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Paul Lukas
Paul Lukas
	Lukas in 1950
Born	Pál Lukács; 26 May 1894; Budapest, Austria-Hungary
Died	15 August 1971 (aged 77); Tangier, Morocco
Resting place	Cementerio de Benalmádena, Andalusia, Spain
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1916–1970
Spouses	; Gizella "Daisy" Benes (m. 1927; died 1962) ; Annette M. Driesens; (m. 1963)

Paul Lukas (born Pál Lukács; 26 May 1894 – 15 August 1971) was a Hungarian actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and the first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, for his performance in the film Watch on the Rhine (1943), reprising the role he created on the Broadway stage.

Biography

Lukas was born Pál Lukács in Budapest into a Hungarian-Jewish family,^[1]^[2] the son of Adolf Munkácsi and Mária Schneckendorf. He was later adopted by Mária (née Zilahy) and János Lukács, an advertising executive.^[3]^[4]

Lukas made his stage debut in Budapest in 1916, and his film debut in 1917. At first, he played elegant, smooth womanizers, but increasingly, he became typecast as a villain. He had a successful stage and film career in Hungary, Germany, and Austria, where he worked with Max Reinhardt. He arrived in Hollywood in 1927, and became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1937. In 1935, he built a home near the new Racquet Club of Palm Springs, California.^[5]

Paul Lukas starring as Kurt Mueller in the original Broadway production of Lillian Hellman's *Watch on the Rhine* (1941)

Lukas was busy in the 1930s, appearing in such films as the melodrama Rockabye, the crime caper Grumpy, Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes, the comedy Ladies in Love, and the drama Dodsworth. He followed William Powell and Basil Rathbone, portraying the series detective Philo Vance, a cosmopolitan New Yorker, once in The Casino Murder Case (1935).

His major film success was Watch on the Rhine (1943), where he played a man working against the Nazis, a role he originated in the Broadway premiere of the play of the same name in 1941.^[6] His portrayal of Kurt Mueller, a German émigré with an American wife, played by Bette Davis, was universally lauded by critics. Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times, wrote: "As the enemy of fascism, Mr. Lukas' haggard, loving, resourceful determination becomes heroic by virtue of his sincerity and his superior abilities as an actor."^[7] He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the role. He also received the New York Film Critics Award for his performance.^[7]

In 1943, Lukas guest-starred as the lead character in an episode of the radio program Suspense, "Mr. Markham, Antique Dealer",^[8] as well as the character of a blind composer in the episode "A World of Darkness".^[9] On 2 April 1944, he starred in "The Steadfast Heart" on Silver Theater.^[10] In the 1940s, Lukas was a charter member of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a conservative lobbying group opposed to possible Communist influence in Hollywood.

Lukas also starred as Professor Aronnax in Walt Disney's film version of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954).

Lukas' film career continued into the 1960s, with nine films, including Fun in Acapulco with Elvis Presley in 1963 and Lord Jim with Peter O'Toole in 1965. His final film, The Challenge, was released in 1970.

The remainder of his career moved from Hollywood to the stage, and to television. His only singing role was as Cosmo Constantine in the original 1950 Broadway stage version of Irving Berlin's Call Me Madam, opposite Ethel Merman for over 600 performances (although he is heard singing a song in the 1933 film Little Women).^[11]

Lukas died 15 August 1971, in Tangier, Morocco,^[12] reportedly while searching for a place to spend his retirement years. He is buried in Spain.

