He was the brother of the actress Vilma Bánky who enjoyed Hollywood stardom in the 1920s.[1] He was initially employed in the German film industry, then the largest in Europe, before returning to Budapest in 1933 when new restrictions made it harder for Hungarians to work in Berlin.[2]
Attributing his initial struggles to gain employment in the Hungarian film industry to discrimination against non-Jews by Jewish producers and directors such as Joe Pasternak and Ernö Gál he increasingly aligned with the populistHungarian nationalist movement.[3]
He was involved in producing antisemitic films and the expulsion of Jews from filmmaking. Following the end of the Second World War he was accused of "crimes against the people" and sentenced to six months in prison.[4] He ended up going into exile from the Communist Hungarian regime and settled in West Germany.
