ACTOR
Mártha Eggerth
19 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (19)
- #001
Mártha Eggerth gave her final performance in 2011, at the age of 99.
- #002
Mártha Eggerth's career began very early, and thanks to her remarkable voice she soon became known as a child prodigy who filled concert halls.
- #003
Kiepura died in 1966, and Eggerth stopped singing for several years during this period. Eventually, persuaded by her mother, she decided to revive her career. In the 1970s she began appearing regularly on television and actively giving concerts in Europe. In 1982 she returned to the American stage, appearing with Diana Rigg in the Tom Jones/Harvey Schmidt musical Colette in Seattle and Denver, and later sharing the lead in Stephen Sondheim's Follies in Pittsburgh.
- #004
She still lives in her home in Rye, New York, USA. She released a new album of old recordings, "Marta Eggerth: My Life My Song" (Patria Productions), produced by her son Marjan Kiepura.
- #005
In 1999, at the age of 87, she sang on the stage of the Vienna State Opera in a televised special matinee concert hosted by opera impresario and historian Marcel Prawy, commemorating the first production of Lehár's The Merry Widow at the opera house. She sang a medley from the operetta in four languages and received a spontaneous standing ovation. She repeated this medley in 2000 at a gala held to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Theater an der Wien.
- #006
After the war, Mártha Eggerth worked in Europe again but could not re-establish herself in the German film industry.
- #007
For her achievements in operetta, theatre and film, Eggerth was awarded many important artistic honours from Austria, Germany, Poland and Italy. Among her last recognitions were the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, her homeland's highest honour, and the Erwin Piscator Lifetime Achievement Award for her legendary achievements.
- #008
Her real cinema career came to life with sound films. During the golden age of German musical films she appeared in operetta films and quickly became a very popular star.
- #009
In 1999 she made a small return to television in the series "Tatort: Nie wieder Oper" (1999), impersonating a chamber singer.
- #010
Eggerth was married to the Polish tenor Jan Kiepura and had two sons, Jan and Marjan. The latter is married to Jane Knox-Kiepura, a concert pianist in New Hampshire who helps run the Patria Music company.
- #011
Among the highlights of 2006/2007 were two concerts along with interviews at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; sold-out shows at Café Sabarsky in the Neue Galerie, entertaining audiences with the wit, art and song of the great pre-war Vienna/Berlin cabaret style; a concert and discussion held as part of New York University's Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes; an appearance at the Austrian Cultural Forum as part of the Mostly Operetta series; operetta master classes at the Manhattan School of Music; as well as a performance at the Jewish Association Serving the Aging (JASA).
- #012
She pursued her main activity across different stages, and this continued into her old age.
- #013
In 1934, while filming "Mein Herz ruft nach dir", she met the singer and actor Jan Kiepura. They married two years later, appeared together in other films and became one of Germany's most dazzling couples.
- #014
Many of the most famous operetta composers of the 20th century, among them Franz Lehár, Fritz Kreisler, Robert Stolz, Oscar Straus and Paul Abraham, wrote works especially for her.
- #015
Among her last recognitions were the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, her homeland's highest honour, and the Erwin Piscator Lifetime Achievement Award for her legendary achievements.
- #016
In 2003, Patria Music released a retrospective double CD of her songs titled My Life My Song.
- #017
Eggerth was born in Budapest, the daughter of a retired opera soprano and a bank manager.
- #018
For her achievements in operetta, theatre and film, Eggerth was awarded many important artistic honours from Austria, Germany, Poland and Italy.
- #019
During the interwar period, in what was called the "silver age" of Viennese operetta, the coloratura soprano Mártha Eggerth reigned supreme on stage and, above all, on the screen.
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