic blend of more than 60 European and United States-made
films. Current projects are "Max" with John Cusack, and
"The Palace Thief" with Kevin Kline.
See his filmography at IMDB
|
 Sir
Alexander Korda - (b. Sandor Laszlo Kellner, Turkeve, Hungary,
9/16/1893, d. January, 1956)
Legendary, Oscar Nominated
Producer / Director: A "Hollywood Renegade"
& Founding Member of The Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers.
Founder and guiding force behind the British film industry: the only
"British Movie Mogul" and "Savior of the British film
industry." He was the oldest
of three sons to a Hungarian Jewish family. As a young boy, Sandor's
sight was damaged by the improper treatment of an eye condition. Throughout
his life he always wore thick glasses. Despite this detriment, he
was a voracious reader, and acquired a near-photographic memory. Throughout
his life he also mastered about a half-dozen languages, and was known
to be a brilliant (some say "hypnotic") conversationalist.
Age age thirteen Sandor suffered the death of his
father, and shortly thereafter Sandor left the capital Budapest. There
he became a short story writer for a daily newspaper. Here he adopted
the pseudonym "Korda," and became a full-time reporter at
age sixteen. Sandor Korda also contributed crime stories and wrote
reviews, and became the paper's night editor.
In 1911 he set out to start a career in films and
spent several months in Paris, doing odd jobs in the Pathé studio
-- at the time, the most advanced film factory in the world. He returned
to Hungary and joined a film company in Budapest. Though the Hungarian
film industry was in its infancy, the country would produce a surprisingly
rich heritage of film. Influential filmmakers like Alexander Korda,
Michael Curtiz, and George Cukor were Hungarian. The country also
boasted the world's first film journal. Korda helped found the Hungarian
film industry. He soon called himself Alexander Korda and worked in
the studios of Vienna, Berlin and Hollywood before becoming a naturalized
and, in 1943, a knighted Englishman.
Together with his brothers Vincent (a production /
art designer) and Zoltan (a director), Korda settled in London, and
made the Oscar nominated film, The Private Life of Henry VIII,
perhaps the most influential British film of all time. The movie was
an international blockbuster and is credited with single-handedly
creating a boom film market in England. Alexander Korda became the
first member of the film industry to be knighted. Korda helped
define the cinematic image of the British Empire.
The vast Denham Studios were built by Korda on money
borrowed from the Prudential Insurance company. Among the films he
produced in the pre-war period were The
Scarlet Pimpernel, Sanders of the River, Things
to Come, The Ghost Goes West, Rembrandt,
Knight Without Armour, Elephant
Boy, The
Drum, The
Thief of Bagdad and many more. The bubble burst and the studios
were sold up, but after the war Korda renewed his energies, producing
such post-war successes as The
Fallen Idol, The
Third Man, Seven Days to Noon, The
Sound Barrier and Richard
III.
Trivia
- He married the beautiful actress Merle Oberon
- His nephew, Mihaly (Michael) Korda would go on
to be a best-selling author and star publisher and Editor-in-Chief
at Simon & Schuster
- More on Hollywood.com
or
- Hollywood
Renegades.com or
- Alexander
Korda: Biography
|
Zoltan Korda - (b. Zoltan
Kellner, Turkeve, Hungary, 1895)
Acclaimed Director The brother of Alexander
Korda, Zoltan Korda achieved recognition in his own right
as a director of action films. A one-time cavalry officer, Korda entered
films as a cameraman and later became an editor before moving into
the director's chair in the '30s at his brother's London Films. It
was as a director that his military background proved invaluable --
Zoltan Korda knew how to deploy men and horses to maximum effect,
and the battle scenes in the films he directed, including The
Four Feathers and Drums,
as well as parts of The Thief of Baghdad, helped make those
movies among the most exciting in history. During World War II, Korda
also directed Sahara for Columbia Pictures, which remains one of the
most enduring and impressive of World War II action films and one
of Humphrey Bogart's best pictures as well.
