Victor Varconi
Encyclopedia
Victor Varconi was a highly successful silent film
star in Hungary
. Born Mihály Várkonyi in Kisvárda
, Austria-Hungary
, he was the first Hungarian actor to make a film in the United States
.
He worked under contract to Cecil B. DeMille
, and played Pontius Pilate
in DeMille's 1927 production of The King of Kings.
Varconi's popularity waned with the advent of the talkie, and he worked on the New York City
stage and wrote for radio.
He died from a heart attack in Santa Barbara, California
on June 6, 1976, at the age of 85 and was interred at the Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles
, California, USA.
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
star in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. Born Mihály Várkonyi in Kisvárda
Kisvárda
Kisvárda is a town in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary. , the town has around 17,000 inhabitants.-History:Kisvárda was known in the Middle Ages as Warda or Warada...
, Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, he was the first Hungarian actor to make a film in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
He worked under contract to Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...
, and played Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilatus , known in the English-speaking world as Pontius Pilate , was the fifth Prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, from AD 26–36. He is best known as the judge at Jesus' trial and the man who authorized the crucifixion of Jesus...
in DeMille's 1927 production of The King of Kings.
Varconi's popularity waned with the advent of the talkie, and he worked on the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
stage and wrote for radio.
He died from a heart attack in Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
on June 6, 1976, at the age of 85 and was interred at the Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles
Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles
The Calvary Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery operated by the Los Angeles Archdiocese, located at 4201 Whittier Boulevard in Los Angeles, California...
, California, USA.
Selected filmography
- Bánk BánBánk Bán (film)Bánk Bán is a 1914 silent Austro-Hungarian film directed by Michael Curtiz.-Cast:* Mihály Fekete* Jenő Janovics - Biberach* Mari Jászai* István Szentgyörgyi* Victor Varconi -...
(19141914 in filmThe year 1914 in film involved some significant events, including the debut of Cecil B. DeMille as a director.-Events:*The 3,300-seat Mark Strand Theatre opens in New York City....
) - A 99-es számú bérkocsi (19181918 in filmThe year 1918 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*Following litigation for anti-trust activities, the US Supreme Court orders the Motion Picture Patents Company to disband....
) - Sodom and GomorrahSodom and Gomorrah (1922 film)Sodom und Gomorrha is an Austrian silent epic film from 1922...
(19221922 in film-Events:* June 11 - United States première of Robert J. Flaherty's Nanook of the North, the first commercially successful feature length documentary film....
) - Der Junge MedardusYoung MedardusYoung Medardus is a 1923 Austrian film directed by Michael Curtiz.-Cast:* Agnes Esterhazy - Helene* Franz Glawatsch - Berger* Mari Hegyesi - Mrs...
(19231923 in film-Events:*April 15 - Lee De Forest demonstrates the Phonofilm sound-on-film system at the Rivoli Theater in New York with a series of short musical films featuring vaudeville performers.-Top grossing films :-Films released in 1923:U.S.A...
) - Die Lawine (1923)
- NamenlosNameless (film)Nameless is a 1923 Austrian film directed by Michael Curtiz.-Cast:* Victor Varconi* Mary Kid* Karl Farkas* Arthur Gottlein* Hans Lackner* Maria Raffe...
(1923) - TriumphTriumph (1924 film)Triumph is a 1924 silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille.-Cast:* Leatrice Joy - Ann Land* Rod La Rocque - King Garnet* Victor Varconi - William Silver* Charles Ogle - James Martin* Theodore Kosloff - Varinoff* Robert Edeson - Smauel Overton...
(19241924 in film-Events:* Entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures to create Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...
) - Changing HusbandsChanging HusbandsChanging Husbands is a 1924 American silent comedy starring Leatrice Joy, and Victor Varconi, directed by Frank Urson and written by Sada Cowan and Howard Higgin. The runtime is 70 minutes.-Cast:*Leatrice Joy as Gwynne Evans/Ava Graham...
