Andy Vajna Memorial Day

Hollywood producer Andy Vajna was born 80 years ago, on August 1, 1944, and to mark the occasion, the Hungarian Hollywood Council (MHT) has declared August 1 as Andy Vajna Memorial Day.

According to Balázs Bokor, President of the MHT, Andy Vajna did a lot to bring Hungary back to the forefront of world cinema and to help Hungarian film regain its audience. He looked at the Hungarian film industry with the eye that by helping it, he could give something back to this country. And he did, from what he had learned over many years, after many films, in many areas of filmmaking.

On the memorial day, the Council held a day-long online commemoration of the producer, former Hungarian government commissioner for film, who deservedly wrote himself into the history of Hollywood cinema and Hungarian cinema, the Council said.

He was born as András György Vajna in Budapest in 1944 and left Hungary in 1956. He continued his studies in California and started his film career in the Far East as a hairdresser and wigmaker. He later moved into cinema management and film distribution in Hong Kong.

By the 1970s, he had grown into one of the world's most influential film distributors, and in 1982, he founded the American Society of Film Studies, of which he was president.

He produced 59 films, the first of which was 1978's The Silent Partner, followed by such worldwide hits as Rambo, Terminator, Evita, Elemental Instinct and Die Hard.

Andy Vajna died in his home in Budapest in January 2019, at the age of 74.