Ekaterina Nagy von Cziser, better known by her stage name Käthe von Nagy (4 April 1904 – 20 December 1973), was a Hungarian actress, model, dancer, and singer who worked in the German and French cinema.
Early life and education
Käthe von Nagy, the daughter of a wealthy bank manager and part of an aristocratic Serbian family, spent very little time at monastery school."Portrait of the Actress Käthe von Nagy" cyranos.ch; retrieved 30 May 2014.
When she wanted to get married at age 16, her parents did not approve and placed her in the ''Sancta Christiana'' Convent in
Frohsdorf
Lanzenkirchen is a market town in the district of Wiener Neustadt-Land in the Austrian state of Lower Austria.
Geography
Lanzenkirchen is situated on the river Leitha, south of the city Wiener Neustadt, at the foot of the Rosaliengebirge mountain ...
near
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
to prevent this early marriage. After 18 months in the convent, she went to high school in Vienna, and then finally to boarding school. During this period, she took riding and fencing lessons.
Career
As a young adult, Nagy's dream was to become an author, also unusual for a woman of her time. She went to
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
, where she wrote a few short articles that were eventually published in a magazine. Shortly after this, she decided to pursue her interest in acting and enrolled in the acting school of Béla Gáal, near Budapest. There she learned acting, dancing, and singing. Her parents were unhappy about her change of career and frequent moves. To satisfy her parents (especially her father), she returned and worked with him in his bank for a period of time, while secretly writing novels.
In 1926, Nagy moved to
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
to pursue a career in the film industry, but, as she was then unknown, she took a position as correspondent for the Hungarian newspaper ''Pesti Hírlap'' to earn a living."Postcard Friendship Friday – Käthe von Nagy" ''Film Star Postcards''. Retrieved 2014-30-05. After numerous futile applications in the city, Hungarian film director
Alexander Korda
Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; hu, Korda Sándor; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)Constantin J. David. Soon after, in 1928, she starred in the successful '' Wien, die Stadt meiner Träume'' ("Vienna, City of My Dreams"), which made her known as the "up-and-coming young actress of the European cinema". She later appeared in many leading roles and became famous for her countless postcards which also benefitted her modeling career. In 1931, she starred in '' Le Capitaine Craddock'', which made her notable in France where she would later make half her movies. From 1937 onwards, she was mainly in French-speaking roles, but also appeared in Italian and Austrian film productions. Her last film was the German film '' The Forester's Daughter'', in 1952, alongside
Johanna Matz
Johanna Matz (born 5 October 1932, in Vienna) is an Austrian film actress. She began as a dancer and later acted at the Burgtheater.
Selected filmography
* '' Maria Theresa'' (1951)
* '' Season in Salzburg'' (1952)
* ''The White Horse Inn'' (19 ...
.
During the
Second World War
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 ...
, Nagy virtually retired from the acting industry, appearing in only one movie, ''Mahlia la métisse''. Because of her notability due to her famous and hugely popular postcards, she was, in 1940, reportedly approached by ''
Reichsführer-SS
(, ) was a special title and rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945 for the commander of the (SS). ''Reichsführer-SS'' was a title from 1925 to 1933, and from 1934 to 1945 it was the highest rank of the SS. The longest-servi ...
'',
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
, who asked her to be the face and body for
sex doll
A sex doll (also love doll, fuck doll or blowup doll) is a type of anthropomorphic sex toy in the size and shape of a sexual partner. The sex doll may consist of an entire body, or just a head, pelvis, or other body part (vagina, anus, mouth, ...
s provided to German soldiers as a way to combat
syphilis
Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...
at the front, but she refused. This story has come to be considered a hoax, due to the lack of reliable sources backing it up.
Personal life
Nagy's first marriage was to film director Constantin J. David, in 1927, the same year they met. Her second marriage was to Jacques Fattini; little is known about their relationship and marriage. She died of cancer in 1973, in
Ojai, California
Ojai ( ; Chumash: ''’Awhaỳ'') is a city in Ventura County, California. Located in the Ojai Valley, it is northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara. The valley is part of the east–west trending Western Transverse Ranges and is ...
Internet Movie Database
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...