Mari Jászai (born Mária Krippel; 24 February 1850, Ászár – 5 October 1926,

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 ...

) was a Hungarian actress.

Life

Mari Jászai 24 February 1850 in Ászár,

Komárom county Komárom (Hungarian: ; german: Komorn; la, Brigetio, later ; sk, Komárno) is a city in Hungary on the south bank of the Danube in Komárom-Esztergom County. Komárno, Slovakia, is on the northern bank. Komárom was formerly a separate villag ...

, as a daughter of a carpenter. She worked from age 10 as a maidservant, both in Budapest and

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, assisting soldiers as a ''sutling wench'' in the

Battle of Königgrätz The Battle of Königgrätz (or Sadowa) was the decisive battle of the Austro-Prussian War in which the Kingdom of Prussia defeated the Austrian Empire. It took place on 3 July 1866, near the Bohemian city of Hradec Králové (German: Königgr� ...

. In 1866, aged 16, she fled to the touring company of ''Gusztáv Hubay'' in

Székesfehérvár Székesfehérvár (; german: Stuhlweißenburg ), known colloquially as Fehérvár ("white castle"), is a city in central Hungary, and the country's ninth-largest city. It is the Regions of Hungary, regional capital of Central Transdanubia, and t ...

, and began to work as an extra. By 1867 she already acted on stages of Buda, and from 1868, in the theatre of

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. She met her first husband, comedian ''Vidor Kassai'' during her time in Buda, whom she divorced two years later, never marrying again. Jászai became a member of the National Theatre in 1872, where she remained until her death (except for the 1900 season, working in

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).

Legacy

A permanent member of the National Theatre since 1901, Mari Jászai became one of the most influential actors in the Hungarian theatrical world. Playing over 300 roles, she also translated a number of works, including

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential pla ...

John Gabriel Borkman ''John Gabriel Borkman'' is a 1896 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was his penultimate work. Plot The Borkman family fortunes have been brought low by the imprisonment of John Gabriel who used his position as a bank manager to ...

. The theatre of

Tatabánya Tatabánya (; german: Totiserkolonie; sk, Banská Stará) is a city with county rights of 64,305 inhabitants in northwestern Hungary, in the Central Transdanubian region. It is the capital of Komárom-Esztergom County. Location The city is lo ...

is named after her, as are numerous public places in Budapest, and one of the premier awards of national dramatic artists, the ''

Jászai Mari Award The Jászai Mari Award is a state award, which was created by the Hungarian government in 1953 as an award for theatrical arts. The award was named in honour of the Hungarian actress Mari Jászai. It originally ran, from 1955 to 1976, and was aw ...

''.

Selected filmography

* ''

Bánk Bán ''Bánk bán'' is an opera in 3 acts by composer Ferenc Erkel. The work uses a Hungarian-language libretto by Béni Egressy which is based on a stage play of the same name by József Katona. (''Bán'' is ban in English, similar to a viceroy, a ...

'' (1914) * ''

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'' (1914)

Sources

*István, Lehel. ''Jászai Mari emlékiratai''. Budapest: Babits Kiadó, 2003. *Mónika, Balatoni. ''Tükör-játék''. Budapest: Kairosz Kiadó, 2002.

External links

Official site of the Jászai Mari TheatreMari Jászai on Port.hu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaszai, Mari 1850 births 1926 deaths Hungarian stage actresses Burials at Kerepesi Cemetery 19th-century Hungarian actresses Hungarian silent film actresses 20th-century Hungarian actresses