Bela Lugosi
Bela Lugosi was an Austrian actor, best known for his role as Dracula in the Broadway stage production of the famous Bram Stoker novel, and later in the film version. He more recently was made famous yet again when his life story was depicted in the 1994 movie ‘Ed Wood’, with Martin Landau playing the part of Lugosi.
Bela Lugosi was born on October 20th, 1882, in Lugos, Transylvania, Austria-Hungary (a region that today falls in Romania). Yes, that’s right, Bela was from Transylvania, and he went on to become famous for depicting the vampire Dracula. It was a role he was apparently destined for. Before he would realize his true vampire nature, he began acting on stage in a number of Hungarian productions, and in a few Hungarian silent films with the stage name Arisztid Olt. He fought in the first World War, as an infantry officer for the Austro-Hungarian army.
Lugosi appeared in a couple of German movies after the war before leaving for the United States in 1921. After working odd jobs for a number of years after his arrival in the U.S., Lugosi played the part of the infamous vampire in a stage production of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which was a huge success. He was then given the part in the 1931 film version, by Tod Browning, and produced by Universal Pictures.
Audiences around the world loved Lugosi as Dracula, and the movie secured his career as an actor for sometime to come. It landed him a contract with Universal, and he began starring in horror movies one after another, including ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’, ‘The Raven’, ‘Son of Frankenstein’ and ‘White Zombie’. Later he declined the role for ‘Frakenstein’ due to complaints about the lack of dialogue and the excessive makeup.
Irreparably typecast as a monster, Lugosi attempted to play some more heroic parts but without success. In 1936, after a change in management in Universal, Lugosi found himself on the ‘b-film unit’, churning out low budget horror thrillers that made their money on a formula and a dose of name recognition.
His contract for Universal was not renewed in the early 1940s and Lugosi went on to work for Monogram Pictures, continuing his b-film trend. During this time he became addicted to morphine his doctor had prescribed to him for severe back pain. When his career was all but completely over, he was discovered by Ed Wood who recruited him for a series of movies that many have considered the worst movies ever made, including ‘Glen or Glenda’, ‘Bride of the Monster’, and ‘Plan 9 from Outer Space’. During this period, Lugosi entered into treatment for his addiction.
Bela Lugosi died on August 16th, 1956 from a morphine-induced heart attack during a relapse into his addiction. Famous in his own time, and made famous again with the release of ‘Ed Wood’, Lugosi made quite an impact on the horror movie genre.
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