Bio

Although the role of Count Dracula has been played by numerous actors over the years both on Broadway and on screen, the vampire star of all time is and can only be Hungarian-born Bela Lugosi who first brought the role to the celluloid screen. In an ironic twist of fate, if Lon Chaney hadn't died, Lugosi would never have landed the part, which soared him to fame and immortality.

When he first began his American acting career in 1920 after fleeing Hungary because of his left-wing activity, the former World War One infantry lieutenant who was wounded three times in battle could not speak English and had to learn his parts phonetically.

Horror co-stars Vincent Price and Peter Lorre attended the great star's funeral back in August of 1956 after a heart attack claimed his life. It was reported that Peter Lorre upon viewing his friend's casket turned to Price and said: "Should we drive a stake through his heart, just in case?"

It is likely such a comment would have made the sad Hungarian smile.

Béla Lugosi was the stage name of actor Béla Ferenc Dezso Blaskó . He was born in Lugos, Hungary, at the time part of Austria-Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania), the youngest of four children of a baker. The blue-eyed actor is best known for his portrayal of Dracula in the American Broadway stage production, and subsequent film, of Bram Stoker's classic vampire story.

Lugosi started his acting career on the stage in Hungary in several Shakespearean plays and other major roles, and also appeared in several silent films of the Cinema of Hungary under the stage name Arisztid Olt. During World War I, he served as an infantry lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian army. Lugosi's first film appearance was in the 1917 movie Ezredes, Az (known in English as The Colonel). Lugosi would make twelve films in Hungary between 1917 and 1918 before leaving for Germany. Lugosi left his native Hungary for Germany in 1919. Following the collapse of Béla Kun's Hungarian Soviet Republic, left-wingers and trade unionists were persecuted, including Lugosi, who was persecuted following his participation in the formation of an actor's union. In exile, he began appearing in a small number of well received films in German cinema. One of his earliest appearances for the German film industry was in the 1920 adaptations of the Karl May penned novels Auf den Trümmern des Paradieses ("In the Rubble of Paradise") and Die Todeskarawane ("The Death Caravan") opposite the ill-fated Jewish actress Dora Gerson. Lugosi emigrated to the United States in 1921 and on June 26, 1931 became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

On arrival in America, the 1.85 m (6'1"), 82 kg (180 lb) Lugosi worked for some time as a laborer, then returned to the theater within the Hungarian-American community. He was spotted there and approached to star in a play adapted by John L. Balderston from Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. The production was very successful. Despite his excellent notices in the title role, Lugosi had to campaign vigorously for the chance to repeat his stage success in Tod Browning's movie version of Dracula (1931), produced by Universal Pictures. A persistent rumor asserts that silent-film actor Lon Chaney, Sr. was originally scheduled for this film role, and that Lugosi was chosen only due to Chaney's death. Chaney, however, was under long-term contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and his home studio refused to release him to Universal for this project. Further, although Chaney and Browning had worked together on several projects, Browning was only a last-minute choice to direct the movie version of Dracula: this film was not a long-time pet project of Tod Browning, despite some claims to the contrary.Following the success of Dracula (1931), Lugosi received a studio contract with Universal.

Through his association with Dracula (in which he appeared with minimal makeup, using his natural, heavily accented voice), Lugosi found himself typecast as a horror villain in such movies as Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Raven, and Son of Frankenstein for Universal, and the independent White Zombie. Despite the fact that Lugosi was not interested in the role of Frankenstein's monster due to lack of dialogue and make-up, it is a myth that Lugosi declined the offer to appear in Frankenstein. James Whale, the film's director, replaced Lugosi and would do this again in Bride of Frankenstein (Lugosi was supposed to play the role of Dr. Pretorius). A recent Lugosi scrapbook surfaced with a news clippings listing both Lugosi and Boris Karloff in the film together. This gives credence to the possibility that Lugosi was going to play the role of Dr. Frankenstein. And in an interview with the cinematographer who shot test footage of Lugosi for the role of the monster, he testified that Lugosi was happy with the role and gave him a box of cigars. Regardless of controversy, the role was taken by the man who became Lugosi's principal rival in horror films, Boris Karloff. Several films at Universal, such as The Black Cat (1934), The Raven (1935), and Son of Frankenstein (1939) (and minor cameo performances in 1934's Gift of Gab) paired Lugosi with Karloff. Regardless of the relative size of their roles, Lugosi inevitably got second billing, below Karloff. Lugosi's attitude toward Karloff is the subject of contradictory reports, some claiming that he was openly resentful of Karloff's long-term success and ability to get good roles beyond the horror arena, while others suggested the two actors were - for a time, at least - good friends.

Attempts were made to give Lugosi more heroic roles, as in The Black Cat, The Invisible Ray, and a small role in the comedy classic Ninotchka opposite Greta Garbo, but did not help him break out of the "type" into which he had been placed. A number of factors worked against Lugosi's career in the mid-1930s. Universal changed management in 1936, and per a British ban on horror films, dropped them from their production schedule. Lugosi found himself consigned, to Universal's non-horror B-film unit, at times in small roles where he was obviously used for "name value" only. Although he tried to keep busy with stage work, he had to borrow money from the Actor's Fund during the period of his son's birth in 1938. His career got a re-boot by Universal's Son of Frankenstein in 1939, in which he played a plum character role, Ygor, a sly blacksmith, in heavy make-up and beard. The 1940s saw him starring in a baker's dozen of horror, psycho, and mystery B-films produced by Sam Katzman, and in lesser roles for Universal, where he often received star billing for what amounted to a supporting part.
Ostensibly due to injuries received during military service, Lugosi developed severe, chronic sciatica. Though at first he was treated with natural pain remedies such as asparagus juice, doctors increased the medication to opiates. His dependence on pain-killers grew in inverse proportion to the dwindling screen offers. He did get to recreate the role of Dracula one last time in the film Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein in 1948.

Late in his life, he again received star billing in movies when filmmaker Edward D. Wood, Jr., a fan of Lugosi, found him living in obscurity and near-poverty and offered him roles in his films, such as Glen or Glenda (in which his role made no more sense than the rest of the movie) and as a Dr. Frankenstein-like mad scientist in Bride of the Monster. During post-production of the latter, Lugosi entered treatment for his addiction, and the premier of the film was ostensibly intended to help pay for his treatment expenses. Following his treatment, Lugosi made one final film, in late 1955, The Black Sleep, for Bel-Air Pictures, which was released in the summer of 1956 through United Artists with a promotional campaign that included several personal appearances. To his disappointment, however, his role in this film was of a mute, with no dialogue.
Lugosi died of a heart attack on August 16, 1956 while lying in bed in his Los Angeles home. He was 73. Bela Lugosi was buried wearing one of the many capes from the Dracula stage play, as per the request of his son and fifth wife, in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. Contrary to popular belief, Lugosi never requested to be buried in his famous cloak; Bela Lugosi, Jr. has confirmed on numerous occasions that he and his mother, Lillian, arrived at their decision independently.

Bio from www.wikipedia.org