BELA LUGOSI


Yes, yes, we all know him as the original Count Dracula.
But there is much more to see beyond just this stereotypical role.
 

REAL NAME: Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó

BIRTH PLACE: Lugos, Hungary (his "stage name" was derived from this)

BIRTH DATE: October 20, 1882

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY:
   Dracula  (1931) - Count Dracula
    White Zombie (1932) - 'Murder' Legendre
    Night of Terror (1933) - Degar
    Son of Frankenstein (1939) - Ygor
    Ninotchka (1939) - Commissar Razinin
    The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) - Ygor
    The Corpse Vanishes (1942) - Doctor Lorenz
    Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1943) - Frankenstein's monster
    Voodoo Man (1944) - Doctor Richard Marlowe
    Scared to Death (1947) - Professor Leonide
    Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959) - the ghoul man

MARRIAGES: Ilona Szmik, for three years. Ilona von Montagh, for six months (divorce). Beatrice Weeks, for 3 days (divorce)! Lillian Arch, for 20 years (divorce). He had one son (Bela Lugosi, Jr.) with the fourth wife.

DEATH:  August 16, 1956 (heart attack). He was buried in full Dracula costume, interestingly enough. It is rumoured that he was reading Ed Wood's "Final Curtain" script when he died.

OTHER INTRIGUING FACTS:
   Lugosi did not actually speak a word of English for a good amount of his career. During filming of classics like Dracula, he would just read the scripts phonetically...and then be corrected as needed, I'm assuming. This language barrier proved to hurt his post-Dracula career.
    It was, in fact, Bela Lugosi's thick accent that became the stereotypical voice of Dracula. In the original interpretations of Bram Stoker's novel, the accent was not significant.
    Lugosi was a charter member of the Screen Actors Guild.
    The "final movie" Lugosi appeared in was Plan 9 From Outer Space, hailed as the worst movie ever made in the history of the world...which was actually put together after he died! Ed Wood, Jr. put together the movie based on a bunch of footage of Lugosi. Any other scenes involving Lugosi that were needed were shot later - using a "body double"...the director's chiropractor, who covered his face with a cape to hide the fact that he was not Lugosi. Hilariously enough, the "imitation Lugosi" appeared much taller than the real Lugosi.
 

For more information, see www.lugosi.com