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Hungarian Edition
The man who angered Hitler and made Emperor Franz Joseph laugh went from being the star of the Hungarian stage to a well-known, world-famous character actor in Hollywood.
Jakab Grünwald (also known as Sándor Gärtner or under the stage name Jenő Gerő) was born a 141 years ago on 2 February 1883 in Budapest. In his youth, he penned sketches for vaudeville shows as ”Szőke Szakáll” (or S. Z. Sakall in the U.S., meaning ”blonde beard” in Hungarian), a name that stuck and that he chose in reference to the beard he grew to look older.
Fame found him as a Hungarian cabaret performer and comedian, before moving on to the stage of silent films. When it came to cabaret, he achieved practically everything one could in the genre and became immensely popular in his birth country. Sakall then went to Austria and later to Germany to pursue acting and even though he spoke little to no German he became quite successful on the Austrian and German stage. When the Nazis emerged to power, he was forced to leave Germany and return to his homeland due to his Jewish roots. After some time in Hungary, the Netherlands and Great Britain, he eventually immigrated to the U.S. in 1940 to escape Jewish persecution and leave the turbulent political climate of Europe behind. Many of his relatives weren’t so lucky, including his three sisters who died in Nazi concentration camps.
Playing Carl, the legendary head waiter in Michael Curtiz‘s Oscar-winning film ”Casablanca”, he appeared in over 100 films in four countries during his lifetime. The first Hollywood production he appeared in was the 1940 ”It’s a Date” next to Deanna Durbin. The following year, he starred in ”Ball of Fire”, propelling his American career, after which he played in movies like ”Yankee Doodle Dandy” and the iconic ”Casablanca” in 1942, ”Christmas in Connecticut” (1945), and ”Embraceable You”, ”April Showers”, Michael Curtiz‘s ”Romance on the High Seas”, and ”Whiplash” all in 1948. Other notable movies he played in were ”My Dream Is Yours”, ”Look for the Silver Lining”, ”In the Good Old Summertime”, ”Oh, You Beautiful Doll”, ”Tea for Two”, ”Lullaby of Broadway”, ”Montana”, ”The Daughter of Rosie O’Grady”, ”Sugarfoot” and ”Painting the Clouds with Sunshine”, followed by his last role in ”The Student Prince” in 1945.
Also nicknamed ”Cuddles” for his round build by studio head Jack Warner, Sakall died of a heart attack on 12 February 1955 and found eternal peace at the Garden of Memory in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.
The Hungarian Hollywood Council declared his birthday a memorial day and held a festive commemorative dinner at the Vadrózsa restaurant, the former home of the great cabaret composer and actor, where they placed a wreath on the plaque on the wall of the house. The Council then presented Győző Mihályi, Jászai Mari Award recipient artist, president of the Theater Workers’ Union, with its Paramount Premium Award at the commemoration ceremony for the tireless support he provides to the organization to fulfill its mission of preserving, maintaining and spreading the memory of Hollywood‘s Hungarian roots.
