Iván Darvas, born today (born Darvas Szilárd, Beje, June 14, 1925 – Budapest, June 3, 2007) is a Hungarian actor, awarded the title of Actor of the Nation, twice Kossuth and twice Jászai Mari Prize winner, worthy and outstanding artist. . His first wife was Klári Tolnay, an actress who won the Kossuth Prize, and Erzsébet Házy, a soprano opera singer and actress who won the Kossuth and Ferenc Liszt Prizes.
He was born as Szilárd Darvas in Bej, in the Highlands. He spent his childhood in Prague (1926–1939), where his father worked as a journalist. Due to his mother's Russian origin, he learned Russian, and because he attended a German school, he also learned German. They spoke Hungarian at home and among themselves, which Iván Darvas believed for a long time to be a secret language that only they understood. He also spoke English and Czech at a conversational level.
He moved to Hungary in 1939. He graduated in 1943. In 1945, he was an interpreter for a Soviet military unit. He did not finish the Academy of Arts - where he was a classmate of Ferenc Kállai - partly because of the Second World War, partly because at the age of 21 (1946) he got a role at the Művész Színház with Zoltán Várkonyi, until 1949. It was then that he adopted the first name Iván to distinguish himself from the poet and humorist Darvas Szilárd.
During the 1956 revolution, he organized a revolutionary committee to get his brother (design engineer Attila Darvas) out of prison. Therefore, after the suppression of the revolution, he was sentenced to 32 months in prison (1957–1959), in 1957 he was sent to Kistarcsá together with Miklós Szakáts, and then he could not play for years. As an auxiliary worker, a VII. worked in a plastic injection molding plant in Damjanich Street in the district between 1959 and 1963.
In 1963, he was allowed to appear on stage again. He signed a contract with the Miskolc National Theater for the 1963–64 season, and then with the József Attila Theater in 1964–65. Here is II. He could play the title role of József and Fred (I love to get married).
Between 1965 and 1989, he signed a contract with Zoltán Várkonyi at the Vígszínház. He was a freelance actor from 1990.
In 1990, he took on a political role again, becoming a member of parliament in the colors of the Association of Free Democrats. He held his mandate until 1994. Between 1993 and 1995, he played again at the Művész Theater. From 1995, he performed at the Szigligeti Theater in Szolnok. In his last years, he fell ill a lot and completely withdrew from the public eye. He also underwent major kidney and heart surgery. He died in Budapest 12 days before his 82nd birthday. There was no funeral, his ashes were taken home by the family.
Source: itthonrolhaza.hu
On the cover photo: Iván Darvas - the recording was taken during the filming of the film Pendragon Legenda, in 1974
