Bela Lugosi

Born October 20, 1882

Lugos, Hungary

Died August 16, 1956

Los Angeles, California

Movie actor famous for his roles in horror films

"I am Count Dracula!"

B ela (pronounced BAY-la) Lugosi is arguably one of the most famous immigrants in film history. Although his career began on the stage in his native Hungary, he broke into films in the early 1930s in America when he accepted the choice role of Count Dracula for Universal Studios. Lugosi often shared the screen with the highly respected actor Boris Karloff (1887–1969) in his many horror films throughout the 1930s and into the 1940s, but he eventually took roles in lesser-quality movies, a career move that would prove his downfall. Per his will, Lugosi was buried in his Dracula cape.

Lugosi's career takes off

Bela Lugosi was born Béla Ferenc Dezsõ Blaskó on October 20, 1882, the youngest of four children in an upper-middle-class family. At twelve, Blaskó ran away from his small Hungarian hometown and survived by toiling in the mines and railroad yards. He never let go of his dream of becoming an actor, however, and he eventually landed a small role as a chorus boy in an operetta, an opera that is usually in the form of a romantic comedy with songs and dancing. Through sheer determination and painstaking study, he eventually won larger roles that allowed him to travel throughout Hungary. Within a year, he had changed his name to Lugosi (meaning "one from Lugos," his hometown) and found himself in the desired position of leading actor in Hungary's Royal National Theatre.

Lugosi's roles were diverse and numerous. He appeared in as many as forty productions in one year, thanks largely in part to his singing ability, which gave him unusual flexibility. Lugosi had it all—good looks, acting ability, and vocal talent—and he used these qualities to his full advantage. His roles included Jesus Christ, Romeo, and a variety of others. In fact, it was his role as Romeo that brought him his greatest success at the time, and in 1911 he enjoyed unprecedented popularity in the capital city of Budapest.

Political turmoil sends actor to Germany and then America

After a short turn in the military during World War I (1914–18), Lugosi broke into films under the name Arisztid Olt. Although his acting career occupied much of his time, Lugosi had firm political beliefs and was deeply committed to change. After the collapse of the Hungarian monarchy, or royalty, and during the establishment of a communist regime in 1918, Lugosi worked tirelessly to organize an actors' union, an alliance of employees that works together to protect mutual benefits and rights. Communism is an economic theory characterized by a classless society in which goods are distributed equally, as compared with capitalism, which allows for competition and privately owned companies. The leftists, or liberal radicals in this case, who fought and spoke out against communism, were defeated a year later, however. This prompted Lugosi to flee to Germany, where he made another eleven films.

In 1921, Lugosi immigrated to America. In New York City, Lugosi established a Hungarian-language acting troupe and began to land character parts on stage and in films. The year 1923 would prove to be his breakthrough year in America. He scored the role of Fernando, the Spanish Apache, in the Broadway production of The Red Poppy as well as a no-table role in the film The Silent Command. Unfortunately, Lugosi did not have a firm grasp of the English language, so he had to memorize his lines phonetically, which resulted in a very accented—and exotic—sound. His language difficulties resulted in a flop: the drama The Right to Dream. Lugosi signed on to direct the production in 1924 but found it impossible to communicate effectively with the cast and crew. The producers fired him; he sued. The courts found him unable to head a theatrical production and ordered him to pay a fine of nearly seventy dollars. Lugosi refused, and the contents of his apartment were auctioned off to satisfy his debt. This language barrier would continue to limit the quality of movies available to the multifaceted actor throughout his lifetime.

Dracula is born and Lugosi is saved

Just when it seemed the Hungarian actor would find no prosperity in America, he was hired to portray Count Dracula in the Broadway adaptation of Irish writer Bram Stoker's (1847–1912) vampire legend. Although Vlad Dracula (1431–1476) was a real human, Stoker's version of Dracula had little to do with the man. Vlad was a prince, born in Transylvania (ironically, a region just 50 miles from Lugosi's birthplace) and infamous for his brutality. His signature in battle was to leave his enemies impaled on wooden stakes (hence, Stoker's Dracula could be killed only with a wooden stake driven through the heart). Despite his reputation as a bloodthirsty warlord, he was revered by Romanians for his ruthless defense against the Turks in the invasions that marked the fifteenth century. Although the author's book was first published in 1897 and has never been out of print since, it only recently was published in Transylvania for a Romanian audience that generally does not appreciate the defamation, or injuring of a reputation through slander or the written word, of their national hero.

Lugosi played the role of Dracula on Broadway for one year, then took the production on the road for two more. Reviewers generally denounced the production as worthless; but theatergoers loved it. While performing in California, Lugosi attracted the attention of the major film studios and won himself supporting roles in several early talking films. Before the 1920s, most films were silent, that is, the actors did not speak (although during the showing of these films, music

would be played in the theater by live musicians). The early talking pictures were not without flaws. There were problems with the amplification of sound, as technology was still in its infancy, and moviegoers often had trouble hearing the dialogue. In addition, because pictures and sound were recorded and played back using separate devices, synchronization was always an issue. In many instances, actors' lips would be moving, but the words were lagging behind.

In 1930, Universal Studios bought the rights to the Dracula story and began selecting the cast. The studio's first choice for the lead role was the legendary Lon Chaney Sr. (1883–1930). The actor was suffering from cancer, however, and would not live to play the evil aristocrat. Having lost his leading man even before filming began, director Tod Browning (1882–1962) began his search for a replacement. Having never agreed with Universal on a selection, he wanted an unknown to be cast as Dracula. When he could find no one suitable, he hired Lugosi at a low salary of $500 per week. The film—the first talking horror flick—was released in 1931 and sealed Lugosi's screen immortality; no one was more surprised than the actor and director when the movie became an instant megahit. Lugosi's opening line, "I am Dracula," delivered with a dark, brooding accent, remains one of the most widely imitated lines from a movie script. And those three words saved Lugosi's career as surely as they typecast him as a horror-genre actor.