One of the ironies of the relationship between Zoltan
Korda and his older brother was their politics. Zoltan was a liberal
with leftist leanings, where Alexander was a proud British imperialist
-- all the funnier, because they were Hungarian-born -- and the two
frequently clashed over the content of their films. Zoltan would shoot
a picture like Sanders of the River as a sympathetic portrait of oppressed
peoples under an imperialist system, and Alexander would recut the
material to reflect the pro-British position. In later years, they
reached an accomodation of sorts, with Zoltan directing and Alexander
distributing a film adaptation of Alan Paton's anti-apartheid book
Cry The Beloved Country.
- More on Hollywood.com
|
 Vincent
Korda - (b. Vincent Kellner, Turkeve, Hungary, 1897, d. 1979)
Oscar Winning Film Art Director
Distinguished art director with multiple Oscar
Nominations. Vincent Korda trained as a painter at Budapest Academy
of Art, and at the Academies of several other cities. Most often associated
with his brothers Alexander and Zoltán Korda, he became famous in
his own right as designer of such London Films productions
as "The Private Life of Henry VIII," "The
Thief of Baghdad" for which he won an Oscar, and for the
futuristic vision of the ambitious science fiction tale, "Things
to Come," a landmark in feature film production design and
Britain's biggest sci-fi film of the 1930s, adapted from H.G.Wells. He
received Oscar nominations for "The Longest Day,"
"Lady Hamilton," and "The Jungle Book."
- Read more on Hollywood.com
or
- BritMovie.com
or
- ScreenOnline
or
- IMDB
|
 Michael
Korda (b. 1933, London, England)
Best-Selling Author and Superstar Publisher and over 40 years
as Editor-In-Chief of Simon & Schuster
The talented nephew of Hungarian-born film magnate
Sir Alexander Korda, he was born to an English mother, baptized in
the Anglican church, and grew up in England surrounded by brilliant
and famous people. But he was unsure about his future when he left
Oxford. After an international education (England, America, Switzerland,
France) Korda wound up in New York in the late '50s. There, with the
aid of family connections, he got a job doing research for playwright
Sidney Kingsley and later worked as a script reader for CBS. Drifting
into publishing in New York in the 1950s, he joined Simon & Schuster
in 1958.
Korda is known for writing with style and wit. His
novels "Charmed Lives," in which he tells the story of his
celebrated show-business family in his 1979, "The Fortune,"
"Power!," and "Queenie" a fictional biography
of his aunt Merle Oberon, were all best-sellers. He has also written
a memoir of his years in publishing, "Another Life," that
makes his arcane industry as entertaining and dramatic as any of the
novels he published. The editors of Publishers
Weekly chose "Another Life" for inclusion in their "100
Best Books for 1999." Most recently, Man to Man, provides
a helpful and timely account of his bout with prostate cancer.
His cast of clients is amazing -- Ronald Reagan, Richard
Nixon, Mafia boss Joe Bonanno, faded movie legend Joan Crawford, super-agent
'Swifty' Lazar, noted writers Graham Greene (whom he had known since
adolescence) and Tenessee Williams, schlockmasters Harold Robbins
and Jacqueline Susann. Using his inside knowledge of many of his clients,
he was the screenwriter for "Isn't She Great," with Bette
Midler, the real-life story depicting the vibrant, flamboyant and
sometimes outrageous life of author and celebrity Jacqueline Susann
and her husband and manager Irving Mansfield.
- A review of his book Another
Life
|
 Fritz
Reiner - (b. 12/19/1888, Budapest, d. 11/25/1963, New York
City)
Legendary Conductor: A "Foremost Conductor
of his Time" and "Genius
Orchestra Builder" Fritz
Reiner was a legend among conductors. Universally admired for his
music making, widely disliked for his aggressive and exacting temperament,
and survived by a legacy of definitive recorded performances, he was
largely responsible for the artistic ascendancy of the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra, and exerted considerable influence on generations of musicians.
