Kiss Manyi was a brilliant actress who was not afraid of her wrinkles and played the roles perfectly even in her older age. A humorous Transylvanian girl who, although she had three great loves, never found true happiness.
He was born in 1911 in a small village, Magyarlóna. His parents divorced when he was four years old, and he was raised by his mother's brother. Maybe for this reason, maybe for another reason, but he had an immeasurable hunger for love.
At the age of eighteen, he already played in Szeged, where he met Alfredo Uferini, a member of the famous Italian magician family, with a dodgy mustache, and love began to sweep him away. Instead of acting, she performed as an artist in foreign circuses, married Alfredo, but over time she felt that the cage door had closed. She couldn't take it anymore and left her husband, then came to Budapest to play.
This is where true love found him. István Gróf Károlyi stole her heart. It was not money, but emotions that brought Kiss Manyi into the arms of the count. István Károlyi was also inclined towards marriage, but his mother envisioned a more prestigious partner for her son than the rootless Transylvanian actress. It poisoned their relationship, the count did not dare to contradict his mother, so the love ended.
According to those close to her, Manyi never got over the breakup, until the end of her life she was overcome with sadness when she thought of the count.
He found solace in his acting career and became a regular character in II. for beloved Hungarian films before the Second World War (You will be my husband, 3:1 in favor of love, Pesti mese). He lived through the Holocaust with difficulty, he was afraid of death, he invented that he pretended to be a fool, so he could survive the war within the closed walls of the psychiatric hospital.
He did so - he played the role perfectly - but it was only in the yellow house that it became clear that most fools, like him, are just playing themselves. Later, he agreed to sing for Hungarian soldiers at the front. Therefore, after the end of the war, he was banned. It was at the front that she met her third love, the military officer János Bakonyi.
Since after 1945 there was no good letter of recommendation if someone was an officer in Horthy's army, Kiss Manyi made up the idea that Bakonyi was actually his driver and gardener, so they could only meet secretly.
He loved jokes. On one occasion, he joked with his famous teammate Tivadar Bilicsi on the phone. He called in a changed voice saying that the line was being checked from the center and asked Bilicsi to say into the receiver that he was a marabu. The actor did it several times, and even agreed to hang up and shout marabou from a few steps away. Then he came out of his bed and shouted into the device: can you understand me now!? To this Kiss Manyi already in his own voice: I just don't understand that if the boo is growling so much, then why is he yelling?
The versatile actress then became seriously ill, but did not tell her colleagues about it. He was only 60 years old when he fell asleep forever on March 29, 1971. We hope Count István Károlyi will hold his hand over there...
Rest in peace, Kiss Manyi!
Featured image: Fortepan/Zoltán Szalay
