Paul Lukas
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Paul Lukas | |
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File:Paul Lukas - 1950.jpg
Lukas in 1950
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Born | Pál Lukács May 26, 1891 Budapest, Austria-Hungary |
Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Tangier, Morocco |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1916–70 |
Spouse(s) | Gizella "Daisy" Benes (1927–1962; her death) Annette M. Driesens (1963–1971; his death) |
Parent(s) | Mária Zilahy Janos Lukacs |
Paul Lukas (May 26, 1891 – August 15, 1971) was an Hungarian-born American actor. He won the Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in the film Watch on the Rhine (1943).
Life and career
Lukas was born Pál Lukács in Budapest into a Jewish family,[1][2] the son of Mária (née Zilahy) and János Lukács, an advertising executive.[3]
Lukas made his stage debut in Budapest in 1916 and his film debut in 1917. At first, he played elegant, smooth womanizers, but increasingly he became typecast as a villain. He had a successful stage and film career in Hungary, Germany and Austria, where he worked with Max Reinhardt. He arrived in Hollywood in 1927, and became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1937.
He was busy in the 1930s, appearing in such films as the melodrama Rockabye, the crime caper Grumpy, Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes, the comedy Ladies in Love, and the drama Dodsworth. He followed William Powell and Basil Rathbone portraying the series detective Philo Vance, a cosmopolitan New Yorker, once in The Casino Murder Case (1935).
His major film success came in Watch on the Rhine (1943), where he played a man working against the Nazis, a role he originated in the Broadway premiere of the play of the same name in 1941.[4] His portrayal of Kurt Mueller, a German émigré with an American wife, played by Bette Davis, was universally lauded by critics. Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times, wrote, "As the enemy of fascism, Mr. Lukas' haggard, loving, resourceful determination becomes heroic by virtue of his sincerity and his superior abilities as an actor."[5] He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the role, winning out over luminary efforts as Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, Gary Cooper in For Whom the Bell Tolls, Walter Pidgeon in Madame Curie, and Mickey Rooney in The Human Comedy. He also received the New York Film Critics Award for his performance.[5]
In 1943, he guest starred as the eponymous character in an episode of the radio program Suspense, "Mr. Markham, Antique Dealer".[6] On April 2, 1944, he starred in "The Steadfast Heart" on Silver Theater.[7]
Modern viewers also remember Lukas for his role as Professor Aronnax in Walt Disney's film version of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954). By that time, however,[8] he was, at age 63, suffering from memory problems during the production, apparently leading him to lash out at cast and crew alike. Even friend Peter Lorre was not immune to the abuse.
In the 1940s, Lukas was a charter member of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a conservative lobbying group opposed to possible Communist influence in Hollywood.
Lukas' film career picked up momentum in the 1960s with six films, including Fun in Acapulco with Elvis Presley in 1963 and Lord Jim with Peter O'Toole in 1965. His final film, The Challenge, was released in 1970.
The remainder of his career moved from Hollywood to the stage to television. His only singing role was as Cosmo Constantine in the original 1950 Broadway stage version of Irving Berlin's Call Me Madam, opposite Ethel Merman (although he is heard singing a song in the 1933 film Little Women, displaying a pleasant voice).[citation needed]
He died August 15, 1971, in Tangier, Morocco,[9] reportedly while searching for a place to spend his retirement years.
