Who is Bela Lugosi?

Bela Lugosi was a distinguished stage actor in his native Hungary, Austria-Hungary, who began his stage career in 1901 and started appearing in films during World War I. He volunteered and was commissioned as an infantry lieutenant during WWI, and was wounded three times. He fled to Germany in 1919 as a result of his left-wing political activity (he organized an actors' union). In 1920 he emigrated to the US and made a living as a character actor, shooting to fame when he played Count Dracula in the legendary 1927 Broadway stage adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel. It ran for seven months and 261 performances, and was subsequently, and memorably, filmed by Tod Browning in 1931, establishing Lugosi as one of the screen's greatest personifications of pure evil. Also in 1931, he became a U.S. citizen. Sadly, his reputation rapidly declined, mainly because he had been blacklisted by the main studios and had no choice but to accept any part (and script) handed to him, and ended up playing parodies of his greatest role, in low-grade poverty row films. Due to shady blacklisting among the top Hollywood studio executives, he refused to sell out or to compromise his integrity, and therefore ended his career working for the legendary Worst Director of All Time, Edward D. Wood Jr..

Lugosi helped organize the Screen Actors Guild in the mid-'30s, joining as member number 28.

Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack August 16, 1956. He was buried in a Dracula costume, including a cape, but not the ones used in the 1931 film, contrary to popular--but unfounded--rumors.

Overview

Nicknames
Olt Arisztid, Mr. Blasko, Lugosi Béla, Mr. Bela Legosi, Belo Lugosi, Béla Lugosi, Lugosi, Arisztid Olt

Trivia

  • His performance in Tod Browning's Dracula (1931) created such a sensation that he reportedly received more fan mail from females than even Clark Gable.
  • Was a philatelist (stamp collector). As such, he would have been thrilled to know that he himself ended up gracing two US stamps.
  • Served in the Austro-Hungarian army during World War I as a corporal (in german: zugsführer). He later recounted in stories on film sets about his experiences, which included acting as a hangman. He also said that at one point he hid in a mass grave of corpses to escape death. After being wounded three times, he was discharged while apparently feigning concussion-caused insanity.
  • According to biographer Robert Cremer, Lugosi was not only the finest party host among Hungarian members of the Hollywood community but also an inveterate practical joker. When other expatriates such as Joe Pasternak, Ilona Massey, Michael Curtiz and Willy Pogany were guests, he would hire comic actor Vince Barnett to play the role of a clumsy waiter spilling drinks and dropping plates of hors d'oeuvres, resulting in near misses for the guests to Lugosi's delight.
  • At the time of his death, Lugosi was in such poor financial straits that Frank Sinatra was rumored to have paid for his funeral. Sinatra's only connection to the aging actor was sending him a $1000 check during his drug rehabilitation. The rumor that Boris Karloff attended the funeral was also an urban myth, as he wasn't in California at the time.