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'Béla Lugosi' (October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), was a Hungarian actor best known for his portrayal of Count Dracula in the American Broadway stage production (1927), and subsequent film (1931), of Bram Stoker's classic vampire story.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Early films

Typecasting

Career path

Death and posthumous performance

Legacy

Further reading

See also

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Lugosi, the youngest of four children, was born as 'Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó' in Lugos, Hungary, at the time part of Austria-Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania), to Paula de Vojnich and István Blasko, a banker. He was raised in a Roman Catholic family, ^[1] and had a sister, Vilma. Lugosi started his acting career on the stage in Hungary in several Shakespearean plays and in other major roles. He began appearing in Hungarian silent films under the stage name 'Arisztid Olt'. During World War I, he served as an infantry lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian army.

Early films

Lugosi's first film appearance was in the 1917 movie ''Ezredes, Az'' (known in English as ''The Colonel''). Lugosi would make twelve films in Hungary between 1917 and 1918 before leaving for Germany. Following the collapse of Béla Kun's Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919, left-wingers and trade unionists became vulnerable. Lugosi was proscribed from acting due to his participation in the formation of an actor's union. In exile in Germany, he began appearing in a small number of well received films, including adaptations of the Karl May novels, ''Auf den Trümmern des Paradieses'' ("''In the Rubble of Paradise''"), and ''Die Todeskarawane'' ("''The Death Caravan''"), opposite the ill-fated actress Dora Gerson. Lugosi left Germany in October 1920, intending to emigrate to the United States, and entered into the country at Ellis Island in March 1921.
On his arrival in America, the young 6'1", 180 lb. Béla worked for some time as a laborer, then returned to the theater within the Hungarian-American community. He was approached to star in a play adapted by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston from Bram Stoker's novel ''Dracula''. The Horace Liveright production was successful. Despite his excellent notices in the title role, and appearances in some American silent films, Lugosi had to campaign vigorously for the chance to repeat his stage success in Tod Browning's movie version of ''Dracula'' (1931), produced by Universal Pictures.
A persistent rumor asserts that silent-film actor Lon Chaney was originally scheduled for this film role, and that Lugosi was chosen only due to Chaney's death. Chaney, however, was under long-term contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and his home studio refused to release him to Universal for this project. Further, although Chaney and Browning had worked together on several projects, Browning was only a last-minute choice to direct the movie version of ''Dracula'': this film was not a longtime pet project of Tod Browning, despite some claims to the contrary.
Following the success of ''Dracula'' (1931), Lugosi received a studio contract with Universal. On June 26 1931, the actor became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Typecasting

Through his association with Dracula (in which he appeared with minimal makeup, using his natural, heavily accented voice), Lugosi found himself typecast as a horror villain in such movies as ''Murders in the Rue Morgue'', ''The Raven'', and ''Son of Frankenstein'' for Universal, and the independent ''White Zombie''. His accent, while a part of his image, limited the roles he could play.
It is an erroneous popular belief that Lugosi declined the offer to appear in ''Frankenstein''. Despite the fact that Lugosi was not interested in the role of Frankenstein's monster due to the onerous makeup job and the role's lack of dialogue, James Whale, the film's director, replaced Lugosi and would do this again in '' Bride of Frankenstein'' (Lugosi was supposed to play the role of Dr. Pretorius). A recent Lugosi scrapbook (see external link below) surfaced with a news clipping listing both Lugosi and Boris Karloff in the film together. This gives credence to the possibility that Lugosi was going to play the role of Dr. Frankenstein. Also, a cinematographer who shot test footage of Lugosi for the role of the monster said that Lugosi was happy with the role, and had given him a box of cigars.
In a recent discussion, it has also been speculated Lugosi wanted out of the role because he and James Whale had different interpretations of the monster. There is speculation that Lugosi wanted to play the monster closer to Shelley's original, who had dialogue. Whale's interpretation allowed for no dialogue. Lugosi was quoted as saying the role "did not have meat enough."
Regardless of controversy, the role was taken by the man who became Lugosi's principal rival in horror films, Boris Karloff. Several films at Universal, such as ''The Black Cat'' (1934), ''The Raven'' (1935), and ''Son of Frankenstein'' (1939) (and minor cameo performances in 1934's ''Gift of Gab'') paired Lugosi with Karloff. Regardless of the relative size of their roles, Lugosi inevitably got second billing, below Karloff. Lugosi's attitude toward Karloff is the subject of contradictory reports, some claiming that he was openly resentful of Karloff's long-term success and ability to get good roles beyond the horror arena, while others suggested the two actors were — for a time, at least — good friends.
Attempts were made to give Lugosi more heroic roles, as in ''The Black Cat'', ''The Invisible Ray'', and a romantic role in the adventure serial ''The Return of Chandu'', but his typecasting problem was too entrenched for those roles to help.

