Irén Ágay

Biography

Hungarian film and stage actress, longtime wife and collaborator with director Steve Sekely. She was born February 23, 1912 in Budapest, Hungary. She born a few hours after her parents attended a theatrical performance, and she claimed this augured a theatrical career for her. Indeed, she began as a child actress, working with the Terézkörút Stage and the Vig Theatre in Budapest. She graduated from the Actors Association school of drama and by 20 was playing leading roles in Budapest. She had a great success in the play Emmy, but the critics were not pleased with her Cleopatra in Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra. In 1933, director István Székely (later Steve Sekely and Ágay's husband) attended a play to evaluate an actor for his upcoming film Iza néni, and was impressed with Ágay's performance. He cast her in the film, which began a long association with her as actress and consultant. The pair married in October, 1933, and made a total of 14 films together. Ágay continued to work on the stage as well, with Székely doing his best to accommodate her film schedule to her stage obligations. Although she herself dismissed any claims to singing talent, she did appear in musicals, both on stage and in film (such as the Austrian musical Hoheit tanzt Walzer [1935]). The custom in Hungary at the time was for films to be shot in multiple versions in multiple languages, and although rarely credited, Ágay played roles in more than one version of some of her films, speaking the language of each. In 1937, Ágay and her husband were invited to tour the United States with some of their films. As German aggression in Europe was of increasing concern, the couple leapt at the opportunity. Although Székely had far more credits to his name, it was his wife Iren who attracted the most attention in the U.S., because Hungarian-Americans were already quite familiar with her work. Arriving in Hollywood, they were championed by Hungarian expatriates such as Bela Lugosi, Paul Lukas, and Joe Pasternak, and their future in the movie capital seemed assured. However, the agency that had brought them to America had failed to arrange properly their visas, and they were told they would have to leave the U.S. for a period of time and then return with the proper visas before they could work in the States. Székely and Ágay went to Mexico in early 1938. Székely returned the U.S. almost immediately, but Ágay was forced by regulations to remain in Mexico for months. By mid-year, she was permitted to join him. However, unlike her husband, she found work in films almost impossible to obtain. Székely had Americanized his name to Steve Sekely and was working regularly as a director and writer. Ágay found work only in the theatre, touring for a time in the play Don't Mention It. As war broke out in Europe, she desired to be of use to the war effort and volunteered as an ambulance driver. However, a routine health examination revealed dangerous hypertension. Comparatively untreatable at the time other than by diet, the disease began to diminish her eyesight. Ágay was able to play a role in her husband's American comedy The Great Suzanne in 1946, and she served as associate producer on his film Amazon Quest (1949). She went with her husband to Mexico to film a role in his production Stronghold (1951), and was supposed to play the same role in the Spanish-language version Furia roja (1951) he would direct. But her chronic illness became severe and she was forced to leave the production having only done the first version. She returned to their home in Hollywood. Her vision became worse until she was completely blind. Sekely left filming on Furia roja and joined her, but doctors held out no hope. Ágay died at 38 on September 3, 1950.