In the 50s and 60s, Eva Bartok was more famous for her lifestyle than her acting. Five marriages, a glamorous wardrobe and a chocolate-coloured Rolls Royce made her irresistible to the tabloids.
She was born in Hungary, in 1929 she claimed, though like all the most glamorous actresses the exact date is fuzzy. He father was a journalist who was killed by a bomb. At 16 she married a Hungarian officer who she later alleged was a Nazi she only married to escape being sent to a camp. With the war and the marriage out of the way, she became an actess in Budapest. As the Iron Curtain came down over Europe she secured her exit by marriage to American producer Alexander Paal. The marriage only lasted two years, but that was long enough for her to feature in her first British film The Tale of Five Cities.
Her next film was her biggest. The Crimson Pirate was one of the first of Hollywood's European ventures and starred Burt Lancaster. Now she was a bona fide film star and celebrity. Husband number three was a film publicist and number four the actor Curt Jurgens. Neither lasted long. There was huge speculation in the press about her pregnancy during the Jurgens marriage as to whether it was his or the Marquess of Milford Haven's with whom she conducted a very public affair. Years later she claimed her daughter's actual father was Frank Sinatra.
In the 60s, partly as a result of her difficult pregnancy, she got into finding herself spiritually and abandoned her career. She then slipped into obscurity, occasionally surfacing to run an art gallery or join the Greenham Common protestors. She died penniless and homeless.
Her life obscured her acting achievements. She appeared in some terrible films, but she was never terrible in them. Despite her wild reputation she had a name in the industry for being hard-working and professional, and that professionalism shows in her performances. Given the chance, she could produce an intensity few of her contemporaries could match.
| 1947 | Mezel profeta |
| 1951 | A Tale of Five Cities |
| 1952 | The Crimson Pirate |
| 1952 | The Venetian Bird |
| 1953 | Spaceways |
| 1953 | The Last Waltz |
| 1953 | Park Plaza 605 |
| 1954 | Front Page Story |
| 1954 | Meines Vaters Pferde |
| 1954 | Circus of Love |
| 1954 | Victoria and Her Husar |
| 1954 | Orient Express |
| 1955 | Break in the Circle |
| 1955 | Special Delivery |
| 1955 | Her Crime Was Love |
| 1956 | The Gamma People |
| 1956 | Ohne dich wird es Nacht |
| 1956 | Durch die Walder durch die Auen |
| 1957 | Ten Thousand Bedrooms |
| 1958 | The Doctor of Stalingrad |
| 1958 | Naked in the Night |
| 1959 | Operation Amsterdam |
| 1959 | Twelve Hours by the Clock |
| 1959 | SOS Pacific |
| 1960 | Ein Student ging vorbel |
| 1960 | Beyond the Curtain |
| 1960 | I'll See You in Hell |
| 1961 | Blind Justice |
| 1961 | Es Muss Nicht Immer Kaviar Sein |
| 1962 | Marriage Bureau Aurora |
| 1963 | Avventure al Motel |
| 1963 | Ferien Wie Noch Nie |
| 1964 | Blood and Black Lace |
| 1966 | Sabina |
