Ernö Verebes

First a star in Hungary, Ernö Verebes, born in 1902, achieved the same status in Germany between 1925 and 1936. Now renamed Ernst Verebes, he was one of those manly actors, both well-built and charming, at ease as well in a military uniform as in a tuxedo and top hat, that German ladies loved to see on a big screen. They acclaimed him, among many other roles, as a count in Frederic Zelnik's Der Zigeunerbaron (1927) or as a dashing hussar lieutenant in Der Tanzhusar (1931). Unfortunately, the Nazis liked him much less and in 1936 Verebes decided he had better flee and take refuge in the USA. His career resumed there two years later but his matinée idol years were past. Verebes, now named Ernö again, first found a few acceptable supporting roles, mainly the German or SS officer in office. He is particularly memorable though in a non military part ( the stage manager) in Ernst Lubitsch's immortal To Be or Not to Be (1942). After World War Two was over, he was only given bits to play, a far cry from the star status he benefited from only one or two decades earlier. The strange thing is that, whatever the type a film he was in, he was most of the time cast as a ... waiter! For years on, in at least fifteen movies, he would serve drinks to actors and actresses lucky enough to have something interesting to play. Sure there were variants, Ernö Verebes could be a bartender, a head waiter, a wine steward or the captain of waiters but the former popular and elegant star understandably tired of unceasingly repeating the same ancillary gestures, he who had been a count, a hussar and a Don Juan. This is the reason why he decided to retire in 1953 whereas he was only 51. Sadly enough, Ernö Verebes died in oblivion in Los Angeles, aged 68.