Ernst Matray

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Ernst Matray and Lonny Kellner on the occasion of a promotional tour for the film " Music, Music and Only Music " (1955)

Ernst Matray (born May 27, 1891 in Budapest , † November 12, 1978 in Los Angeles , California ) was a Hungarian dancer , choreographer , actor and film director .

Life

He was discovered as a dancer by Max Reinhardt during a guest performance by his ensemble in Budapest in 1907 and engaged at the German Theater in Berlin. Here he drew attention to himself in bizarre roles written especially for him. He played a hunchback in Sumurun in 1908 and a minstrel in Das Mirakel in 1911. He works as an actor, dancer, pantomime and choreographer at the Deutsches Theater.

Thanks to Max Reinhardt's film adaptations, he was also early in front of the camera, and during the First World War he was seen several times as a grotesque dancer in film comedies. Several times he directed it himself. Together with Ernst Lubitsch he founded the “Malu-Film” at the turn of the year 1914/15. Together with his first wife Greta Schröder , he also worked as a screenwriter .

In 1922 Matray took over the artistic direction of the International Mime Society. He went on tour with his ensemble at home and abroad. In 1924, his first marriage to actress Greta Schröder (who subsequently married Paul Wegener ) was divorced. In 1927 he married the actress Maria Solveg , with whom he worked for years on the development of choreographies.

After the last appearance of the Matray Ballet at the end of 1933 in the Ufa-Palast am Zoo , the couple emigrated to the USA via England. Here the couple worked as choreographers for revue groups. On the mediation of Wilhelm Dieterle and Reinhold Schünzel , both were responsible for the choreography of several Hollywood films from 1939 onwards , and Matray co-directed the strip Adventure in Music .

In 1953 the Matrays settled in Zurich . Matray staged Molière's George Dandin and Offenbach's Parisian life at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, and at the same time worked as a choreographer for television.

In 1955 he separated from his wife and returned to the USA. After the divorce in 1962, he married the American Elisabeth McKinley for the third time. Most recently he devoted himself particularly to painting.

Filmography

actor

choreographer

Director

literature

  • Kay Less : 'In life, more is taken from you than given ...'. Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. A general overview. P. 333 f., ACABUS-Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Filmwelt-Telegramme , Die Filmwelt, No. 34, Vienna, October 17 or 24, 1924, p. 2

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Matray, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian dancer, choreographer and actor
DATE OF BIRTH May 27, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest
DATE OF DEATH November 12, 1978
Place of death Los Angeles , California