The Academy Award winner Hungarian actor you probably never heard of

Paul Lukas (born Pál Lukács) won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1943, he was also honoured with a star (684.) on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, and he worked together with Kirk Douglas, Charlton Heston, Katharine Hepburn, and many others, writes Újságmúzeum.

Újságmúzeum commemorated the famous Hungarian actor in a Facebook post on 27 June. Their post contains many interesting facts about the actor and his life.

Who was Pál Lukács?

Pál Lukács was born into a Jewish family in Budapest in 1894. He is the son of Adolf Munkácsi and Mária Schneckendorf, and he was later adopted by Mária and János Lukács, an advertising executive.

He made his stage debut in Budapest in 1916 and his film debut in 1917, and he also fought in the First World War.

His acting was often harshly criticised by the critics here in Hungary, and he eventually left the country. He arrived in Hollywood in 1927 and became a naturalised citizen of the United States in 1937.

His career

He was a big star in Hollywood during the 1930’s and 1940’s. His major film success was the movie called Watch on the Rhine (1943), in which he played a man working against the Nazis, a role he originated in the Broadway premiere of the play of the same name. For this performance,

he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1943.

His 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. He also worked together with iconic Hollywood stars such as Kirk Douglas, Charlton Heston, Katharine Hepburn, Buster Keaton or Orson Welles. His final film, The Challenge, was released in 1970.

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His love life

He had a very early and unsuccessful first marriage. Later, he met Gizella Benes in the world of theatre. He left Hungary shortly after meeting Gizella, so he sent three roses to her house every day for a whole year. He came back to Hungary at the end of that year and proposed to her. They got married three days later. She moved to the U.S. with him. They were married for 35 years. Gizella died in 1962. He remarried, but his third wife suddenly died while they were on vacation in Morocco. The actor was so shocked by her death that he died of a heart attack a day later.

The name might ring a bell for some readers, as Pál Lukács has been mentioned in one of our articles before in March 2017, in which we listed 10+1 Hungarian Oscar winners people might never heard of. Click here if you are interested in the full list.

Pál Lukács was very passionate about flying and rescuing stray dogs. He often had 15 or 20 dogs at home.

Featured image: Facebook.com/ujsagmuzeum/

Source: Újságmúzeum