Vilma Banky (January 9, 1898 - March 18, 1991)
was an American/Hungarian silent film actress.
She was born Konsics Bánky Vilma in Nagyrodog, Hungary and began appearing in films there in
1920. On a trip to Budapest in 1925, Hollywood film producer Samuel Goldwyn discovered the
violet- eyed, blonde beauty and signed her to a contract.
She was hailed as The Hungarian Rhapsody and was an immediate hit with American audiences. She
appeared opposite such silent greats as Rudolph Valentino and Ronald Colman in films such as
The Eagle (1925), The Son of the Sheik (1926), The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926) and
A Lady to Love (1930). Her thick Hungarian accent cut her career short with the advent of sound and
she retired from the screen in 1931.
She married actor Rod La Rocque in 1927 and was with him until his death in 1967.
Her post Hollywood years were spent selling real estate with her husband and playing golf, her
favorite sport. She and her husband created an educational fund for children called The
Banky - La Rocque Foundation.
Banky died on March 18, 1991 of cardiorespiratory arrest. Her ashes were scattered at sea.
This article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire
work (including additions) remains under this license. See
http://www.gnu.org/
copyleft/fdl.html
for details. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Vilma Banky", which you can find
at http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Vilma_Banky
|