World stars who are from Greater Hungary
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We will show you celebrities with Upper Hungarian and Transylvanian roots, who are or were known all over the world, but what fate would have befallen them if their ancestors had not left the former monarchy in time? Movie stars whose ancestors (or themselves) were born in the former Hungarian territories taken away by the Treaty of Trianon to become part of (Czech) Slovakia or Romania. These are people whose names are known all over the world.
Thanks to 24 we can introduce them to you. The common connection of these people mentioned in our article is that their ancestors come from former Hungarian cities of villages and if their families would not have emigrated to America, not only would they not have had such a brilliant career, but it is also likely that they would have died at a young age due to the Holocaust. Another common connection would be that all of them were talented in more than one thing.
24 asked Csaba Katona, a researcher at the Institute of History of the Humanities Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences about the history of our heroes. Csaba Katona said that many factors complicate the reconstruction of their past, but emigration is what joins them together; The Weismüllers left in 1905, Curtis’ mother and grandmother emigrated in 1921, and Paul Newman’s mother left his Upper Hungarian home as a child.
They were part of the mass emigration at the turn of the 20th century when millions of people (1.5 million just from Hungarian territories) set out to seek their fortune. Since it was an awful lot of people, it is no surprise that there are quite a few of them who are talented; from Weismüller to George Sugar, for example.
Both Tony Curtis and Paul Newman were also partly Jewish, but another exciting thing is that they were born in the same year and Newman’s mother and Curtis’ mother were born only 25 kilometres apart. If the ancestors of Weismüller, Curtis and Newman had not left their homeland, they probably would not have become actors. As 3,500 Jewish residents were deported in 1944 from the birthplace of Curtis’ mother, for the (Schwartz) family, the emigration in 1921 presumably also meant their survival. Paul Newman’s family could not have expected much good if they remained in their homeland either, as the actor’s father, Arthur, was also of Jewish descent. Johnny Weismüller’s family were not Jewish, but John was born as a child of Swabian parents. Unfortunately, the Swabians were evicted from Temesvár (Timișoara) as well.
The Olympic Tarzan, Johnny Weissmüller
Johnny Weismüller was originally born as János Weissmüller on June 2nd, 1904 in Szabadfalu (near Temesvár (Timișoara) in Temes (Timiș) county (present-day Romania). Nevertheless, when the family emigrated to the United States in January 1905, according to some data, the birthplace of the little János was Párdány (present-day Serbia).
He was very successful even before his movie career, as he already was a five-time Olympic champion.
In 1924 he won in three categories as a swimmer (100m freestyle, 400m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle relay) and won a bronze medal at the same Olympics as a member of the American water polo team. In 1928, he won two more gold medals as a swimmer at the Amsterdam Olympics (100 meters freestyle, 4 × 200 meters freestyle relay). In his early years, he was a thin boy who was often ill and had breathing problems. He began swimming on the advice of doctors; he soon became a 190-centimetre, 95-pound athlete. In 1927, he set a new world record of 51.0 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle, which stood for 17 years.
In 1929, Weismüller signed a contract with BVD to be a model and representative. He travelled a lot and did swim shows and promoted several brands of swimwear. The same year, he made his first motion picture appearance as an Adonis, wearing only a fig leaf, in a movie entitled Glorifying the American Girl. Weismüller’s acting career took a turn for the better when
he signed a seven-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He received the role of Tarzan in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) and the movie was a huge success; Weismüller became an overnight international wonder.
Weissmüller starred in six Tarzan movies for MGM, then in 1942, Weismüller went to RKO and starred in six more Tarzan movies. With the 12 Tarzan movies he starred in, Weissmüller earned an estimated $2,000,000 and established himself as what many movie historians consider the definitive Tarzan. Although he was not the first Tarzan in movies, he was the one that many associates with the now traditional Tarzan-yell.
He retired in 1965, moving to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He was the founding chairman of the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) and he was inducted into it the very same year. Weismüller’s face is included in the collage on the iconic front cover of The Beatles’ 1967 record album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. He also opened a small chain of health food stores and had a swimming pool company. Weissmüller even met Queen Elizabeth II. After his eventful life, he died January 20, 1984, in Acapulco, Mexico.
The racer, Paul Newman
Although Paul Newman was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, USA on January 26, 1925, his mother, Theresa Fetzko, was born in Homonna (Humenné), present-day Slovakia. According to some information about him, he was called Pál in his birth certificate.
As a child, Newman showed interest in the theatre; his first role was at age seven, playing the court jester in a school production of Robin Hood. When he was ten years old, Newman performed at the Cleveland Play House in a production of Saint George and the Dragon. He attended university for a brief period of time, but Newman served in the United States Navy in World War II. He became an Aviation Radioman Third Class and was posted to Hawaii.
