Franciska Gaal
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Franciska Gaal (1 February 1904-2 January 1973) was a Hungarian cabaret artist who had a brief career in films.
Born Fanny Zilveritch in Budapest, she was groomed by Joe Pasternak as a singer to become a very popular stage and cabaret performer in Central Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. After appearing in several films made in Hungary, Germany and Austria - two of which were directed by Henry Koster - she came to Hollywood to star in Cecil B. De Mille's epic adventure film, The Buccaneer, opposite Fredric March. She followed this with the comedy The Girl Downstairs (1938) with Franchot Tone, and in 1939, co-starred with Bing Crosby in the musical Paris Honeymoon. She returned to Budapest because of her mother's illness and remained there for the duration of World War II.
In 1946, she starred in the film Renee XIV (1946), which was never completed. In 1951, she came to Broadway to replace Eva Gabor in The Happy Time.
She died in New York City.
