Happy Birthday, Bela Lugosi
Lugosi started as a stage actor in Europe, and was well known for his role in the stage production of Bram Stoker’s classic vampire story, Dracula.
This eventually led to his famous title role in Tod Browning’s motion picture, Dracula (1931). The film was a success, but Lugosi was forever typecast as a horror villain with a thick Hungarian accent in such movies as Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Raven, Son of Frankenstein, and White Zombie. Later on, his acting jobs began to dwindle and he became addicted to morphine and methadone.
Later in his life, a long-time fan of Lugosi’s, Ed Wood offered him numerous roles in his films, always playing some variant of a mad scientist/vampire type. The biographical film Ed Wood, by Tim Burton, portrayed Wood’s relationship with Lugosi, who was played by Martin Landau.
One of Lugosi’s most infamous roles was in a movie that was released after his death. When Lugosi died during the filming, Ed Wood’s Plan 9 from Outer Space featured footage of Lugosi mixed with a thinner double with every shot covering the lower half of his face with his cape.
Lugosi died of a heart attack at age 73 on August 16, 1956, while lying on a couch in his Los Angeles home. Lugosi was indeed buried wearing a Dracula Cape, but it was at the request of his son Bela G. Lugosi and fourth wife Lillian, believing that it is what his father would have wanted (contrary to the belief that was his request stated in his will).
Other Interesting Béla Lugosi facts:
- The Vajdahunyad Castle in Budapest features a statue of Bela Lugosi on one of the corners
- Bela Lugosi was a charter member for the Screen Actors Guild (not Film Actors Guild)
- The cape Lugosi wore in the Dracula (1931) film still survives in Universal Studios
- Johnny Depp once purchased Bela’s Los Angeles home
- “Béla Lugosi’s Dead” was the first single by English rock band Bauhaus, often considered to be the first gothic rock record was released in August 1979
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