Trivia

Because of his befuddled amiability on-screen, his trademark jowls and comical exasperation, he was nicknamed "Cuddles" and was often billed that way.

He did not like "American" food, so when he was working on a movie, he had his wife cook food from the old country and bring him lunch or dinner.

All three of his sisters perished in Nazi concentration camps.

The initials preceding his name are from the Hungarian for Szoke Szakall, meaning 'blonde beard', so called because he wore one as a young actor to look older.

He originally turned down his waiter's role in Casablanca (1942), the part that initially made him famous.

At the age of 59, he portrayed his best remembered character, Carl the head waiter in Casablanca (1942). Producer Hal B. Wallis signed Sakall for the role three weeks after filming had begun. When he was first offered the part, Sakall hated it and turned it down. Sakall finally agreed to take the role provided they gave him four weeks of work. The two sides eventually agreed on three weeks. He received $1,750 per week for a total of $5,250. He actually had more screen time than either Peter Lorre or Sydney Greenstreet.

He became well known for using the phrase "everything is hunky dunky".

S.Z. Sakall, nicknamed Szöke Szakall, was born as Gerö Jenö. This name transcribes into English as Jacob Gero, the name Sakall used on his immigration and naturalization papers.

When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Sakall was forced to return to Hungary. He was involved in over 40 movies in his native land.

Started writing music hall sketches by the age of sixteen and later made up gags for a Budapest comic. After World War I, he went to Vienna to study acting under Max Reinhardt. He appeared on stage in both Germany and Austria and was featured in the first German sound film, Zwei Herzen im Dreiviertel-Takt (1930).

Many of Sakall's close relatives later died in Nazi concentration camps, including all three of his sisters and his niece, as well as his wife's brother and sister.

He served on the East front line during World War I, after that he launched his career as an actor and comedian at different theaters. He became soon well-known abroad because of his successes and he first went to Vienna, afterwards to Berlin where he was equally successful as writer and comedian.

He was in four top movies in 1949. First Sakall played Felix Hofer in Doris Day's second film, My Dream Is Yours (1949). Later that year, he supported June Haver and Ray Bolger in Look for the Silver Lining (1949). Next, he played Otto Oberkugen in In the Good Old Summertime (1949), with Judy Garland and Van Johnson. This was a remake of Ernst Lubitsch's The Shop Around the Corner (1940). Finally, Sakall was given the principal role of songwriter Fred Fisher in Oh, You Beautiful Doll (1949), though top billing went to June Haver.

His rotund cuteness caused studio head Jack Warner to bestow on Sakall the nickname "Cuddles". Warner asked that he be billed as S. Z. "Cuddles" Sakall in his later films, though he was never happy with the name.

On August 4, 2020, he was honored with a day of his film-work during the Turner Classic Movies Summer Under the Stars Festival.

The actor became a star of the Hungarian stage and screen in the 1910s and 1920s.

Second wife was Ann Kardos, who was the sister of László Kardos. László's wife, Lenka, was the sister of director Joe Pasternak.

He is buried in the Garden of Memory in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

When Joe Pasternak engaged Szöke Szakall to Hollywood for his movie It's a Date (1940), he made use of the opportunity to leave the uncomfortable Europe. He soon gained a foothold in the USA and worked under the name S. Z. Sakall first for Universal, from 1941 for Warner Bros. which offered him appreciative supporting roles as a funny and good-natured fat person.

With the transition to the sound film he was able to show his funny talent to advantage.

During his schooldays, he wrote sketches for Budapest vaudeville shows under the pen name Szoke Szakáll meaning "blond beard" in reference to his own beard, grown to make him look older, which he affected when, at the age of 18, he turned to acting.

His first American film role was in the comedy It's a Date (1940) with Deanna Durbin.

At the beginning of the 1920s, he moved to Vienna, where he appeared in Hermann Leopoldi's Kabarett Leopoldi-Wiesenthal.

In the 1930s, he was, next to Hans Moser, the most significant representative of the Wiener Film, the Viennese light romantic comedy genre.

Szakall was married twice. His first wife Giza Grossner died in 1918, two years later he married Anne Kardos.

Chubby-jowled Sakall played numerous supporting roles in Hollywood musicals and comedies in the 1940s and 1950s.

He came to the film through Paul Davidson. He was engaged as a writer for Reinhold Schünzel's movies, but he soon convinced as a comedian on the screen and began his impressive career.