Franciska Gaal
Franciska Gaal
Born(1903-02-01)1 February 1903
Budapest, Austro-Hungarian Empire
Died13 August 1972(1972-08-13) (aged 69)[1]
New York City, United States
Other namesSzidónia Silberspitz, Fanny Zilverstitch
OccupationActress
Years active1921–1946 (film)
Spouse(s)Sándor Lestyán (1922–?)[2]
Francis Dajkovich (1934–1965) (his death)[3]
1940, Franciska Gaal as Gretchen on original program for movie The Buccaneer, playing in a local cinema in Prilep, Macedonia (Kingdom of Yugoslavia)

Franciska Gaal (born Franciska Silberspitz, 1 February 1903[4] – 13 August 1972) was a Hungarian cabaret artist and film actress of Jewish heritage. Gaal starred in a popular series of European romantic comedies during the 1930s. After attracting interest in Hollywood she moved there and made three films.

Early years

Born in Budapest, Gaal was the last of the 13 children of a Jewish family. She studied at the Stage Academy in Budapest in 1919, and by 1920, she appeared in theaters in this city.[5]

Early career

Gaal debuted in film in Máté gazda és a törpék (1919).[5] She was groomed by Joe Pasternak as a singer to become a popular stage and cabaret performer in Central Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. She made her first film appearances in some Hungarian silent films of the early 1920s, but her cinema career didn't ignite until the arrival of sound film.

Hollywood

After appearing in several films made in Hungary, Germany and Austria, two of which were directed by Henry Koster, she came to Hollywood to star in Cecil B. De Mille's epic adventure film The Buccaneer (1938). She followed this with the comedy The Girl Downstairs (also 1938) with Franchot Tone, a remake of her Austrian success Catherine the Last. In 1939, Gaal co-starred with Bing Crosby in the musical Paris Honeymoon.[6]

Later life

She returned to Hungary in 1940[6] for unknown reasons[7][8] and remained there for the duration of World War II.

In 1946, she began work on the Soviet-backed Renee XIV with Johannes Heesters and Theo Lingen, but filming was halted during production and never was completed. She returned to the United States in 1947 with her husband Francis de Dajkovich (died in 1965), a Budapest-born attorney,[4] but her return attracted little interest in Hollywood.[9] In 1951, she replaced Eva Gabor in The Happy Time on Broadway.

Death

Gaal died of thrombosis[5] in New York City.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1920A bostonville-i kaland
1921New-York express kábelReporter
A cornevillei harangokSerpolette, cselédlány
1932PaprikaIlona von Takacs
1933Greetings and Kisses, VeronikaVeronika
Scandal in BudapestEva Balogh
Romance in BudapestEva Balogh
1934A Precocious GirlLucie Carell, nicknamed Csibi
Spring ParadeMarika
Peter17-year old Eva
1935Little MotherMarie Bonnard
1936Catherine the LastKatharina, Küchenmädchen
Fräulein LilliFräulein Lilli
1938The BuccaneerGretchen
The Girl DownstairsKaterina Linz
1939Paris HoneymoonManya
1946Renee XIVuncompleted

References

  1. ↑ "Színház - Gaál Franciska színésznő". Archivum.mtva.hu. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ "Francis Dajkovich". Myheritage.com. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  4. 1 2 "May 1947 Passenger list listing her age 44". Ancestry.com.
  5. 1 2 3 Bock, Hans-Michael; Bergfelder, Tim (2009). The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopaedia of German Cinema. Berghahn Books. p. 144. ISBN 9780857455659. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  6. 1 2 Waldman, Harry; Slide, Anthony (1996). Hollywood and the Foreign Touch: A Dictionary of Foreign Filmmakers and Their Films from America, 1910-1995. Scarecrow Press. pp. 113–114. ISBN 9780810831926. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  7. ↑ Hales, Barbara; Weinstein, Valerie (2020). Rethinking Jewishness in Weimar Cinema. Berghahn Books, Incorporated. p. 201. ISBN 9781789208733.
  8. ↑ Bock, Hans-Michael, ed. (2009). The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopaedia of German Cinema. Berghahn Books. p. 144. ISBN 9781571816559.
  9. ↑ Bock & Bergfelder, p. 144.

Bibliography

  • Bock, Hans-Michael & Bergfelder, Tim. The Concise CineGraph. Encyclopedia of German Cinema. Berghahn Books, 2009.
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