Manyi Kiss
Encyclopedia
Career
Born in Magyarlona, she acted from 1926 in ClujCluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, from 1928 in Miskolc
Miskolc
Miskolc is a city in northeastern Hungary, mainly with heavy industrial background. With a population close to 170,000 Miskolc is the fourth largest city of Hungary It is also the county capital of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and the regional centre of Northern Hungary.- Geography :Miskolc is located...
and then between 1929 and 1932 in Szeged
Szeged
' is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county town of Csongrád county. The University of Szeged is one of the most distinguished universities in Hungary....
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. From the beginning of her career she possessed a natural acting style, an excellent knowledge of dance and ability to sing comic roles. From 1932, for a while she performed with her Italian artist husband in circuses abroad. In 1934 she made her debut in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
but was not contracted to any theatre. She was acting at the Podium Cabaret. In 1940, the Capital Operetta Theatre contracted her, but she also performed at the Hungarian Theatre
Magyar Theatre
The Magyar Theatre is a theatre operating in Budapest, Hungary. Opening in 1897, the theatre played a significant role in the city's theatrical life. After a major reconstruction in 1966, the building functioned as the temporary home for the Hungarian National Theatre for more than three decades...
, the Andrassy Avenue Theatre, the Erzsebetvarosi Theatre, the Markus Park Theatre and the Vidam Theatre. She joined the Vígszínház in 1943, by which time she had become one of the Budapest's favourite performers.
After World War II she performed in numerous Budapest venues, but only contracted for individual roles out of necessity - as politically she become persona non grata under the communist regime - someone had seen her sing to soldiers at the front. In 1954 she worked with the Madách Theatre. In that decade she concentrated on dramatic roles, e.g., in Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
's Mother Courage and Her Children
Mother Courage and Her Children
Mother Courage and Her Children is a play written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht with significant contributions from Margarete Steffin...
. From then on, her ouvre expanded to include gotesque, tragi-comic and dramatic heroic roles with unfettered style and extraordinary range and accuracy. Her colleagues noted the brevity with which she was able to master a role in very little time at all. The Madách Theatre contract ended her career with some well-deserved honours from the state: Jaszai prizem (1954), Kossuth prize (1957) an outstanding award (1962) and an artistic excellence award (1964).
Her colleagues only learnt of her terminal illness during her final days. She died in Budapest.
Main roles
Her repertoire included KálmánEmmerich Kalman
Emmerich Kálmán was a Hungarian-born composer of operettas.- Biography :Kálmán was born Imre Koppstein in Siófok, on the southern shore of Lake Balaton, Hungary in a Jewish family.Kálmán initially intended to become a concert pianist, but because of early-onset arthritis, he focused on composition...
's Die Csárdásfürstin
Die Csárdásfürstin
Die Csárdásfürstin or A Csárdáskirálynő is an operetta in 3 acts by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kalman, libretto by Leo Stein and B. Jenbach. It premiered in Vienna at the Johann Strauss Theater, 17 November 1915. Numerous film versions and recordings have been made...
; Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
's Three Sisters
Three Sisters (play)
Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm...
; Molière
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
's The Wise Women; Goodrich-Hackett
Albert Hackett
Albert Maurice Hackett was an American dramatist and screenwriter most noted for his collaborations with his partner and wife Frances Goodrich.-Early years:...
's The Diary of Anne Frank; and Shaffer
Peter Shaffer
Sir Peter Levin Shaffer is an English dramatist and playwright, screenwriter and author of numerous award-winning plays, several of which have been filmed.-Early life:...
's Black Comedy
Black Comedy
Black Comedy is a one-act farce by Peter Shaffer, first performed in 1965.The play is written to be staged under a reversed lighting scheme: the play opens on a darkened stage...
.