Klári Tolnay (born Rozália Klára Tolnay; 17 July 1914 – 27 October 1998) was a Hungarian actress. She received the

Kossuth Prize The Kossuth Prize ( hu, Kossuth-díj) is a state-sponsored award in Hungary, named after the Hungarian politician and revolutionist Lajos Kossuth. The Prize was established in 1948 (on occasion of the centenary of the March 15th revolution, the ...

in 1951 and 1952.

Life

Klári Tolnay (born Rózsi Tolnay) was born on 17 July 1914 in Budapest, as the daughter of István Tolnay and Eleonóra Siess. She spent her childhood in the small village of Mohora, Nógrád county, on the estate of her father. Finishing elementary school there, she continued secondary school studies in Balassagyarmat, two years at the school operated by ''Institutum Beatae Mariae Virginis'' in

Nyíregyháza Nyíregyháza (, sk, Níreďháza) is a city with county rights in northeastern Hungary and the county capital of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg. With a population of 118,001, it is the seventh-largest city in Hungary and the second largest in t ...

, finishing high school in

Debrecen Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and i ...

's School of Business. Singing and playing music since childhood, she followed the advice of newspaper editor János Bókay, and auditioned herself to prominent actors of the time, Gábor Rajnai,

Jenő Heltai Jenő Heltai (11 August 1871 – 3 September 1957), until 1913 Eugen Herzl, was a Hungarian author, poet, journalist and producer. He was of Jewish descent, though he later converted to Christianity. Several of his novels and plays have been ada ...

, and Sándor Hevesi. After these early attempts were not followed by desired results, she was mentored by Béla Gaál, thus starting her career as a film actress at the

Hunnia Film Studio Hunnia Film Studio was the largest and most significant sound film studio in Hungary until its nationalization in 1948. Its predecessor, Corvin Film Studio, founded by Alexander Korda in 1917, was the most important Hungarian silent film comp ...

. Her first notable role was in ''Meseautó'', after which she was hired by the

Vígszínház The Comedy Theater of Budapest ( hu, Vígszínház) is a theater in Budapest. Starting in the turn of the 19th and 20th century as an opposition to the conservative National Theater, it became a pioneer institution of Hungarian drama, and one of ...

theatre in 1934, to perform smaller roles. In 1936 she married Ákos Ráthonyi, a director, giving birth to daughter Zsuzsanna 4 years later. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

ended in 1945, Ákos Ráthonyi left Hungary, with their daughter following after the 1956 revolution. Leaving the Vígszínház for the Művész Theatre in 1946-7, she met Iván Darvas, whom she later married (but divorced in 1958). In 1947, together with Gyula Benkő and István Somló, she was appointed as the co-manager of the

theatre, where she was a major participant in restoring the institution to its pre-war glory. After the theatre was disbanded by the government in 1950, she joined the Madách Theatre, where she worked until her death on 27 October 1998. In later years, she also became a much sought-after

dubbing Dubbing (re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and video production, often in concert with sound design, in which additional or supplementary recordings are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production sou ...

actress, lending her voice to a great number of elderly female characters.

Filmography

* 1934 Hacsek és Sajő – A két ültetvényes (short) * 1934 '' The New Relative'' * 1934 ''

The Dream Car ''The Dream Car'' ( hu, Meseautó) is a 1934 Hungarian romantic comedy film directed by Béla Gaál and starring Zita Perczel, Ella Gombaszögi and Klári Tolnay. A tycoon falls in love with a poor woman and secretly buys her a car. The 1935 Bri ...

'' * 1934 Lila akác * 1935 Az okos mama * 1936 Légy jó mindhalálig * 1936 Tisztelet a kívételnek * 1937 Az én lányom nem olyan * 1937 A kölcsönkért kastély * 1938 ''

Magda Expelled ''Magda Expelled'' (Hungarian: ''Magdát kicsapják'') is a 1938 Hungarian comedy film directed by Ladislao Vajda and starring Ida Turay, Klári Tolnay and Antal Páger.Reich & Garofalo p.155 The film was based on a play. In 1940 it was remade i ...

