On the occasion of shooting her next movie, titled Borderlands, in Hungary, Hollywood actress Jamie Lee Curtis visited Mátészalka over the weekend, the town where her grandparents emigrated from. Tony Curtis’s daughter also promised to help raise funds for the restoration of the local synagogue.
The renowned Hollywood actress arrived to the Eastern Hungarian town by invitation from Mayor Péter Hanusi. She participated at the pre-opening of the Tony Curtis memorial museum and cafe to open on June 26th on the ‘Night of Museums,’ an exhibition made up of the images from her super-star father’s life, including costumes, paintings, and awards.
In her post, she notes that the location of the exhibition is just down the street from the synagogue that her family had worshiped in, which is “empty now, as the entire Jewish population was exterminated.” She announced her partnership with the mayor to raise funds from the local corporate and private community to refurbish the house of worship, and make it suitable for a community center and cultural events.
Jamie Lee Curtis arrived to Hungary at the end of April to star in the movie Borderlands, which is being filmed in Hungary. She actively documents her presence on her Instagram channel: a visit to the ‘Shoes on the Danube Bank,’ the castle, and a Hungarian flag have all been subjects of her social media activity. The latter one was even captioned with: “Proud to be in the land of my Hungarian ancestors today.”
Beginning in 1990, the Curtis family took a renewed interest in their Hungarian-Jewish heritage, and, for example, helped finance the rebuilding of the “Great Synagogue” in Budapest’s Dohány Street among other similar activities. Tony himself regularly appeared in Mátészalka, too.
featured image via MTI/EPA/Ringu Chiu