Tony Curtis Museum Officially Opens at Origo Studios Budapest
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Legendary Hollywood actor Tony Curtis (1925-2010) has long been recognized as one of Hungary’s most famous sons. Now a memorial room in his honour has just been opened at Origo Film Studio.
Tony Curtis in 1958. Picture via Wikipedia.
Who was Tony Curtis?
Born Bernard Schwarz to Jewish-Hungarian immigrant parents in New York, Tony Curtis spoke only Hungarian until the age of six when he started school. Brought up with two younger brothers in humble circumstances, Curtis lived in the back of the shop where his father worked as a tailor. The family often struggled to make ends meet and by the age of eleven, Curtis had already joined a local gang and was dabbling in truancy and petty theft.
It was thanks to a neighbour sending him to boy scout camp that Curtis was put back on the straight and narrow. After spending time in the U.S. navy at the end of World War II in Japan, Curtis returned to the U.S., graduated from high school and started studying acting at The New School in Greenwich Village with German stage director Erwin Piscator. (Interestingly, he was, with Bertold Brecht, one of the influential figures of epic theatre, focussing foremost on the socio-economic content of drama).
Tony Curtis plays in SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959) with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe.
Curtis soon tried his luck in Hollywood. It was there, while under contract with Universal studios, that he changed his name to Anthony Curtis. By the 1950s, he was already winning film roles and was touted as a rising star. It was his performance in the 1956 romantic film Trapeze that finally secured him bigger projects.
He subsequently played in a number of box-office hits as well as films that won him critical praise, including a nomination for an Academy Award for his role in The Defiant Ones opposite Sidney Portier. Throughout his career (he starred in 130 films), he proved that his acting range could span comic and more serious dramatic roles.
The Hungarian Connection
Tony Curtis was always very proud of his heritage and vocal about this whenever he visited Hungary. He established a foundation to support the renovation of the Dohány Street Synagogue in Budapest and also promoted Hungary’s national image through a series of commercials.
Jamie Lee Curtis. Photo from Wikipedia.
His daughter is the famous American actress, Jamie Lee Curtis, who has similarly been to Hungary several times. While in Hungary in 2024 filming Borderlands, she also visited the hometown of her grandfather, Mátészalka, located in northeastern Hungary, and attended the pre-opening of the first memorial museum and café dedicated to her father’s acting legacy.
Opening of the Permanent Museum
The museum in Origo Studios in Budapest was opened by Dr. Márta Horváthné Fekszi, CEO of ORIGO Studios and attended by leading figures from the film industry.
Caroline Savage, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires, was also present and gave a speech at the event. She described Tony Curtis as a symbol of the American dream and a proud representative of Hungary’s history in Hollywood, stretching as far back as Adolph Zukor and William Fox–pioneers who laid the foundations for the film industry and cultural phenomenon it has become today.
Opening of the Tony Curtis Memorial June 8th at Origo Studios, Budapest.
Also in attendance was Balázs Bokor, President of the Hungarian Hollywood Council which has been in partnership with Origo Film Studios for the past eight years striving to preserve the role of eminent Hungarians in Hollywood’s heritage. The studio already hosts memorial spaces for the likes of Andy Vajna, Adolph Zukor and Zsa Zsa Gabor.
When Tony Curtis’ widow, Jill Curtis, visited Origo, she decided to send some original costumes, personal relics, photos and paintings (Curtis took up the art later in life) especially for the memorial space.
As far as we are aware, the memorial rooms are open for scheduled tours, private events, or coordinated industry visits.
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