Ágnes Esterházy


Ágnes Esterházy was a Hungarian film actress, who worked mainly in Austria and Germany. She appeared in 32 films between 1918 and 1943.

Biography

Ágnes Esterházy was born Agnes Gräfin Josika von Branyitska on 15 January 1891, the daughter of Count Josika von Branyitska and Countess Agnes Esterházy.
Ágnes Esterházy married actor Fritz Schulz in 1910. After World War I, the two moved to Budapest, where Esterházy took acting lessons from Ilka Pálmay and worked for Városi Színház, the local theater.
Esterházy made her film debut in Palika, followed by Lila test, sárga sapka, and A szerelem mindent legyöz. In 1923, after receiving an offer from Sascha-Film, she left to Vienna, where she starred in Young Medardus. In Berlin, she acted in Nanon with Harry Liedtke and Hanni Weisse, and Two People opposite Olaf Fjord.
Esterházy appeared in silent classics such as Joyless Street, starring Asta Nielsen and a pre-Hollywood fame Greta Garbo, and The Student of Prague, starring Conrad Veidt.
Although Esterházy was known for playing supporting roles throughout her career, she did play as the lead in films such as The Beggar Student and Chance the Idol, both with Harry Liedtke.
Under the direction of Karl Grune, she acted in the historical drama Spy of Madame Pompadour with Liane Haid.
The arrival of sound film ended Esterházy's career. Her final film appearance was in Gabriele Dambrone, which credited her as Agnes von Esterhazy.
Shortly after the Anschluss, Esterházy's husband Fritz Schulz was arrested for "racial reasons" and presumably detained in the Rossauer Lände police prison in Vienna. It was only through the efforts of Esterházy that Schulz was released in late May or early June 1938.
Ágnes Esterházy died on 4 April 1956 at 65 years old.

Selected filmography