Miklós Benedek (28 September 1946 – 9 January 2024) was a Hungarian

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

. He is most noted for his role of Mr. Fritz Teufel in the 1986 movie '' Cat City''.

Early life

Miklós Benedek was born on 28 September 1946. His father,

Tibor Benedek Tibor Benedek (12 July 1972 – 18 June 2020) was a Hungarian professional water polo player and coach, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. He played on the gold medal squads at the 2000 Summer Olympics, 2004 Summer Olym ...

, was a Hungarian actor. Shortly after his parents divorced, Benedek moved in with his mother. His father committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

in 1963 when Miklós was in second grade. When Benedek reached

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

, he studied in the Russian sector of ELTE Radnóti Miklós School. In 1965, Benedek, along with Péter Valcz and Tibor Dévényi, won the Hungarian Who Knows What?

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

category award. Shortly after, in 1969, Benedek graduated from the Hungarian University of Theater and Film in Budapest, where he studied under director and screenwriter Miklós Szinetár.

Career

After graduating from university, Benedek signed a contract with the National Theatre, where he played for 14 years between 1969 and 1983. After he cut his contract with the National Theatre, he played for the Katona József Theater starting in 1983. In 1991—1992 and 1993–1996, Benedek was the administrator of the Hungarian Chamber of Actors and in 2003, he again had a contract with Katona József Theater. Between 1997 and 2007, he became a teacher at The University of Film and Arts, where he had previously studied. In 2003, Benedek began performing at the National Theater again. In 2009, he was fired along with six of his colleagues and started playing in shows around the world as a freelancer. In 2017, he was included in Tibor Orlai's Orlais Produkciós Irodá. Benedek's character is often defined as having an ironic sense of humor. He was one of the singers in

Hungaroton Hungaroton is the oldest record and music publisher company in Hungary. Hungaroton was founded in 1951, when its only competitors in the Hungarian music market were record labels like Melodiya, Supraphon and from other socialist countries. P ...

's album ''Budapesti Orfeum''.

Death

Benedek died on 9 January 2024, at the age of 77.

Theater works

Plays

* Archangel Raphael in

Imre Madách Imre Madách de Sztregova et Kelecsény (20 January 1823 – 5 October 1864) was a Hungarian people, Hungarian aristocrat, writer, poet, lawyer and politician. His major work is ''The Tragedy of Man'' (''Az ember tragédiája'', 1861). It is a dr ...

's '' The Tragedy of Man'' * Doctor Lombardi in

Carlo Goldoni Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni (, also , ; 25 February 1707 – 6 February 1793) was an Italian playwright and librettist from the Republic of Venice. His works include some of Italy's most famous and best-loved plays. Audiences have admired the plays ...

's ''

Servant of Two Masters ''The Servant of Two Masters'' () is a comedy by the Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni written in 1746. Goldoni originally wrote the play at the request of actor Antonio Sacco, one of the great Harlequins in history. His earliest drafts had larg ...

'' * Pretzels in Ernő Szép's ''May'' * Poins in

Shakespeare's William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

Henry IV, Part 1 ''Henry IV, Part 1'' (often written as ''1 Henry IV'') is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. The play dramatises part of the reign of King Henry IV of England, beginning with the Battle of H ...

'' and '' Part 2'' * The Doctor in

Maurice Maeterlinck Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count/Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize in ...

's ''The Miracle of St. Anthony'' * Lentulus in

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

's '' Androcles and the Lion'' * General Varravin in Aleksandr Sukhovo-Kobylin's ''The Death of Tarelkin'' * Second Lawyer in

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...

's ''Mr. Gömböc'' * Pettersen in

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

's ''The Wild Duck'' * King Bobéche in

Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach (; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera ''The Tales of Hoffmann''. He was a p ...

's ''Bluebeard'' * King Wenceslas in

Alfred Jarry Alfred Jarry (; ; 8 September 1873 – 1 November 1907) was a French Artistic symbol, symbolist writer who is best known for his play ''Ubu Roi'' (1896)'','' often cited as a forerunner of the Dada, Surrealism, Surrealist, and Futurism, Futurist ...

's ''

Ubu Roi ''Ubu Roi'' (; "Ubu the King" or "King Ubu") is a play by French writer Alfred Jarry, then 23 years old. It was first performed in Paris in 1896, by Aurélien Lugné-Poe's Théâtre de l'Œuvre at the Nouveau-Théâtre (today, the Théâtre de ...

'' * Knight Ripafratta in Carlo Goldoni's '' Mirandolina'' * Cinzano in Schneider and Ondráček's ''Gentlemenek'' * Montague in Shakespeare's ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

'' * Christian in Magnier's ''Oszkár'' * Jaques in Shakespeare's ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wil ...

'' * Pósalaky in

Zsigmond Móricz Zsigmond Móricz (; 29 June 1879, Tiszacsécse – 4 September 1942) was a major Hungarian novelist and Social Realist. Biography Zsigmond Móricz was born in Tiszacsécse in 1879 to Bálint Móricz and Erzsébet (). On his mother's sid ...

's ''Be Good Until Death'' * Long in

Dario Fo Dario Luigi Angelo Fo (; 24 March 1926 – 13 October 2016) was an Italian playwright, actor, theatre director, stage designer, songwriter, political campaigner for the Italian left wing and the recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature. ...

's '' Archangels Don't Play Pinball''

Television movies

* Gimnazista in '' The Confrontation'' (1969) * Medveczki in ''Svédcsavar'' (1975) * Pszichiáter in ''Illetlenek'' (1977) * Lord in ''Wrong-Doers'' (1979) * Pszichológus in '' The Fortress'' (1979) * Mr. P. Smith in '' The Pagan Madonna'' (1981) * Mr. Fritz Teufel in '' Cat City'' (1986) * Kolowrat in ''Miklós Akli'' (1986) * Sipos in ''Illatszertár'' (1987) * Andrej Andrejevics in ''Stalin's Bride'' (1991) * Nagy Levin in ''Three Guardsmen in Africa'' (1996) * Professor in ''Espresso'' (1998) * Mr. Fritz Teufel in '' Cat City 2'' (2007) * Iván in ''S.O.S. Love!'' (2007)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Benedek, Miklos 1946 births 2024 deaths Hungarian male film actors Hungarian male stage actors Hungarian theatre directors Artists of Merit of the Hungarian People's Republic Male actors from Budapest