He is buried in Spain[10]
Recognition
Lukas has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6821 Hollywood Boulevard. It was dedicated February 8, 1960.[11]
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1922 | Samson and Delilah | Ettore Ricco, tenor | |
1923 | The Unknown Tomorrow | ||
1928 | Three Sinners | Count Dietrich Wallentin | |
1928 | Hot News | James Clayton | |
1928 | Night Watch | Captain Corlaix | |
1928 | The Shopworn Angel | Bailey | |
1930 | Slightly Scarlet | Malatroff | |
1930 | Behind the Make-Up | Boris | |
1930 | The Benson Murder Case | Adolph Mohler | |
1930 | The Devil's Holiday | Dr Reynolds | |
1930 | Grumpy | Berci | |
1930 | The Right to Love | Eric | |
1930 | Anybody's Woman | Gustave Saxon | |
1931 | City Streets | Big Fellow Mashal | |
1931 | Strictly Dishonorable | Gus | |
1931 | The Vice Squad | Stephen Lucarno | |
1932 | No One Man | Dr Karl Bemis | |
1932 | Downstairs | Albert, the Baron's Butler | |
1932 | Rockabye | Antonie de Sola | |
1932 | A Passport to Hell | Lt. Kurt Kurtoff | |
1933 | The Kiss Before the Mirror | Walter Bernsdorf | |
1933 | Secret of the Blue Room | Captain Walter Brink | |
1933 | Captured! | Colonel Carl Ehrlich | |
1933 | Little Women | Prof. Bhaer | |
1933 | Grand Slam | Blondie | |
1934 | The Countess of Monte Criso | Rumowski | |
1935 | Age of Indiscretion | Robert Lenhart | |
1935 | The Casino Murder Case | Philo Vance | |
1935 | The Three Musketeers | Athos | |
1935 | I Found Stella Parish | Stephan Norman | |
1936 | Dodsworth | Arnold Iselin | |
1936 | Ladies in Love | John Barta | |
1937 | Brief Ecstasy | ||
1937 | Espionage | Anton Kronsky | |
1937 | Dinner at the Ritz | Baron Philip de Beaufort | |
1938 | The Lady Vanishes | Dr Hartz | |
1939 | Confessions of a Nazi Spy | Dr. Kassell | |
1939 | Captain Fury | Francois Dupre | |
1940 | Strange Cargo | Hessler | |
1940 | The Ghost Breakers | Parada | |
1940 | A Window in London | Zoltini | Released as Lady in Distress in USA |
1941 | The Monster and the Girl | W. S. Bruhl | |
1941 | They Dare Not Love | Baron von Helsing | |
1943 | Watch on the Rhine | Kurt Muller | |
1944 | Uncertain Glory | Inspector Marcel Bonet | |
1944 | Address Unknown | Martin Schulz | |
1944 | Experiment Perilous | Nick Bederaux | |
1946 | Deadline at Dawn | Gus Hoffman | |
1946 | Temptation | Sir Meyer Isaacson | |
1947 | Whispering City | Albert Frederic | |
1948 | Berlin Express | Dr Bernhardt | |
1950 | Kim | Lama | |
1954 | 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea | Prof. Pierre Aronnax | |
1958 | The Roots of Heaven | Saint Denis | |
1962 | Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse | Karl von Hartrott | |
1962 | Tender Is the Night | Dr. Dohmler | |
1963 | 55 Days at Peking | Dr. Steinfeldt | |
1963 | Fun in Acapulco | Maximillian Dauphin | |
1965 | Lord Jim | Stein | |
1968 | Sol Madrid | Capo Riccione | |
1970 | The Challenge | Dr Nagy |
References
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ [3]
- ↑ Watch on the Rhine at the Internet Broadway Database
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Bower, Ronald; Unterburger, Amy L. ed. International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers: Actors and Actresses, St. James Press (1997) p. 740
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ According to the featurette "The Making of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" on disc 2 of the Special Edition DVD release.
- ↑ Obituary Variety, August 18, 1971, page 55.
- ↑ Paul Lukas at Find a grave
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. |
- Paul Lukas at the Internet Movie Database
- Paul Lukas at the Internet Broadway DatabaseLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- Paul Lukas at Find a Grave
- Paul Lukas at Virtual History
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- Articles with IBDb links
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with hCards
- Articles with unsourced statements from January 2010
- 1891 births
- 1971 deaths
- American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent
- Austro-Hungarian Jews
- Best Actor Academy Award winners
- Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film) winners
- Hungarian emigrants to the United States
- Hungarian male silent film actors
- Jewish American male actors
- Jewish Hungarian actors
- Male actors from Budapest
- 20th-century American male actors