Full Name Istvan Gyergyay Role Film actor Name Steven Geray | Years active 1929-1966 Nationality Hungarian Spouse Magda Kun | |
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Born 10 November 1904 ( 1904-11-10 ) Ungvar, Austria-Hungary, now Uzhgorod, Ukraine Died December 26, 1973, Los Angeles, California, United States Movies Gilda, Spellbound, The Big Sky, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, So Dark the Night Similar People Charles Vidor, Joseph H Lewis, Jean Negulesco, Buddy Baer, Magda Kun | ||
Steven Geray
Steven Geray (10 November 1904 – 26 December 1973) was a European-born American film actor who appeared in over 100 films and dozens of television programs. Geray appeared in Spellbound (1945), Gilda (1946), In a Lonely Place (1950), All About Eve (1950), Call Me Madam (1953) and To Catch a Thief (1955).
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Biography
He was born Istvan Gyergyay in Ungvár, Austria-Hungary (now Uzhgorod, Ukraine) and educated at the University of Budapest. He made his first stage appearance at the Hungarian National Theater under his real name and after nearly four years he made his London stage debut (as Steven Geray) in 1934, appearing in Happy Week-End!. He began appearing in English-speaking films in 1935 and moved to Hollywood in 1941. He appeared alongside his wife, Magda Kun, in the 1935 film Dance Band.
Political pressure led to Geray's exit from Europe. His act in the Folies Bergère included impersonations of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, which incurred the wrath of the governments of Germany and Italy. Geray failed to heed their warnings to stop the impersonations. After being beaten up, however, he moved to Hollywood.
Geray was cast as the lead in a low-budget film noir So Dark the Night (1946). Even with its limited budget, it received great critical reviews and enabled its director Joseph H. Lewis to later direct A-pictures. Geray continued to work on television and in films into the 1960s. Among them a guest appearance on Perry Mason in 1962 as extortionist and murder victim Franz Moray in "The Case of the Stand-in Sister," three episodes of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show as French dress designer Gaston Broussard in 1956, including the over the top "A Paris Creation" and various doctor roles on The Danny Thomas Show.
Geray spent some time in the late-1960s in Estes Park, Colorado, where he directed local theater (The Fantasticks). He owned and ran a bar in Estes Park from 1969 to 1970.
Death
Geray died 26 December 1973 in Tempe, Arizona. He was cremated, and his ashes were given to his wife.