Stephen Geray
| Steven Geray | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Istvàn Gyergyay 10 November 1904 Ungvár, Austria-Hungary, now Uzhgorod, Ukraine |
| Died | 26 December 1973 (aged 69) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | Hungarian |
| Years active | 1929–1966 |
| Spouse(s) | Magda Kun |
Steven Geray (10 November 1904 – 26 December 1973) was a film actor who appeared in over 100 films and dozens of television programs. Geray appeared in Spellbound (1945), Gilda (1946), In a Lonely Place (1950), All About Eve (1950), Call Me Madam (1953) and To Catch a Thief (1955).
He was born Istvan Gyergyay in Ungvár, Austria-Hungary (now Uzhgorod, Ukraine) and educated at the University of Budapest. He made his first stage appearance at the Hungarian National Theater under his real name and after nearly four years he made his London stage debut (as Steven Geray) in 1934, appearing in Happy Week-End!. He began appearing in English-speaking films in 1935 and moved to Hollywood in 1941. He appeared alongside his wife, Magda Kun, in the 1935 film Dance Band.
Political pressure led to Geray's exit from Europe. His act in the Folies Bergère included impersonations of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, which incurred the wrath of the governments of Germany and Italy. Geray failed to heed their warnings to stop the impersonations. After being beaten up, however, he moved to Hollywood.
Geray was cast as the lead in a low-budget film noir So Dark the Night (1946). Even with its limited budget, it received great critical reviews and enabled its director Joseph H. Lewis to later direct A-pictures. Geray continued to work on television and in films into the 1960s. Among them a guest appearance on Perry Mason in 1962 as extortionist and murder victim Franz Moray in "The Case of the Stand-in Sister," three episodes of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show as French dress designer Gaston Broussard in 1956, including the over the top "A Paris Creation" and various doctor roles on The Danny Thomas Show.
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