The original choice to play the role of Szindbád was Vittorio De Sica, but when terms could not be agreed the part was given to the leading Hungarian actor Zoltán Latinovits who played it with "a reckless chic that makes him irresistible even as he's being detestable".
His mother divorced his father Oskar Latinovits in 1941 and married István Frenreisz, a doctor, with whom she had two more children (István, who became an actor under the name István Bujtor, and musician Károly).
Zoltán Kodály | Zoltán Latinovits | Zoltan Istvan | Zoltán Tildy | Zoltan Szalkai | Zoltan Sabo | Zoltán Rockenbauer | Zoltan Kuharszky | Zoltán Korda | Zoltan I. Kertesz | Zoltán Huszárik | Zoltán Farkas | Zoltán Dörnyei |
He was born in Budapest in 1942, as a child of a prestigious family; his grandfather was the legendary restaurant owner and gourmet Károly Gundel, and his siblings were the popular Hungarian actor Zoltán Latinovits (half-brother) and the composer and bass guitarist Károly Frenreisz.
She directed Iván Darvas (as a lead) in a version of Catch-22 by Joseph Heller and collaborated with many other well-known Hungarian artists, including: Academy Award nominee Lajos Koltai, Zoltán Latinovits, Miklós Gábor, Éva Ruttkai, Lajos Básti, Tamás Major, György Bárdy, ibor Bitskey, Erzsi Máté and Itala Békés.