S.Z. Sakall Biography

Fast Facts

• All three of his sisters died in Nazi concentration camps
• After a heart attack claimed his life, he was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, Calif․, in the same garden as "Casablanca" co-stars Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet and John Qualen
• Early in his career, he owned his own production company
• Started writing for vaudeville shows in Budapest when he was in his teens
• Specialized in musicals and comedies in Vienna and Berlin before settling in America
• A character actor, he played many amiable, excitable supporting characters such as uncles, businessmen and eccentrics
• Fled back to his native Hungary in the 1930s when the Nazis rose to power, then fled again at the start of World War II, eventually making his home in America
• His autobiography, "The Story of Cuddles (My Life Under the Emperor Francis Joseph, Adolf Hitler and the Warner Brothers)" was published in 1953
• Originally turned down the role in "Casablanca" that made him famous in the U․S
• Was featured in articles in "Variety" and the "New York Times․"