Recognition

Lukas was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6821 Hollywood Boulevard, on February 8, 1960.^[13]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1920	Boccaccio	Boccaccio
1922	Samson and Delilah	Ettore Ricco, tenor
1923	Triumphant Life	Lord Harry Arwood
1923	The Unknown Tomorrow
1928	Three Sinners	Count Dietrich Wallentin	Lost film
	Manhattan Cocktail	Boris Renov	Lost film
	The Woman from Moscow	Vladimir	Incomplete film
	Loves of an Actress	Doctor Durande	Lost film
	Two Lovers	Don Ramon de Linea	Incomplete film
	Hot News	James Clayton	Lost film
	Night Watch	Captain Corlaix
	The Shopworn Angel	Bailey	Incomplete film
1929	The Wolf of Wall Street	David Tyler	Lost film
	Illusion	Count Fortuny
	Half Way to Heaven	Nick Pogli
1930	Behind the Make-Up	Boris
	Slightly Scarlet	Malatroff
	Young Eagles	Von Baden
	The Benson Murder Case	Adolph Mohler
	The Devil's Holiday	Dr Reynolds
	Grumpy	Berci
	Anybody's Woman	Gustave Saxon
	The Right to Love	Eric
1931	City Streets	Big Fellow Mashal
	Unfaithful	Colin Graham
	Working Girls	Doctor Joseph Von Schrader
	Women Love Once	Julien Fields
	The Beloved Bachelor	Michael Morda
	Strictly Dishonorable	Gus
	The Vice Squad	Stephen Lucarno
1932	No One Man	Dr Karl Bemis
	Tomorrow and Tomorrow	Doctor Nicholas Faber
	Thunder Below	Ken
	Downstairs	Albert, the Baron's Butler
	A Passport to Hell	Lt. Kurt Kurtoff
	Rockabye	Antonie de Sola
1933	Grand Slam	Peter Stanislavsky
	The Kiss Before the Mirror	Walter Bernsdorf
	Sing Sinner Sing	Phil Carida
	Secret of the Blue Room	Captain Walter Brink
	Captured!	Colonel Carl Ehrlich
	Little Women	Professor Bhaer
	By Candlelight	Josef
1934	The Countess of Monte Cristo	Rumowski
	Glamour	Victor Banki
	I Give My Love	Paul Vadja
	Gift of Gab	The Corpse
	Father Brown, Detective	Flambeau
	The Fountain	Rupert von Narwitz
	Affairs of a Gentleman	Victor Gresham
1935	The Casino Murder Case	Philo Vance
	Age of Indiscretion	Robert Lenhart
	The Three Musketeers	Athos
	I Found Stella Parish	Stephan Norman
1936	Dodsworth	Arnold Iselin
1936	Ladies in Love	John Barta
1937	Brief Ecstasy	Professor Paul Bernardy
	The Mutiny of the Elsinore	Jack Pethurst
	Espionage	Anton Kronsky
	Dinner at the Ritz	Baron Philip de Beaufort
1938	The Lady Vanishes	Dr. Hartz
1939	Confessions of a Nazi Spy	Dr. Kassell
1939	Captain Fury	Francois Dupre
1940	Strange Cargo	Hessler
	The Chinese Bungalow	Yuan Sing
	The Ghost Breakers	Parada
	A Window in London	Zoltini	Released as Lady in Distress in the US
1941	The Monster and the Girl	W. S. Bruhl
1941	They Dare Not Love	Baron von Helsing
1943	Hostages	Rheinhardt
1943	Watch on the Rhine	Kurt Muller	Won Academy Award for Best Actor
1944	Uncertain Glory	Inspector Marcel Bonet
	Address Unknown	Martin Schulz
	Experiment Perilous	Nick Bederaux
1946	Deadline at Dawn	Gus Hoffman
1946	Temptation	Sir Meyer Isaacson
1947	Whispering City	Albert Frederic
1947	Don't Be a Sucker	The Refugee	Produced by the US War Department
1948	Berlin Express	Dr Bernhardt
1950	Kim	Lama
1954	20,000 Leagues Under the Sea	Prof. Pierre Aronnax
1958	The Roots of Heaven	Saint Denis
1959	Judgment at Nuremberg	Ernst Janning
1960	Scent of Mystery	Baron Saradin	See Smell-O-Vision
1962	Tender Is the Night	Dr. Dohmler
1962	Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse	Karl von Hartrott
1963	55 Days at Peking	Dr. Steinfeldt
1963	Fun in Acapulco	Maximillian Dauphin
1965	Lord Jim	Stein
1968	Sol Madrid	Capo Riccione
1970	The Challenge	Dr Nagy	TV movie

References

^ Brode, D. (2009). Multiculturalism and the Mouse: Race and Sex in Disney Entertainment. University of Texas Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-0292783300. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
^ Central Conference of American Rabbis (1988). "Journal of Reform Judaism". CCAR Journal. 35. Central Conference of American Rabbis. ISSN 0149-712X. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
^ H.W. Wilson Company (1942). "Current Biography Yearbook". Current Biography Yearbook: Annual Cumulation. H. W. Wilson Company. ISSN 0084-9499. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
^ "Marriage entry, Budapest 7th district, 26 March 1918". familysearch.org. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
^ Meeks, Eric G. (2014) [2012]. The Best Guide Ever to Palm Springs Celebrity Homes. Horatio Limburger Oglethorpe. pp. 29–30, 34. ISBN 978-1479328598.
^ "Watch on the Rhine". IBDB.com. Internet Broadway Database.
^ ^a ^b Bower, Ronald; Unterburger, Amy L. ed. International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers: Actors and Actresses, St. James Press (1997) p. 740
^ "Internet Archive".
^ Blackstone Audio "Suspense" Vol.2 issued 2015
^ "Sunday Highlights". The Nebraska State Journal. 2 April 1944. p. 28. Retrieved 31 March 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
^ None but the Lonely Hearts by Paul Lukas, archived from the original on 14 April 2020, retrieved 4 December 2019
^ Obituary Variety, August 18, 1971, p. 55.
^ "Paul Lukas". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Retrieved 3 October 2015.