Cornel Wilde
| Cornel Wilde | |
|---|---|
Wilde in Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
|
|
| Born |
Kornél Lajos Weisz October 13, 1912 Prievidza, Hungary (now Slovakia) |
| Died | October 16, 1989 (aged 77) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Leukemia |
| Resting place | Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California |
| Other names | Clark Wales, Jefferson Pascal |
| Occupation | Actor and director |
| Years active | 1935–87 |
| Spouse(s) |
Patricia Knight (m. 1937–51)(divorced) 1 child Jean Wallace (m. 1951–81) (divorced) 1 child |
| Children | Wendy Wilde (b. 1943) Cornel Wallace Wilde Jr. (b. 1967) |
Cornel Wilde (October 13, 1912 – October 16, 1989) was a Hungarian-American actor and film director.
Wilde's acting career began in 1935, when he made his debut on Broadway. In 1936, he began making small, uncredited appearances in films. By the 1940s, he had signed a contract with 20th Century Fox, and by the mid-1940s he was a major leading man. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in 1945's A Song to Remember. In the 1950s, he moved to writing, producing and directing films, but still continued his career as an actor.
Kornél Lajos Weisz was born in 1912 in Prievidza, Hungary (now Slovakia), although his year and place of birth are usually and inaccurately given as 1915 in New York City. His Hungarian Jewish parents were Vojtech Weisz (Americanized to Louis Bela Wilde) and Renée Mary Vid. He was named for his paternal grandfather, and upon arrival in the U.S. at age 7 in 1920, his name was Americanized to Cornelius Louis Wilde.
A talented linguist and an astute mimic, he had an ear for languages which became apparent later in his acting career. Wilde attended the City College of New York as a pre-med student, completing the four-year course in three years and winning a scholarship to the Physicians and Surgeons College at Columbia University.
He qualified for the United States fencing team prior to the 1936 Summer Olympic Games, but quit the team just prior to the games in order to take a role in the theater. In preparation for an acting career, he and his new wife Marjory Heinzen (later to be known as Patricia Knight) shaved years off their ages, three for him and five for her. As a result, most publicity records and subsequent sources wrongly indicate a 1915 birth for Wilde.
After study at Theodora Irvine's Studio of the Theatre, Wilde began appearing in plays in stock and in New York. He made his Broadway debut in 1935 in Moon Over Mulberry Street. He wrote a fencing play, Touché, under the pseudonym Clark Wales in 1937. Wilde was hired as a fencing teacher by Laurence Olivier for his 1940 Broadway production of Romeo and Juliet and was given the role of Tybalt in the production. His performance in this role netted him a Hollywood film contract.
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