After studying opera singing, she trained under Mari Jászai, the greatest Hungarian tragedienne, and won huge acclaim as an actress. Along with her first husband she was co-owner of the Újpest People’s Theatre, and following his early tragic death she became theatre impresario. She showed considerable business acumen and courage in moving into the cinema business in 1914.
As wife of Béla Balogh, who also initially started out as an actor, she was the one to encourage her husband to set up a film production and loan company (Astra Film Factory and Film Lending Rt., 1916), and by 1918 it was clear not only to the profession but the press, too, that “her expertise, great staying power and refined taste are apparent in every Astra film” and “she stands out with her particularly original and striking ideas”. She and her husband discovered in Hungary the likes of Vilma Bánky, Lya De Putti and Svetislav/Ivan Petrovich, who all went on to international movie stardom.
The life and works of Margit Kornai will be presented by Evin Hussein, colleague of the Library of Hungarian Film Archive.