(Bela Blasko Oct. 20, 1882 - Aug. 16, 1956)

Bela Lugosi is unique among actors for the reason that now, 45 years after his
death, there are several monthly magazines which exist primarily to discuss the
life and work of this man. These are not little self published fanzines. They are
widely distributed, easily located, professional magazines with scholarly, well
researched in depth articles! It is ironic in a way that every book I have ever
seen about Lugosi has been quick hack work filled with inaccuracies and more
photographs than text. Whereas these magazines, with covers which make them
look like the children's monster magazines of the 1960s, are the primary source
for enlightening research and interviews with survivors from the Lugosi era of
Hollywood. The three I most highly recommend are "Cult Movies", "Filmfax",
and "Outre".

A VERY BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Bela Lugosi was born in Hungary where he enjoyed a highly successful career
as an actor of stage and screen. He was widely celebrated and quite famous.
Lugosi also cared deeply about his associates in the entertainment buisness
and was somewhat controversial in his very public role in forming an actor's
union.
In the early part of the 20th century Lugosi fled Hungary just prior to the
Communist takeover of that country. He arrived in America, penniless, unable to
speak English, and quite somewhat suprised that as famous and wealthy as he
had been in his homeland he was totally unknown in the US.
Lugosi set about learning English and managed to get to California and get
a contract as a film actor. Despite his limited skills in English one of his first
roles would make Lugosi an icon across the world -- Dracula. As the first person
to portray the role of Dracula on film Lugosi remains to this day the exemplification
of that character, and indeed of the mythic vampire, in the consciousness of the
world. Even those who have never seen the film conjure the image of Lugosi's
face and voice when they think of this character.
After a few more successful film roles Lugosi's career waned, in part due to
his inclination to take almost any bad role offered him in his attempt to regain
the finances to continue the lifestyle he had known in Hungary, and in part due
to the fact that he never truly mastered the English language.
By the time of his death Lugosi would have been totally forgotten had it not been
for the fact that he was the first Hollywood actor to open admit to having a drug
addiction. At some point late in life Lugosi had become addicted to heroin, and
had openly gone into a drug rehabilitation program, and even given interviews
on the subject after successfully beating his addiction. He died shortly afterwards.

THE RAVEN
My favorite film starring Lugosi is "The Raven." There are those who believe that
such an old movie cannot be truly scary. Not true. My wife, who is not easily shocked
or frightened, finds this film to frightening to watch! As with all the films discussed
on this web site, there are no monsters, only psychological frights. Click on the
link below to read more about "The Raven" and to see some very rare images.