Steffi Duna
Steffi Duna (8 February 1910 – 22 April 1992) was a Hungarian-born film actress.
Hungarian dancer
Born Stephanie Berindey in Budapest of Czech extraction, Duna started dancing at the age of nine and first attracted attention as a thirteen-year-old ballet dancer in Europe. Duna made her first stage appearance performing dramatized fairy tales at the Children's Theater of Budapest. Initially opposed to the idea, her father sent her to the best schools in the Hungarian capitol to learn dancing and soon she had danced in most of the capitals of Europe.
In 1932, she appeared on the London stage in the revue Words and Music by Noël Coward, being one of the four actresses to create the song "Mad about the Boy".
Movie actress
When she first came to Hollywood in 1932, Duna could not speak a word of English. She made up her mind to learn quickly. Directors advised her to stay away from her Hungarian friends to speed up her learning of English. Within a few years she could speak six different languages. During the 1930s Duna played a variety of nationalities. However, despite her European background, she was often cast as fiery Latin femmes fatales in films that made full use of her exotic and glamorous persona, such as La Cucaracha (1934), the first live-action short film made in three-strip Technicolor.