Ladislao Vajda

Vajda was born in Budapest, his father, Ladislaus Vajda, being an actor and screenwriter. Vajda started his career as film editor (even though he also worked as artistic designer and writer) for different directors, such as Billy Wilder and Henry Koster. Eventually, he undertook his first directorial effort in his native country, Hungary. Before World War II he became established in Italy, where he directed two movies: La zia smemorata (1940) and Giuliano de' Medici (1941). Finally, he moved to Spain, where he continued directing films. The first film from his Spanish period was Se vende un palacio (A Palace for Sale), released in 1943. During the 1940s, Vajda directed several movies in Portugal, United Kingdom and, mainly, in Spain. However, he would reach his artistic peak in the 1950s. Vajda's movies during this period are clearly influenced by the German director Fritz Lang. His main works during this period are: Miracle of Marcelino (1955), Uncle Hyacynth (1956), Afternoon of the Bulls (1956), The Man Who Wagged His Tail (1957) with Peter Ustinov, and It Happened in Broad Daylight (1958). They were acclaimed by both critics and public: The Miracle of Marcelino and Uncle Hyacynth won different prizes in Cannes Film Festival and Berlin Film Festival; Afternoon of the Bulls was nominated for the Palme d'Or and It Happened in Broad Daylight for the Golden Bear. During the 1960s, Vajda worked on several different minor works in West Germany and Spain. He died in Barcelona in 1965.