Career path

A number of factors worked against Lugosi's career in the mid-1930s. Universal changed management in 1936, and per a British ban on horror films, dropped them from their production schedule. Lugosi found himself consigned to Universal's non-horror B-film unit, at times in small roles where he was obviously used for "name value" only. Throughout the 1930s Lugosi accepted many leading roles from independent producers like Nat Levine, Sol Lesser, and Sam Katzman. These low-budget thrillers indicate that Lugosi was less discriminating than Boris Karloff in selecting screen vehicles, but the exposure helped Lugosi financially if not artistically. Lugosi tried to keep busy with stage work, but had to borrow money from the Actors' Fund to pay hospital bills when his only child, Bela George Lugosi, was born in 1938.
His career was given a second chance by Universal's ''Son of Frankenstein'' in 1939, when he played the plum character role of Ygor, a sly hunchback, in heavy makeup and beard. The same year saw Lugosi playing a straight character role in a major motion picture: he was a stern commissar in MGM's Greta Garbo comedy ''Ninotchka''. This small but prestigious role could have been a turning point for the actor, but within the year he was back on Hollywood's Poverty Row, playing leads for Sam Katzman. These horror, psycho, and mystery B-films were released by Monogram Pictures. At Universal, he often received star billing for what amounted to a supporting part.
Ostensibly due to injuries received during military service, Lugosi developed severe, chronic sciatica. Though at first he was treated with pain remedies such as asparagus juice, doctors increased the medication to opiates. The growth of his dependence on pain-killers, particularly morphine and methadone, was directly proportional to the dwindling of screen offers. He did get to recreate the role of Dracula a second and last time in the film ''Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein'' in 1948. Lugosi's drug use was so notorious that the producers weren't even aware that Lugosi was still alive, and had penciled in actor Ian Keith for the role.
''Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein'' was Bela Lugosi's last "A" movie. For the remainder of his life he appeared — less and less frequently — in relatively obscure, low-budget features. During the early 1950s he made personal appearances and did stage work, including a theatrical engagement in England. While there he co-starred in a lowbrow comedy, ''Mother Riley Meets the Vampire'' (also known as ''Vampire over London'' and ''My Son, the Vampire''). Upon his return to America, Lugosi was interviewed for television, and revealed his ambition to play more comedy, though wistfully noting, "Now I am the boogie man." Independent producer Jack Broder took Lugosi at his word, casting him in a jungle-themed comedy, ''Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla''. Another opportunity for comedy came when Red Skelton invited Lugosi to appear in a sketch on his live CBS program. Lugosi memorized the script for the skit, but became confused on the air when Skelton began to ad lib. This was depicted in the Tim Burton film ''Ed Wood'', with Martin Landau as Lugosi. Though Burton did not actually identify the comedian in the biopic, the events depicted were correct.
Late in his life, Bela Lugosi again received star billing in movies when filmmaker Edward D. Wood, Jr., a fan of Lugosi, found him living in obscurity and near-poverty and offered him roles in his films, such as ''Glen or Glenda'' and as a Dr. Frankenstein-like mad scientist in ''Bride of the Monster''. During post-production of the latter, Lugosi decided to seek treatment for his addiction, and the premiere of the film was said to be intended to help pay for his hospital expenses. According to Kitty Kelley's biography of Frank Sinatra, when the entertainer heard of Lugosi's problems, he helped with expenses and visited at the hospital. Lugosi would recall his amazement, since he didn't even know Sinatra.
The extras on an early DVD release of ''Plan 9 from Outer Space'' include an impromptu interview with Lugosi upon his exit from the treatment center in 1955, which provide some rare personal insights into the man. During the interview, Lugosi states that he is about to go to work on a new Ed Wood film, ''The Ghoul Goes West''. This was one of several projects proposed by Wood, including ''The Phantom Ghoul'' and ''Dr. Acula''. With Lugosi in his famed Dracula cape, Wood shot impromptu test footage at his home and in a suburban graveyard. This footage ended up in ''Plan 9 from Outer Space''.
Lugosi married Hope Linninger in 1955. Following his treatment, Lugosi made one final film, in late 1955, ''The Black Sleep'', for Bel-Air Pictures, which was released in the summer of 1956 through United Artists with a promotional campaign that included several personal appearances. To his disappointment, however, his role in this film was of a mute, with no dialogue.

Death and posthumous performance

Lugosi died of a heart attack on August 16, 1956 while lying in bed in his Los Angeles home. He was 73. ^[2]
Bela Lugosi was buried wearing one of the many capes from the Dracula stage play, per the request of his son and fifth wife, in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. Contrary to popular belief, Lugosi never requested to be buried in his cloak; Bela Lugosi, Jr. has confirmed on numerous occasions that he and his mother, Lillian, made the decision.
One of Lugosi's roles was in a movie released after he was dead. Ed Wood's ''Plan 9 from Outer Space'' features footage of Lugosi interspersed with a double. Wood had taken a few minutes of silent footage of Lugosi, in his Dracula cape, for a planned vampire picture but was unable to find financing for the project. When he later conceived ''Plan 9'', Wood wrote the script to incorporate the Lugosi footage and hired his wife's chiropractor to double for Lugosi in additional shots. The double is thinner than Lugosi, and in every shot covers the lower half of his face with his cape, as Lugosi sometimes did in ''Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein.'' As Leonard Maltin put it in early editions of his movies guide book, "Lugosi died during production, and it shows."

