President of the Republic László Sólyom awards the actor Iván Darvas the Grand Cross of the Order of the Republic of Hungary at a ceremony on August 20, 2005. Photo: Attila Kovács (MTI).
Darvas was named a National Actor, the most prestigious title granted to members of the profession, and one which is passed on only after the death of the holder. He was also twice awarded the Kossuth prize, Hungary's highest honour for artists. In addition to these recognitions, Darvas was awarded the Mari Jászai Prize in 1955 and 1967, the Special Artist Award in 1969, the Excellent Artist Award in 1975, the Pro Urbe Budapest Priye in 2001, the Imre Nagy Prize in 2002 and the Prima Primissima Prize in 2003.
Darvas in the Pest Theatre's production of Gogol's Diary of a Madman. Photo: Éva Keleti (MTI)
Darvas was born in Biel, in present-day Slovakia. His father was Hungarian and his mother was Russian.
One of the most popular Hungarian actors of the past fifty years, Darvas played all of the great roles. One of his last film roles was in Róbert Alföldi's Winne the Pooh, as Eeyore. He also excelled as a director and as a graphic artist whose works were exhibited often.
The critic Judit Csáki recalls a meeting with Darvas which left a lasting impression on her:
"At the start of my career, some time in the early eighties, I received an assignment from a daily to conduct an interview with Iván Darvas. We met in the Castle District, it was the spring, we sat on a terrace. We spoke for a long time - he too asked a lot, such as why in the world would somebody go to Népszava to write after university? As I remember, the conversation turned from here to memories of '56 - at the time it was still rare to talk about (the 1956 Hungarian Revolution) in public. He talked and talked - and the tape recorder preserved everything. After a while, I discretely looked at my watch as I had to go. He kindly put his hand on my wrist: 'Take note young girl: never look at your watch when you're speaking with a man.' I took note. When we parted, he said, 'You know that no interview will come out of this? I'd ask that you erase the cassette.' Since then, I have moved several times, and because I'm disorganised I never throw anything out. I hope that cassette is still on a shelf somewhere. Not that I would write about it; there wouldn't be any sense in it as he already wrote everything himself. But I would like to erase it."
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
Iván Darvas with Marianne Krencsey filming Liliomfi in Badacsony in August 1954. Photo: Károly Gink (MTI)
