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Hollywood Heyday (is all that stuff authentic?) published this fascinating article: LYA DE PUTTI LONG ‘DEAD’ TO CHILDREN
LYA DE PUTTI LONG ‘DEAD’ TO CHILDREN

Budapest, March 23
Lya de Putti, Hungarian film actress who attained world-wide fame, was “dead” to her husband and two daughters for nearly 12 years before she died in November in New York, it was revealed today.

For nearly 12 years there had been a grave in a cemetery here with a headstone bearing the inscription – “Lya de Putti – Died 1920.” But it was not until the grave was opened for the burial of their father that the actress’ two daughters, Ilona, 17, and Judith, 14, learned that the mother they had believed dead nearly all their lives really had been alive until a few months ago.

The grave was empty and the girls learned for the first time when their mother had actually died.

Former Judge Zoltan von Szepessy, first husband of the actress, committed suicide in a local hotel on March 8. Police said the motive was financial difficulties but friends insist it was grief over the death of the woman he had “buried” nearly 12 years ago.

It was learned today that when Lya de Putti left her home and children in 1920 to follow her career on stage and screen, Von Szepessy had the headstone placed in the cemetery. Thereafter he always referred to his wife in the past tense and brought up his children in the belief that their mother was deceased.