Barbara von Nady

The film career of Barbara von Nady (1939) was very short. She appeared in only two films at the end of the 1950s. As Countess Borbála Nádasdy de Nádasd et Fogarasföld, the Hungarian noble became also known as a ballet master and author.

German Postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. 260. Photo: Bavaria / Meroth.

Little beast with long hair

Barbara von Nady was born Countess Borbála Nádasdy de Nádasd et Fogarasföld (born 1939) in 1939 in Budapest, Hungary. She was a member of the Nádasdy family, one of the major Hungarian aristocratic families. Her father was Count Pál Nádasdy and her mother was Antónia Augner, a famous dancer. Nádasdys had another daughter, Countess Erzsebet Maria (1935). Borbála and Erzsébet spent their youth in Lepsény. Their father was an officer in the 3rd Hussar Regiment and was taken to forced labour during World War II.
br /> After the Second World War, monarchists were persecuted in Hungary. After the 1956 revolution, Borbála was forced to flee Hungary in February 1957. Her escape was an adventurous one. Borbála escaped to Vienna, where she started to work as an actress in Vienna. Her sister, Erzsebet emigrated to Canada in 1957. The Hungarian government revoked the citizenship of Borbála and the 17-year-old found herself stateless.

Under the name Barbara von Nady, she played several roles on stage and on TV. She also appeared in two films. Her first film was the German-Austrian coproduction Meine schöne Mama / My Pretty Mama (1958), directed by veteran Paul Martin. In the 1930s, Martin had already directed some of the films of Lilian Harvey.

The stars of Meine schöne Mama were Paul Hubschmid and Nadia Gray. Gray played the beautiful mother of the title, and young Barbara von Nady was her 16-year-old daughter, Mathilde.

The film was based on a 1956 novel written by Mathilde Walewska. Her book was obviously an imitation of the French bestseller 'Bonjour Tristesse' by Françoise Sagan about a young girl who tries to sabotage the new relationship of her father. The working title of the melodrama was Kleines Biest mit langen Haaren (Little beast with long hair), which described Von Nady’s role adequately.


German Postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.h., Minden-Westf, no. 2969. Photo: Bavaria / Schorchtfilm. Publicity still for Meine schöne Mama (1958).

Mean, nasty and terribly conflicted

Barbara von Nady's second appearance was in the international production The Journey (Anatole Litvak, 1959). The film was based on a screenplay by George Tabori about a group of international travellers held virtual prisoners in the Hungary of 1956 by the invading Soviets.

Deborah Kerr and debutant Jason Robards play a British baroness and a Hungarian freedom fighter in love. Leading the pack of Soviet wolves is commander Yul Brynner: mean, nasty and terribly conflicted by his attraction to the lovely, patrician, and heroic Kerr.

In this political drama,Barbara von Nady played the small part of Borbala. It would be her last film role. Years later she moved to Paris, and worked for a ballet master.
Until 1989, she was unable to return to Hungary, as the family estates, the mansion in Lepsény and the castle in Nádasdladány belonging to her cousin, Count Ferenc Nádasdy, were confiscated by the state, and her family members had to be exhumed from their graves. Since the change of regime, she has often returned to Hungary, promoting her books in all counties of Hungary in addition to her work as a cultural ambassador.

Her first book was her autobiography 'Zagolni zabad?' (Are You Ready to Go?, 2008). It was followed by two more autobiographical works, 'A zabadság zaga' (The Taste of Freedom, 2009) and' Maradni zabad!' (Stay, Are You Ready, 2010). She also wrote a unique cookbook peppered with anecdotes called 'Ízes Élet!'(A flavourful Life, 2012). For her literary work she was awarded with the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary in 2012.

Countess Borbála Nádasdy de Nádasd et Fogarasföld married two times. In 1958 she married Russian actor and photographer Dimitry Fedotov in Paris, whom she divorced in 1964. She married French architect Jean Poyeton in 1966. In her old age, she and her husband, who has since passed away, bought a wine press house in the Balaton Uplands. She has two sons and several grandchildren.


Yul Brynner. French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 45 (ca. 1960). Photo: Sam Lévin.

Sources: Wikipedia (Hungarian, German and English) and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 29 November 2025.