Martha Eggerth Autograph. Hand-signed Ross Photo. CoA

Ross Portrait photo-postcard of the young Martha Eggerth. Signed with black ink.

The Autograph comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.

Hungarian-born American singer-actress Marta Eggerth, sometimes listed as Martha Eggerth, has maintained her performing career for over 70 years. She starred in over 40 films and performed a concert in New York in 2008, aged 96.

Born as Márta Eggerth in 1912 in Budapest, she began singing at age 11. Very popular in Europe, she and her husband Jan Kiepura (who both had Jewish mothers) were forced to flee Europe and settled in the United States. She appeared in MGM films, but never achieved the fame she enjoyed in Europe. After her contract was not renewed she and her husband, Polish actor-singer Jan Kiepura, moved to New York, where they raised two sons. She enjoyed a lengthy run opposite her late husband in The Merry Widow on Broadway.

Eggerth is a whirlwind advocate for operetta, a lighter and more playful form of opera. "In opera, everybody dies. In operetta, everybody is flirtatious", says Eggerth of the art form that peaked in the 1940s, but which has always been her signature calling.