Biography for
Paul Lukas More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

26 May 1891, Budapest, Austria-Hungary (now Hungary)

Date of Death

16 August 1971, Tangier, Morocco (heart failure)

Birth Name

Pál Lukács

Height

6' 1½" (1.87 m)

Mini Biography

Oscar-winning actor Paul Lukas was born in Hungary and graduated from the School for Dramatic Arts. In 1916 he went to Kosice (Kassa) to be an actor; in 1918 he became an actor specializing in comedy. For ten years he was the most popular character player and romantic lead of the company. In 1918 he began making in Budapest and in the 1920s he began appearing in films in Austria as well. He journeyed to Hollywood in 1927, where he finally settled down. He wasn't untrue to the stage--he played Dr. Rank to Ruth Gordon's Nora in Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" in the Morosco Theatre in New York in 1937--but concentrated on films until 1948. In the '50s he started appearing on stage more and more, and worked in films and on TV only sporadically.

IMDb Mini Biography By: A. Nonymous

Spouse

Annette M. Driesens	(7 November 1963 - 16 August 1971) (his death)
Gizella "Daisy" Benes	(1927 - 1962) (her death)
?	(1916 - 1917) (divorced)

Trivia

Became a U. S. Citizen in 1933 and won the Academy Award 1943 for Watch on the Rhine (1943).

Sings Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's song "None But the Lonely Heart" (English title) in Little Women (1933).

Died in Tangier, Morocco, while searching for a place to spend his retirement years.

His cousin, Edwin J. Lucas, was the second husband of Betty Field.

Personal Quotes

[on his role in Watch on the Rhine (1943), which he originally played on Broadway] The writing is so right you don't have to learn the part. It sticks to you. I amuse myself by changing a gesture occasionally.