Róza Laborfalvi (born Judit Benke de Laborfalva, 8 April 1817 – 20 November 1886) Hungarian noblewoman, actress and wife of novelist Mór Jókai de Ásva.

Early life

She was the daughter of the actor and theater director József Benke de Laborfalva (1781–1855) and Zsuzsanna Rácz de Welesz. Her father was a

Székely Székely may refer to: *Székelys, Hungarian people from the historical region of Transylvania, Romania **Székely Land, historic and ethnographic area in Transylvania, Romania * Székely (village), a village in northeastern Hungary *Székely (sur ...

noble.Biography in Hungarian
/ref>

Career

She started her career in the Castle Theatre of

Buda Buda (; german: Ofen, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Budim, Будим, Czech and sk, Budín, tr, Budin) was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Hungary and since 1873 has been the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest, on the ...

in 1833. From 1837 she played in the National Theatre of

Pest Pest or The Pest may refer to: Science and medicine * Pest (organism), an animal or plant deemed to be detrimental to humans or human concerns ** Weed, a plant considered undesirable * Infectious disease, an illness resulting from an infection ** ...

. Many have praised her beautiful

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...

voice, her looks, her talent for recitation and her expressive glance. On 15 March 1848, she met the writer Mór Jókai at a performance of József Katona's ''

The Viceroy ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

''. They married in the same year. Their marriage caused a scandal; several of the writer's friends (among them Sándor Petőfi) were against the marriage, mostly because she had a 12-year-old illegitimate daughter, Róza Benke, whose father was the actor Márton Lendvay. The opponents of the marriage were reconciled when Laborfalvi saved Jókai's life during the revolution of 1848/49. (Róza Benke later had an illegitimate daughter herself, Róza the youngest, who later married the painter Árpád Feszty). Until her retirement in 1859 Laborfalvi was the most successful actress of the era. On 3 September 1857, the newly built National Theatre of Miskolc opened with her guest performance and Jókai's speech. She later appeared on the same stage in 1883, as her last performance.

Her most important roles

Gertrudis (''The Viceroy''); Volumina ( Shakespeare: ''Coriolanus''); Mary, Queen of Scots (

Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friendsh ...

); Lady Macbeth (''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

''); Goneril ('' King Lear''); Orsina (

Lessing Lessing is a German surname of Slavic origin, originally ''Lesnik'' meaning "woodman". Lessing may refer to: A German family of writers, artists, musicians and politicians who can be traced back to a Michil Lessigk mentioned in 1518 as being a lin ...

: ''

Emilia Galotti ''Emilia Galotti'' () is a play in five acts by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), which premiered on 8 March 1772 in Brunswick ("Braunschweig" in German). The work is a classic example of German '' bürgerliches Trauerspiel'' (bourgeois ...

''); Lady Milford (Schiller: '' Intrigue and Love''). {{DEFAULTSORT:Laborfalvi, Roza 1817 births 1886 deaths People from Miskolc Hungarian nobility Hungarian stage actresses 19th-century Hungarian people 19th-century Hungarian actresses