Steve Geray

Steve Geray, born István Gyergyai on November 10, 1904, in Ungvár, Austria-Hungary (now Uzhhorod, Ukraine), was a Hungarian-born American actor who built a career spanning stage, film, and television. He received his education at the University of Budapest before launching a theatrical career under his birth name at the Hungarian National Theater. After nearly four years on the Hungarian stage, he made his London debut in 1934 under the name Steven Geray, appearing in Happy Week-End. That same year he married actress Magda Kun, with whom he would later share the screen in the 1935 film Dance Band.

Geray began appearing in English-language films in 1935. His act at the Folies Bergère, which included impersonations of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, drew the hostility of the German and Italian governments. Despite repeated warnings to discontinue the impersonations, Geray persisted until a physical assault prompted his departure from Europe. He relocated to Hollywood in 1941 and went on to appear in more than 100 films. His Broadway credits include an appearance in 1939 and a return to the stage in Folies Bergère in 1964.

In Hollywood, Geray established himself as a reliable character actor across multiple genres. He appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945) and To Catch a Thief (1955), Joseph L. Mankiewicz's All About Eve (1950), and Howard Hawks's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). He also took on a lead role in the low-budget film noir So Dark the Night (1946), which earned positive critical notices and helped advance the career of its director, Joseph H. Lewis.

Film noir became the genre most closely associated with Geray, with appearances in more than a dozen pictures in the form. His noir credits include The Mask of Dimitrios (1944), Cornered (1945), Deadline at Dawn (1946), Gilda (1946), The Unfaithful (1947), The Dark Past (1948), In a Lonely Place (1950), The Second Woman (1950), A Lady Without Passport (1950), Woman on the Run (1950), The House on Telegraph Hill (1951), Affair in Trinidad (1952), and New York Confidential (1955). He also appeared in crime and adventure films including Background to Danger (1943), Appointment in Berlin (1943), and A Bullet for Joey (1955).

Geray remained active in television through the 1960s, accumulating dozens of program appearances. He played French dress designer Gaston Broussard in three episodes of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show in 1956 and took on various doctor roles on The Danny Thomas Show. In 1962 he guest-starred on Perry Mason, portraying extortionist and murder victim Franz Moray in the episode "The Case of the Stand-in Sister." Geray died on December 26, 1973, in Los Angeles, California. He was cremated, and his ashes were entrusted to his wife.