Turns down Frankenstein

Having achieved instant international fame with his role as Dracula, Lugosi was immediately offered the starring role in Frankenstein directed by James Whale (1889–1957). In a poor business decision, Lugosi refused the offer in favor of playing the lead in a movie that never made it beyond the planning stages. The part was instead given to Boris Karloff (1887–1969), another horror actor whose ability to portray evil characters made him a screen legend.

Lugosi's refusal, based on the fact that Frankenstein had no speaking parts, harmed his reputation in the movie industry. Universal Studios did not appreciate Lugosi's arrogance in refusing to play Frankenstein, and top executives never forgot the actor's easy dismissal. As a result, his career seemed destined down the wrong path. Although Lugosi made dozens of films, some of them high-quality horror movies, many of them are forgettable, and he rarely earned more than $500 a week. He did not realize he was developing a reputation as a cheap actor, and he did not have the business sense to understand that he should have been paid much more than he was earning. Because he was not choosy in the roles he accepted, his box office value declined, and he was eternally downgraded to act in B-grade movies. He did repeat his Dracula role in 1943 and again in 1948, at the age of sixty-six. Unfortunately, he eventually found himself playing bit parts in comedies that were nothing more than mere parodies, or takeoffs, of the character he made famous. Lugosi acknowledged his fate when he called himself "Dracula's puppet."

His most infamous role was in a movie directed by Ed Wood (1924–1978), Plan 9 from Outer Space. Wood was known in the movie industry for directing low-budget films, and Plan 9 is considered by many diehard horror-movie fans as the worst movie ever made. Lugosi, featured in the film as a vampire, got top billing for the movie even though he died during production. He was replaced by Wood's wife's chiropractor (a therapist who performs spinal adjustments to improve a patient's health), who hid his face behind a cape for the rest of the movie. It was a sad ending to what could—and many say should—have been a glorious acting career.

The Dark Clark Gable

In his book on the subject of film stars of the horror genre, Horror Film Stars, author Michael Pitts shares some little-known information about Lugosi.

Unlike Lon Chaney Sr. and Boris Karloff, who projected their genre roles mainly through the grotesque (ugly, monstrous characters), Lugosi presented evil in well-mannered seductive ways, which certainly had an effect on the females of his audience. At one point in the mid-1930s, Lugosi received as much fan mail from female admirers as did handsome leading-man Clark Gable (1901–1960). This trend is doubly interesting since Lugosi worked mainly in horror films and at the time he was past fifty years of age.

Personal life tragic

Even during the higher points of Lugosi's career, his personal life was nothing less than tragic. When it came to marriage, Lugosi made poor choices, and his first three marriages dissolved before long. His fourth union, however, spanned two decades. Lugosi remained married to Lillian Arch for twenty years before she made the decision to leave the screen legend in 1953. Although they had a son, Bela Jr., life for the Lugosis was often overshadowed by financial concerns and the actor's addiction to morphine, a strong narcotic painkiller and sedative. He committed himself to the California State Hospital in 1955 to treat his addiction, but by then he had only a year to live. During this final year, he entered into his fifth marriage, this time with Hope Lininger, a loyal fan who had written letters to Lugosi every day while he was in the hospital.

As his career faltered, Lugosi became more eccentric. Earlier in his career, at the request of movie studios, he would appear in public in his vampire costume, and he even gave interviews from an open coffin. Later on, as his reputation became tarnished, he began going out in public in full costume of his own free will. His son has described the actor as a family man above all else, and indeed, his feelings for his fourth wife were passionate. Few people knew that Lugosi wrote poetry (from "My Darling Violetta," for instance: "Slumber envelops your beautiful face / And a dream grips your soul in embrace; / I will guard you"). Fewer still know that he studied modern sculpture.

Despite his personal and professional troubles, Lugosi remained active in political and civil causes. He was key in organizing the Screen Actors Guild in the mid-1930s, and he participated in fund-raising and morale-boosting efforts during World War II (1939–45).

Lugosi died of a heart attack at the age of seventy-three and was buried in full Dracula costume, including makeup and fangs, as requested in his will. He has since become something of a cult icon, and fans and actors alike remember him as a professional who, many believe, got much less than he deserved.

—Rebecca Valentine

For More Information

Books

Cremer, Robert. Lugosi: The Man Behind the Cape. Chicago: Henry Regenry, 1976.

Lennig, Arthur. Immortal Count: The Life and Films of Bela Lugosi. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2003.

Pitts, Michael R. Horror Film Stars. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1981.

Rhodes, Gary Don, and Richard Sheffield. Lugosi: His Life in Films, on Stage, and in the Hearts of Horror Lovers. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1997.

Web Sites

"Bela Lugosi." Brian's Drive-In Theater.http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/belalugosi.html (accessed on March 22, 2004).

"Dear Old Pals." Winter Steel.http://www.wintersteel.homestead.com/files/JamesArticles/Karloff_and_Lugosi.htm (accessed on March 22, 2004).

Tournier, Johanne L. "Bela Bio for Flatt World." The Webworld of Bela Lugosi.http://users.auracom.com/tournier/flattworldbio.htm (accessed on March 22, 2004).