Pál Fejős (24 January 1897 – 23 April 1963), known professionally as Paul Fejos, was a Hungarian-American director of feature films and documentaries who worked in a number of countries including the United States. He also studied medicine in his youth and became a prominent anthropologist later in life. During World War I, Fejos worked as a medical orderly for the Imperial Austrian Army on the Italian front lines and also managed a theater that performed for troops. After the war, he returned to Budapest and eventually worked for the Orient-Film production company. He began to direct films in 1919 or 1920 for Mobil Studios in Hungary until he escaped in 1923 to flee the White Terror and the Horthy regime. He made his way to New York City and then eventually to Hollywood where he began production on his first American feature film, The Last Moment, in October 1927. The film proved to be popular, which allowed him to sign with Universal Studios. After a number of other successful films, Fejos left America in 1931 to direct sound films in France. In 1941, he stopped making films altogether and became the director of research and the acting head of the Viking Fund.
Early life
Fejos was born in Budapest, Hungary, as Pál Fejős to Dezső (Desiré) Fejős and his wife Hajnalka (Latinized Aurora, née Novelly). He had an older sister, Olga Fejős. Like many film directors, Fejos exaggerated or invented myths for large portions of his life story and, according to him, his father was a captain with the Hussars and his mother was a Lady-in-waiting for the Austrian-Hungarian Empress. In addition, Fejos fancied himself in his youth as an official of the Imperial Court. The truth is the family of Fejos' mother originated in Italy, but did have an aristocratic background, while Fejos' father was a pharmacist in Dunaföldvár. Shortly before Fejos was born, his father sold his business and moved the family to Budapest to buy a shop there. Desiré died of a heart attack before the new shop was purchased. Paul was then raised by his mother in his grandparents' home. As a boy, Fejos was said to be a smart student and to have loved films from an early age. He was sent to a school run by Piarist Fathers in Veszprém and later to a school in Kecskemét. He eventually studied medicine and, in 1921, received an M.D. from the Royal Hungarian Medical University of Budapest. In 1914, Fejos married Mara Jankowsky. World War I started soon afterward and Fejos worked as a medical orderly for the Imperial Austrian Army on the Italian front lines. During the war he also managed a theater that performed for the troops. Some additional myths about Fejos' life surfaced a year later that he was an officer in the Hussars, was wounded three times and that he was the first person to pilot a combat airplane. After the war, Fejos returned to Budapest. He began working as a set painter for an opera company and then eventually for the Orient-Film production company. He and Mara divorced in 1921, due allegedly to Fejos' irrational jealousy.