Reiner studied piano with his mother. At 15, he studied
with Bela Bartok at the renowned Franz Liszt Academy that has produced
many outstanding conductors and musicians including Reiner, Bartok,
Kodaly, Dohnanyi, Szell, Ormandy, Solti and Dorati. He also graduated
in law from the University in Budapest. At the age of twenty one he
became the Chorusmaster of the Budapest Opera and two years later
the conductor of the Budapest Volksoper. From 1914 to 1922 he was
principal conductor of the Royal Opera in Dresden. At Dresden he worked
with Richard Strauss on productions of his early operas and conducted
the German premiere of Die Frau Ohne Schatten. Reiner left Europe
to become the appointed director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
a post he held until 1930. In 1928 he became an American citizen.
He married his second wife Cincinatti actress Carlotta Irwin in 1930.
From 1931-1941 Reiner served as head of the orchestra
and opera departments at the Curtis Institute of Music where Leonard
Bernstein was his student supervised activities of the Philadelphia
Academy of Music and was a frequent guest conductor at the Philadelphia
Grand Opera. During that time he also participated in opera festivities
at Covent Garden in honor of King Edward VIII's coronation and Wagner
performances at the San Francisco Opera from 1936-1938. In 1938 Reiner
was appointed conductor and music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony
resigning in 1948 over financial disputes. He became conductor at
the Metropolitan Opera in New York City where he debuted with a historic
performance of Strauss' Salome on February 4, 1949. From 1953-1962
Reiner conducted the Chicago Symphony which he raised to international
stardom.
- Buy his CD's on Yahoo!
shopping or
- Read an interesting critique of his works at Frtiz
Reiner: The Art of Economy
|
 László
Moholy - Nagy, (b. Bácsborsod, Hungary 7/20/1895, d. 1946)
Avant-Garde Painter, designer, and experimental photographer: A Founder
of Constructivism, Professor and Director
at the Bauhaus School of Design, Chicago, and Founder
and head of the Chicago Institute of Design
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy first expressed his creative interests through writing.
He contributed short stories to the Hungarian periodical Jelenkor (Our
Age), published by the aesthetician Iván Hevesy. While training to be
a lawyer at the University of Budapest, Moholy-Nagy was drafted into
the Austro-Hungarian Army and called to the Russian front during World
War I. It was during this period that Moholy-Nagy began to experiment
with visual art, making over 400 drawings on military-issued postcards.
After World War I, Moholy-Nagy returned to Budapest where he became
active in the Hungarian avant garde, aligning himself with the circle
of intellectuals and artists led by Lajos Kassák. A
founder of CONSTRUCTIVISM, and a professor at the BAUHAUS (1923-28),
he directed the Bauhaus School of Design, Chicago, until 1938, and
then opened and headed the Chicago Institute of Design. His teaching
influenced American commercial and industrial design, and he wrote
The New Vision (1928) and Vision in Motion (1947). For more, visit:
- László
Moholy-Nagy: From Budapest to Berlin, 1914-1923
- Encyclopedia.com
- www.artincontext.org
- The
Poster Shop
|
 Sir
Georg Solti - (b. 10/21/1912, Budapest, Hungary, d. 9/5/1997,
Antibes, France)
Legendary Conductor: Record number of
Grammys Born György Stein, Solti
studied piano and composition with Ernst von Dohnanyi, Zoltan Kodaly
and Béla Bartók at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, giving
his first concert at the age of twelve. He began working as assistant
at the Budapest Opera in 1930 and was director of music there from
1934 to 1939. In the summers of 1936 and 1937 he was assistant to
Arturo Toscanini at the Salzburg Festival, an encounter that left
a deep impression on the young musician. After the outbreak of the
Second World War, he emigrated to Zurich, resuming his career as a
pianist. He won first prize at the Geneva International Competition
in 1942. His career really began after the end of the Second World
War.
For almost twenty-five years, he concentrated entirely
on conducting operas. He was chief musical director of the Munich
Opera from 1947 to 1951 and of the Frankfurt Opera from 1952 to 1961.
Covent Garden excelled during his tenure as musical director (1961-71).
In 1961 he was appointed as musical director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Orchestra, but hardly ever worked in this position since the orchestra's
management had appointed an assistant without asking him (the assistant
|
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