The following year, Deésy began submitting scenarios to fledgling Hungarian film concerns, and in 1913 he made his debut as screen actor.

In 1926, Deésy relocated to Vienna and made Sacco und Vanzetti (1927), an exceedingly controversial film that was banned in much of Europe, including Hungary.

During the period of Hungarian collaboration within the Axis forces, Deésy continued to work as a director, making the notorious anti-Soviet film Üzenet a Volgapartról (1942) among others.

After his last directorial effort, Fél pár gyűrött kesztyű (1947), Deésy continued to work as an actor right up until a few months before he died, in Budapest, at the age of 83 in 1961.

Nem élhetek muzsikaszó nélkül, however, has long been regarded as a popular classic in Hungary, and some of his silent films—such as Á Leányasszony (1918) survive, though in most instances only in fragments, such as Casanova (1918).