Tamas Major

Born Jan. 26, 1910, in Budapest. Hungarian actor, director, and public figure. People’s Artist of the Hungarian People’s Republic (1950). Became a member of the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party (HSWP) in 1942; member of the central committee of the HSWP (1957-66).

From 1945 to 1962, Major was the administrative director of the Budapest National Theater. He became the theater’s principal stage director in 1962. Major’s work in the theater, which began in the 1930’s, helped to promote progressive realistic theater in Hungary and to realize its ideological aims. The plays that he stages are noted for their deep social analysis. Major practices the Stanislavsky method.

Major’s stage roles have included the title role in Bulgakov’s Ivan Vasirevich, Lucifer in Madách’s Human Tragedy, and lago in Shakespeare’s Othello. He has staged Katona’s Bank-ban (1945), Gorky’s Enemies (1949), Urbán’s Baptism of Fire (1951), Madách’s Human Tragedy (1955, 1960, 1964), and Brecht’s The Good Woman of Setzuan (1972). Since 1941, Major has acted in films, playing such roles as Halmagyi in The Attempt (1959) and the Uncle in Jaguar (1967). In 1947 he became a professor at the Hungarian Higher School of Theater and Cinematography. He was awarded the Kossuth Prize in 1948 and 1955.