(1924) - Feet of ClayFeet of Clay (film)Feet of Clay is a drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Vera Reynolds and Rod La Rocque, and with set design by Norman Bel Geddes. The film is now considered to be a lost film.-Cast:* Vera Reynolds - Amy Loring...
(1924) - The Last Days of Pompeii (19261926 in film-Events:*August - Warner Brothers debuts the first Vitaphone film, Don Juan. The Vitaphone system used multiple 33⅓ rpm disc records developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories and Western Electric to play back audio synchronized with film....
) - The Volga BoatmanThe Volga BoatmanThe Volga Boatman is a 1926 silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille.-Cast:* William Boyd - Feodor, A Volga Boatman* Elinor Fair - Vera, A Princess* Robert Edeson - Prince Nikita* Victor Varconi - Prince Dimitri* Julia Faye - Mariusha, A Gypsy...
(1926) - The King of Kings (19271927 in film-Events:*January 10 - Fritz Lang's science-fiction fantasy Metropolis premieres in Germany.*April 7 - Abel Gance's Napoleon often considered his best known and greatest masterpiece, premiers at the Paris Opéra and would demonstrate techniques and equipment that would not be used for years to...
) - ChicagoChicago (1927 film)Chicago is a 1927 comedy-drama silent film produced by Cecil B. DeMille and directed by Frank Urson.-Plot:Drawn from the play of the same name by Maurine Dallas Watkins which was in turn based on the true story of Beulah Annan, fictionalized as Roxie Hart , and her spectacular murder of her boyfriend...
(1927) - The Divine LadyThe Divine LadyThe Divine Lady is a 1929 Vitaphone sound film with a synchronized musical score and sound effects. The film, however, featured no spoken dialogue. The film tells the story of the love affair between Horatio Nelson and Emma Hamilton. It stars Corinne Griffith, Victor Varconi, H.B. Warner, Ian...
(19291929 in film-Events:The days of the silent film are numbered. A mad scramble to provide synchronized sound is on.*January 20 - The movie In Old Arizona is released. The film is the first full-length talking film to be filmed outdoors....
) - Eternal LoveEternal Love (1929 film)Eternal Love is silent romantic adventure directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starring John Barrymore. The film is known for being the last silent film of both Lubitsch and Barrymore...
(1929) - Doctors' WivesDoctors' Wives (1931 film)Doctors' Wives is a 1931 romantic drama film made by Fox Film Corporation, directed by Frank Borzage. The film stars Warner Baxter and Joan Bennett. The screenplay was written by Maurine Dallas Watkins, based on a novel by Henry Lieferant and Sylvia Lieferant.-Cast:*Warner Baxter as Dr. Judson...
(19311931 in film-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:*Best Picture: Cimarron - MGM*Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul*Best Actor: Wallace Beery - The Champ*Best Actor: Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...
) - The Black CamelThe Black Camel (film)The Black Camel is a 1931 mystery film, the second starring Warner Oland as the detective Charlie Chan and the sole survivor of the first five Oland/Chan films. It was based on the novel of the same name by Earl Derr Biggers...
(1931) - Safe in HellSafe in HellSafe in Hell is a 1931 pre-Code Warner Bros. melodrama film directed by William Wellman and starring Dorothy Mackaill and Donald Cook with featured performances by Morgan Wallace, Ralf Harolde, Noble Johnson and Nina Mae McKinney.-Plot:...
(1931) - RobertaRoberta (1935 film)Roberta is a 1935 musical film by RKO starring Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and Randolph Scott. It was an adaptation of a 1933 Broadway theatre musical of the same name, which in turn was based on the novel Gowns by Roberta by Alice Duer Miller...
(19351935 in film-Events:*Judy Garland signs a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .*Seven year old Shirley Temple wins a special Academy Award.*The Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment started in order to educate the Bantu peoples.-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:...