Legacy

In 1979 the ''Lugosi v. Universal Pictures'' decision by the California Supreme Court held that Bela Lugosi's personality rights could not pass to his heirs, as a copyright would have. The court ruled that any rights of publicity, and rights to his image, terminated with Lugosi's death. Lugosi v. Universal Pictures, 603 P.2d 425 (Cal. 1979). ^[3]
Lugosi is mentioned prominently in the song "Celluloid Heroes" by The Kinks.
In 1979, Lugosi became the subject of a song by gothic rock band Bauhaus entitled "Bela Lugosi's Dead". In 2006, French bossa nova band Nouvelle Vague released their version on their second album ''Bande à Part''. Voltaire has produced a song called "Vampire Club" which mentions "Béla Lugosi's still undead". The German musician Bela B. was inspired by Bela Lugosi to his pseudonym.
The biographical film ''Ed Wood'' (Tim Burton, 1994) is a sentimental interpretation of the relationship between Lugosi and Wood. Lugosi is played by Martin Landau in a good-natured and sometimes moving interpretation for which Landau received an Academy Award for best supporting actor. Lugosi's son, Bela Lugosi, Jr. initially disapproved of his father's portrayal in the film, despite never having seen it. After a long correspondence with Landau, Lugosi, Jr. was persuaded to view the film in Landau's company, after which he declared that Landau had 'honored' his father with his portrayal, and the actor and the late star's son became friends as a result. Contrary to Burton's film, Lugosi did not use excessive profanity. Richard Sheffield (see link below) and Forrest Ackerman have spoken out against this. Also, Lugosi did not receive top billing for ''Plan 9''. Instead, he was listed as a guest star, below Tor Johnson and Vampira.
A musical about Ed Wood, called ''The Worst'', created and recorded by American humorist, songwriter, and author Josh Alan Friedman, features two songs about Bela Lugosi, namely ''Bela Lugosi'' and ''Bela's Funeral Dirge''. Both pieces feature Texas-based gypsy jazz combo Cafe Noir.
Three Lugosi projects were featured on the television show ''Mystery Science Theater 3000''. ''The Corpse Vanishes'' was used in episode 105, the serial ''The Phantom Creeps'' was used throughout season two and the Ed Wood production ''Bride of the Monster'' appeared in episode 423. 'Count Bela de Magpyr' is a vampire who features in the Discworld ongoing series of Terry Pratchett, a vampire of the Magpyr family who resembles Lugosi physically. An episode of ''Sledge Hammer'' titled ''Last of the Red Hot Vampires'' was an homage of Béla Lugosi. At the end of the episode, it was dedicated to "Mr. Blaskó". One of the members of Mistula is named Bella Lugosi. In 2006, British rock band The Jalapenos included "For Bela" and "Hubcaps Over Hollywood" (about the Ed Wood films) on their CD "Go Ape!". They had contacted Lugosi Jr. with a view to using a Lugosi portrait on the album cover, but were told that they would have to pay Lugosi Jr.'s agent.
Lugosi's portrayal of Dracula was the inspiration for the ''Sesame Street'' character Count von Count.

Further reading

★ ''Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares'' by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers, ISBN 0977379817 (hardcover)

★ ''The Immortal Count: The Life and Films of Bela Lugosi'' by Arthur Lennig (2003), ISBN 0813122732 (hardcover)

★ ''Bela Lugosi (Midnight Marquee Actors Series)'' by Gary Svehla and Susan Svehla (1995) ISBN 1887664017 (paperback)

★ ''Bela Lugosi: Master of the MacAbre'' by Larry Edwards (1997), ISBN 188111709X (paperback)

★ ''Films of Bela Lugosi'' by Richard Bojarski (1980) ISBN 0806507160 (hardcover)

★ ''Sinister Serials of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr.'' by Leonard J. Kohl (2000) ISBN 1887664319 (paperback)

★ ''Vampire over London: Bela Lugosi in Britain'' by Frank J. Dello Stritto (2000) ISBN 0970426909 (hardcover)

See also

★ Béla Lugosi filmography

References

1. Lugosi: His Life in Films, on Stage, and in the Hearts of Horror Lovers, , Gary, Rhodes, , ,
2. Bela Lugosi Dies. Created Dracula. Portrayer of Vampire Role or Stage and Screen Was Star in Budapest Began Career in 1900
3. California's descendibility statute for rights of publicity, Civil Code Section 990, was enacted in 1988, and Lugosi's estate now licenses the commercial use of his name and image. The right of publicity in some states endures for 50, 70, 75, or 100 years past the death of the celebrity.

External links

★

★ Bela Lugosi at the All Movie Guide

★ Watch Bela Lugosi in ''White Zombie'' (1932)

★ Official Bela Lugosi website, maintained by the Lugosi family

★ Richard Sheffield on Bela Lugosi, The Black Sleep, and profanity

★ Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula

★ Bela Lugosi Honored

★ Universal Monsters Forum

★ Lugosi Scrapbook

★ Bela Lugosi's Gravesite