Géza Tordy (1938-2024)

On 30 March 2024, Hungarian actor and director Géza Tordy (1938-2024) passed away in Budapest. The distinguished artist was the winner of the Kossuth Prize winner and the Jászai Mari Prize. He was 85.


East German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1688, 1962. Gezá Tordy in Füre lépni szabad/Free to enter (Károly Makk, 1960).

Suburban Legend

Géza Tordy was born in Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary, in 1938. Although he was admitted to the Academy of Dramatic Arts, no class was started in 1956, so Tordy did not graduate. He began his career in 1956 in Kaposvár, where Antal Németh worked as a director at the theatre. In 1957 she was signed for two years in Szeged, where she played alongside actors such as Endre Kátay and Edit Domján.

During those two years, he acted in the productions of Ida Versényi, István Komor and István Horvai. He also started to act in films. One of his first films was the Hungarian drama Külvárosi legenda/Suburban Legend (Félix Máriássy, 1957) starring Mari Törőcsik.

He had a supporting part in Sóbálvány/Pillar of Salt (Zoltán Várkonyi, 1958) starring Antal Páger, Anna Tõkés and Éva Ruttkai. Both films were shot at the Hunnia Studios in Budapest.

In 1959, he starred in two films that were presented at the Venice Film Festival 1959. The first was Akiket a pacsirta elkísér/For Whom the Larks Sing (László Ranódy, 1959) with Klári Tolnay, and the other was Álmatlan évek/Sleepless Years (Félix Máriássy, 1959) starring Éva Ruttkai. From 1959 he became a member of the Hungarian People's Army Theatre and the Vígszínház. Between 1963 and 1967, Géza Tordy was a member of the Madách Theatre company. In 1967 he returned to the Vígszínház.

In the cinema, he could be seen in small parts in international productions such as the West German-Italian historical war film Eine Handvoll Helden/A Handful of Heroes (Fritz Umgelter, 1967) starring Horst Frank. The next year, he appeared in the Hungarian-Bulgarian historical film Egri csillagok/Stars of Eger (Zoltán Várkonyi, 1968) starring Imre Sinkovits. He could also be seen in the Hungarian-Soviet epic Szerelmi álmok – Liszt/Dreams of Love – Liszt (1970), produced and directed by Márton Keleti. The film was based on the biography of the Hungarian composer and pianist Franz Liszt.



East German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2691, 1966. Gezá Tordy in Ketten haltak meg/Two died (György Palásthy, 1966).

The Red Countess

In later years, Géza Tordy kept appearing in Hungarian films such as A vörös grófnő/The Red Countess (András Kovács, 1985), which was entered into the 14th Moscow International Film Festival.

In 2002, he played a major part as Ángel Sanz Briz, the ambassador of Spain in Hungary in the Italian drama Perlasca – Un eroe Italiano/Perlasca, an Italian Hero (Alberto Negrin, 2002). The film tells the story of Giorgio Perlasca (Luca Zingaretti), an Italian businessman working in Hungary for his government. After the surrender of Italy to the Allies, he took refuge in the Spanish embassy. Aware of the threat to Jews, he first began to help them find shelter in Spanish safe houses. After the Spanish ambassador moved to Switzerland, Perlasca posed as the Spanish consul, tricking Nazi officials and saving the lives of more than 5,000 Jews in Hungary in 1944 during the Holocaust.

From 1982 Tordy taught for several years at the University of Theatre and Film Arts. From 1985 to 1988, he was director and from 1988 to 1990 chief director of the Petőfi Theatre in Veszprém. From 1992 to 1995, he was artistic director of the Győr National Theatre. From 1995 to 2012, he was chief director of the Budapest Chamber Theatre.

Tordy was equally at home in romantic and modern heroic roles. In his performance, the inner tension of the characters, the direct emotional charge, and the sometimes wild passion of the emotions were well felt. In 1991 he was awarded the Kossuth Prize. In 2008 he was awarded the title of National Actor.

He made his final film appearance in the adventure film Hadik (János Szikora, 2023). During the Seven Years' War, Austrian Queen Maria Theresa sends her best general, András Hadik and his Hussars to raid Berlin and humiliate the Prussian King, Frederick the Great. Géza Tordy passed away in Budapest in 2024.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 2692, 1966. Photo: Teri Tordai and Géza Tordy in Ketten haltak meg/Two died (György Palásthy, 1966).

Sources: Wikipedia (Hungarian and English) and IMDb.