The 1919 Scandal That Shot Erno Laszlo to Fame

She hit the heights of fame — but there was a dark side to all the exposure. In 1919, Gombaszögi was injured by an anonymous man’s bullet. His name has been lost to time. Schuffenhauer says the attempted killer was a jilted suitor; Barkóczi refers to him as a “mad fan,” and says that he died by suicide after the encounter.

Laszlo got to work on Gombaszögi’s scars in 1920. He began treating her with his own concoction, Phormula 3-2, which was a take on a product he made for Princess Stéphanie. Schuffenhauer says it contained essential fatty acids.

And with time, against the odds, the scars on Gombaszögi’s chin healed. But it wasn’t just Laszlo’s products that got the job done. “He was always of the mindset and that was part of his practice to not only prescribe your products, but also have this psychological approach — he understood what her emotional state was after and how to help her overcome [that] with the right support,” Schuffenhauer explains.

“[Laszlo] was very much about believing in the skin and mind as one,” she adds. “He saw the need for curing someone in and out. He helped [Gombaszögi] to not only heal her skin, but regain her confidence.”

And Gombaszögi unknowingly gave Laszlo something other than her complete trust: She lead him to his wife. During appointments with the dermatologist, Gombaszögi introduced Laszlo to her sister, Irén, who he would marry.

After the procedure, Gombaszögi married her second husband, a publishing mogul named Andor Miklós, in 1922. When he died 11 years later, Gombaszögi quit acting to run his business. According to Barkóczi, Gombaszögi was Jewish, and her ex Rajnay helped her hide out in Nazi-led Hungary during World War II.

After the Communist takeover of 1949, which nationalized businesses, Gombaszögi no longer had control of Mikló’s company. She continued acting when she could, Barkóczi notes, and taught at the University of Drama and Film Arts.

Gombaszögi died at the age of 70 in September 1961. Barkóczi says all but one of her silent movies have been lost to time. The one that survives in the National Film Institute’s Archive, called Vorrei morir, was reportedly one of the only film performances Gombaszögi felt was satisfactory. Still, Gombaszögi is remembered by historians for her contributions to Hungarian theater. “It is important that she was considered the first modern-style actress of the Hungarian stage,” Barkóczi adds.