Bela Lugosi - The Legendary Vampire - Dracula

Bela Lugosi was born "Bela Ferenc Deszo Blasko" on October 20, 1882, in the town of what was then called Lugos, Hungary, and known today as Lugoj, Romania. His role as a blood sucking vampire, almost seemed predestined being that he was born approximately 50 miles outside of Transylvania. Transylvania was the location of Bram Stoker's literary composition and Bela's alter ego ...Count Dracula. Bela derived from a very prosperous and respected family, Bela's father, Istvan Blasko, was the president of the bank in Lugos, and one of his brothers, was a successful lawyer.

Even though the Blasko's emphasis on education was the foremost of importance, Bela continued to be unpersuaded by it. Bela was not doing well in school, his love for acting and the stage interfered with his studies and he would neglect them all together. Bela's father was not pleased by this and they did not see eye to eye on this matter. Bela ended up dropping out of school at age 11 and ran away from home.Bela went to the city of Resita, there, he worked as a coal miner for three years. News reached him of his father's death, and he returned home.

Bela began acting in his teen years, he was laughed off the stage many times, but this only fueled the already burning ambition in Bela to succeed. After awhile, Bela moved in with his sister, Vilma, and his widowed mother in the town of Szabadka. He was busy juggling between working at the railroad and acting jobs at the local theater company.
Becoming better at his acting, Bela was accepted into the Academy of Performing arts in Budapest, while enrolled there, he acted in several Hungarian films under the stage name of Aristzid Olt.

Bela began to play larger roles in film and his acting career began to broaden. Then, World War I begun, and even though actors were exempt from military service, Bela voluntarily enlisted into the Hungarian army.

During his time of service, he was wounded three times and he was also commissioned as a infantry Lieutenant. Two years later, Bela was discharged. On June 25, 1917, Bela married IIona Szmik and he began acting in many Hungarian films, he also joined the communist party, but, becoming politically unpopular, he moved to Germany. By 1920, he was appearing in German films and his marriage to IIona ended in a divorce. Then in 1921 issues and conflicts errupted in Hungary and Bela decided to leave the country. He stowed away on a Italian freighter that was destined for New orleans, LA.

Once Bela was in the States, he made his way to New York, found a Hungarian community, and called it home. There, he met and fell in love wih IIona Von Montagh , and they married, but his second marriage suffered the same fate as the first and ended in divorce. But, on the bright side, Bela's acting career was taking off. Bela organized, directed, produced, and starred in the Dramatic Hungarian Company.
They did a stage performance of Bram Stoker's "Dracula", and went on tour in 1927. Then, in 1923, Bela Lugosi debuted in his first American film, "The Silent Command". From there, he continued to perform on stage in New York and filming in Hollywood, appearing in "Daughters Who Pay" (1925) and "How To Handle Women" (1928).

For Bela, these titles suited him well, Bela had earned the reputation of being a ladies man. In 1929, Bela married a wealthy widow by the name of Beatrice Weeks, however, this marriage only lasted for three days, It was said that clara Bow, was the cause of this quick divorce, she was referenced as "the other woman". There were other things he had love for outside of women, mans best friend.
He had six in all, German Shepherds and Dobermans. As a matter of fact, Bodri, was the very first White German Shepherd in the United States. Bela also had a insight for art, and he enjoyed premium cigars and fine wines, especially "Egri Bikaver-Bulls blood of Eger".His hobbies included collecting stamps and hand carved pipes. His favorite dishes were Transylvanian Saurkrat, stuffed cabbage and Hungarian kabbasz sausage.

Then, in 1931, "Dracula" , the film that would make Bela eternally and internationally famous, was released. It was a box office hit, and every household knew the name of Bela Lugosi. It seems shocking that when Universal Studios planned the movie version of "Dracula" that Bela Lugosi was not their first pick. They had initially wanted Chaney, but Chaney was suffering with throat cancer and shortly after, had died. Bela earned $500.00 a week for playing the role title, a total of $3,500.00 for the seven week shoot.

Then, in 1931, "Dracula" , the film that would make Bela eternally and internationally famous, was released. It was a box office hit, and every household knew the name of Bela Lugosi. It seems shocking that when Universal Studios planned the movie version of "Dracula" that Bela Lugosi was not their first pick. They had initially wanted Chaney, but Chaney was suffering with throat cancer and shortly after, had died. Bela earned $500.00 a week for playing the role title, a total of $3,500.00 for the seven week shoot.
"Dracula" became the picture that would be the prototype of Hollywood vampire films. Bela had also played the role of Dracula on stage in 1929 and had won rave reviews. Along with "Dracula" becomming a box office smash in 1931, Bela also became a full pledged citizen of the United states that same year. Lugosi's broad acting style and heavy Hungarian accent made casting him in anything other than horror films problematic. Thus, his greatest cinematic roles during the 1930's were in such films as "White Zombie" (1932), and "The Raven" (1935). The distinguished exception to these films was Lugosi's role as Comrade Razinin in ernest Lubitsch's classic comedy, "Ninotchka" (1939).

In 1933, he married Lillian Arch, and he became the proud father of a son, Bela Jr., in 1938. By the 1940's, Lugosi was hopelessly a typecast in horror films, and Universal Studios, most known for these films, wasn't producing many horror films anymore, and the ones that were making, Lon chaney jr, or one of Bela's closest friends, Boris Karloff, were the lead role choices. But very sadly, there was nothing for Lugosi.The 1950's proved to be even worse for Bela, his 20 year marriage to Lillian Arch ended in divorce in 1951, his career was deteriorating, as well as his finances. He had also voluntarily went into rehab for an addiction to the pain killer , morphine. He was released in less than a year.

He went on to make a few films for the "infamous" Ed Wood jr. "Glen or Glenda" (1953) and the so called "Worst Film Of All Time" Plan 9 From Outer Space" (1959) Bela never got to complete the film, he died from a heart attack on August 16, 1956, at the age of 73.. In the years to come, his prominence as a beloved actor arose again, and in 1994, film maker, Tim Burton directed a screen biography "Ed Wood" casting veteran Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi. Landau won an oscar for the role, Lugosi however, never came remotely even close to receiving an oscar. Bela Lugosi will remain the Legendary "Dracula" in my heart and many others for years to come.

Bela's final resting place is located at the Holy Cross Cemetary in California. Bela's wishes were carried out to be laid to rest in his full Dracula attire, including his cloak.