) - A Feather in Her HatA Feather in Her HatA Feather in Her Hat is a 1935 melodrama film starring Pauline Lord as a working-class woman with ambitions for her son. It is based on the novel of the same name by I. A. R. Wylie.-Plot:...
(1935) - Dancing PirateDancing Pirate-Cast:*Charles Collins as Jonathan Pride*Frank Morgan as Mayor Don Emilio Perena*Steffi Duna as Serafina Perena*Luis Alberni as Pamfilo *Victor Varconi as Don Balthazar *Jack La Rue as Lt. Chago...
(1936) - Big CityBig City (1937 film)Big City is a 1937 drama film directed by Frank Borzage. The film was also released as Skyscraper Wilderness.-Plot:Joe Benton and his wife Anna are suspects of starting a taxi war. Although they are innocent, they are blamed for everything that has happened and the officials demand for Anna to be...
(1937) - The Story of Vernon and Irene CastleThe Story of Vernon and Irene CastleThe Story of Vernon and Irene Castle is an American biographical musical comedy, released in 1939 and directed by H.C. Potter. The film stars Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edna May Oliver, and Walter Brennan....
(19391939 in filmThe year 1939 in motion pictures can be justified as being called the most outstanding one ever, when it comes to the high quality and high attendance at the large set of the best films that premiered in the year .- Events :Motion picture historians and film often rate...
) - Strange CargoStrange Cargo (1940 film)Strange Cargo is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer feature film starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable in a story about a group of fugitive prisoners from a French penal colony. The screenplay by Lawrence Hazard was based upon the 1936 novel, Not Too Narrow, Not Too Deep, by Richard Sale. The film was...
(19401940 in filmThe year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released....
) - The Sea HawkThe Sea Hawk (1940 film)The Sea Hawk is a 1940 American Warner Bros. feature film starring Errol Flynn as an English privateer who defends his nation's interests on the eve of the Spanish Armada. The film was the tenth collaboration between Flynn and director Michael Curtiz. The film's screenplay by Howard Koch and Seton I...
(1940) - They Raid By NightThey Raid By Night- Plot summary :The story follows the insertion of covert British Commandos into Norway to rescue Norwegian General Heden from captivity and to return him to England to lead the Free Norwegian Forces....
(1942) - For Whom the Bell TollsFor Whom the Bell Tolls (film)For Whom the Bell Tolls is a 1943 film in Technicolor based on the novel of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. It stars Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff and Katina Paxinou. This was Ingrid Bergman's first technicolor film. Hemingway handpicked Cooper and Bergman for their roles. The film...
(19431943 in filmThe year 1943 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 3 - 1st missing persons telecast * February 20 - American film studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor films....
) - UnconqueredUnconqueredUnconquered is a 1947 adventure film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and released by Paramount. The film depicts the violent struggles between American colonists and Native Americans on the western frontier in the mid-18th century during the time of Pontiac's Rebellion, primarily around...
(19471947 in filmThe year 1947 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 22 - Great Expectations is premiered in New York.*November 24 : The United States House of Representatives of the 80th Congress voted 346 to 17 to approve citations for contempt of Congress against the "Hollywood Ten".*November 25...
) - Where There's LifeWhere There's LifeWhere There's Life is a 1947 comedy film. The film's title derives from a line in Don Quixote .-Plot:...
(1947) - The Atomic SubmarineThe Atomic SubmarineThe Atomic Submarine is a 1959 science fiction film starring Arthur Franz, Dick Foran and Brett Halsey, with John Hillard as the voice of the alien. The film was directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet, the script was adapted by Orville H. Hampton from a short story by Jack Rabin and Irving Block...
(19591959 in filmThe year 1959 in film involved some significant events, with Ben-Hur winning a record 11 Academy Awards.-Events:* The Three Stooges make their 190th and last short film, Sappy Bull Fighters....
)