'' * 1938 Döntő pillanat * 1938 Azurexpressz * 1938 A hölgy egy kissé bogaras * 1938 Tiszavirág * 1938 Gyimesi vadvirág * 1939 '' Istvan Bors'' * 1939 Toprini nász * 1939 Hat hét boldogság * 1939 A nőnek mindig sikerül * 1940 Zavaros éjszaka * 1940 Erzsébet királyné * 1940 Egy csók és más semmi * 1940 Tóparti látomás * 1940 Vissza az úton * 1940 A szerelem nem szégyen * 1941 Havasi napsütés * 1941 Néma kolostor * 1941 Három csengő * 1941 Az ördög nem alszik * 1941 Gentryfészek * 1941 Kádár kontra Kerekes * 1942 Férfihűség * 1942 Keresztúton * 1942 Pista tekintetes úr * 1942 Katyi * 1943 Szerencsés flótás * 1943 Palócvirág (short) * 1943 Féltékenység * 1943 Menekülő ember * 1943 Rákóczi nótája * 1943 Ágrólszakadt úrilány * 1944 Idegen utakon * 1946 XIV. René * 1947 Beszterce ostroma * 1948 Tűz * 1949 Egy asszony elindul * 1951 Déryné * 1954 Rokonok * 1956 Mese a 12 találatról * 1956 Ünnepi vacsora * 1957 A tettes ismeretlen * 1957 Dani * 1958 Micsoda éjszaka! * 1959 Akiket a pacsirta elkísér * 1960 Fűre lépni szabad * 1960 Virrad * 1961 Mindenki ártatlan? * 1961 Nem ér a nevem * 1962 Angyalok földje * 1962 Fagyosszentek * 1963 Pacsirta * 1963 Fáklyaláng (TV film) * 1963 Hogy állunk, fiatalember? * 1964 Ők tudják, mi a szerelem (TV film) * 1964 Ezer év * 1966 Apa * 1966 Utószezon * 1967 ''

The Testament of Aga Koppanyi The Testament of Aga Koppanyi ( hu, A koppányi aga testamentuma) is a 1967 Hungarian adventure film based on the eponymous novel by István Fekete. Cast * Péter Benkő as László Babocsai * Klári Tolnay as Sára Babocsai * Ferenc Bessenyei a ...

'' * 1967 Az özvegy és a százados * 1968 Családi tűzhely (TV film) * 1968 Elsietett házasság * 1970 Hatholdas rózsakert * 1970 Szemtől szemben * 1970 Szerelmi álmok * 1971 A Danaida (TV film) * 1971 Reménykedők * 1972 Jó estét nyár, jó estét szerelem * 1972 Volt egyszer egy család * 1975 Asszony a viharban (TV film) * 1975 Hogyan viseljük el szerelmi bánatunkat? (TV film) * 1976 Ballagó idő * 1976 Fekete gyémántok * 1976 Mélosz pusztulása (TV film) * 1978 Drága kisfiam * 1978 Legato * 1978 Nem élhetek muzsikaszó nélkül * 1980 Kojak Budapesten * 1983 A csoda vége * 1983 Ők tudják, mi a szerelem (TV film) * 1983 Reumavalcer (TV film) * 1984 A vörös grófnő * 1985

The Red Countess ''The Red Countess'' ( hu, A vörös grófnő) is a 1985 Hungarian drama film directed by András Kovács. It was entered into the 14th Moscow International Film Festival. Cast * Juli Básti as Katus, gróf Károlyi Mihályné, Andrássy Kat ...

* 1985 Bevégezetlen ragozás (TV film) * 1989 Vili, a veréb (voice) * 1994 Drága kisfiam

References

Sources

* László, Párkány. ''Tolnay Klári : egyes szám első személyben''. Budapest:Minerva, 1998. * Zsolt, Kőháti. ''Tolnay Klári''. Budapest: Múzsák Közművelődési Kiadó, 1987. OCLC 20613628

– Kláry Tolnay in the Hungarian Theatrical Lexicon (György, Székely. Magyar Színházművészeti Lexikon. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1994. ), freely available on mek.oszk.hu

External links

Official site of Kláry Tolnay
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tolnay, Klari 1914 births 1998 deaths Hungarian film actresses Hungarian stage actresses Hungarian voice actresses 20th-century Hungarian actresses