S. Z. Sakall
| S. Z. Sakall | |
|---|---|
from Small Town Girl (1953)
|
|
| Born |
Gärtner Sándor 2 February 1883 Budapest, Hungary (Austria-Hungary) |
| Died | 12 February 1955 (aged 72) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale |
| Other names | S. Z. "Cuddles" Sakall Szőke Szakáll Gerő Jenő |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1926–1954 |
| Spouse(s) | Giza Grossner (1916–1918; her death) Anne Kardos (1920–1955; his death) |
Szőke Szakáll (2 February 1883 – 12 February 1955), known as S. Z. Sakall, was a Hungarian stage and film character actor. The name he went by, Szőke Szakáll, is Hungarian for blonde beard. He appeared in many films including In the Good Old Summertime, Lullaby of Broadway, Christmas in Connecticut, and Casablanca, in which he played Carl, the head waiter. Chubby-jowled Sakall played numerous supporting roles in Hollywood musicals and comedies in the 1940s and 1950s. His rotund cuteness caused studio head Jack Warner to bestow on Sakall the nickname "Cuddles". Warner asked that he be billed as S. Z. "Cuddles" Sakall in his later films, though he was never happy with the name. He became well known for using the phrase "everything is hunky dunky."
Szőke Szakáll was born Gärtner Sándor in Budapest, Hungary, to a Jewish family. During his schooldays, he wrote sketches for Budapest vaudeville shows under the pen name Szőke Szakáll meaning "blond beard" in reference to his own beard, grown to make him look older, which he affected when, at the age of 18, he turned to acting.
The actor became a star of the Hungarian stage and screen in the 1910s and 1920s. At the beginning of the 1920s, he moved to Vienna, where he appeared in Hermann Leopoldi's Kabarett Leopoldi-Wiesenthal. In the 1930s, he was, next to Hans Moser, the most significant representative of the Wiener Film, the Viennese light romantic comedy genre. He also appeared in Berlin.
He appeared in Familientag im Hause Prellstein (1927), Ihre Majestät die Liebe (1929, which was remade in Hollywood as Her Majesty Love, with W.C. Fields in Sakall's role) and Two Hearts in Waltz Time (1930). For a brief period during this time, he ran his own production company.
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