Paul Lukas - ©Theda Bara

The name I present today is that of another iconic foreign theater actor who had a very successful career in his 34 years in Hollywood. I’m talking about the Hungarian actor Paul Lukas, who won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1944, for his performance in the film: “Watch on the Rhine” (1943), in the role of the anti-hero of German origin, the fascist engineer “Kurt Muller”. That same film also earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama, 1944. Lukas’ success in Hollywood led to the actor becoming a naturalized American citizen.

Paul Lukas has his star on the Los Angeles Walk of Fame, at 6821 Hollywood Boulevard, in the Cinema category.

Paul Lukas, born Pál Lukács on May 26, 1894, in Budapest, Hungary, died on August 15, 1971, in Tangier, Morocco, aged 77.

The actor was married three times. The first time was with his cousin Anna Lukács (1898-1970), a relationship that lasted just one year, from 1916 to 1917; his second marriage was to fan Gizella Daisy Benes Lukács (1927-1962) from 1927 to 1962, of whom the actor ended up a widower; his third marriage was to financial businesswoman Annette M. Driesens (1933-1980), with whom he was married until his death, from 1963 to 1971. The actor left no heirs.