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Béla Lugosi was the stage name of actor Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (October 20, 1882–August 16, 1956). He was born in Lugos, Transylvania, Austria-Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania), the youngest of four children of a banker.
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. He however, became most notably known for his portrayal of Dracula in the American stage production, and subsequent film, of Bram Stoker's classic vampire story.
During World War I he served as an infantry lieutenant for the Central Powers.
He left from his native Hungary for Germany in 1919 after persecution following his complicity in the forming of an actor's union, and emigrated to the United States in 1921. On June 26, 1931, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
He worked for some time as a laborer, then became re-involved in the theater within the Hungarian-American community. He was spotted there and approached to star in a play adapted by John Balderston from Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. After the death of silent movie legend Lon Chaney, Sr., Lugosi's stage success led to his being selected to replace Chaney in Tod Browning's movie version of Dracula (1931) by Universal Pictures. The film was also a success and Lugosi received a studio contract with Universal, but, through his association with Dracula, he found himself typecast as a horror villain with such movies as "Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "The Raven" and "Son of Frankenstein" for Universal, and the independent "White Zombie". He declined an offer to appear as The Monster in Frankenstein because the role did involve dialogue, a role which was taken by the man who became his principal contemporary in horror films, Boris Karloff. Attempts were made to give him more protagonistic roles, as in The Black Cat and The Invisible Ray and a small role in the comedy classic Ninotchka opposite Greta Garbo, but did not help him break out of "type". Additionally, after Universal changed management in 1936, he found himself being consigned, along with their entire approach to horror films, to Universal's b-film unit, at times in small roles where he was obviously used for "name value" only. In the early 1940s, Universal did not renew its contract with Lugosi, and he ended up having to contract with the poverty row company, Monogram Pictures Corp., where he received star billing in a succession of horror, psycho and mystery b-films produced by Sam Katzman.
Several films at Universal, such as The Black Cat, "The Raven" and Son of Frankenstein paired Lugosi with Karloff. Regardless of the relative size of their roles, Lugosi inevitably got second billing, below Karloff. Lugosi's attitude towards Karloff is the subject of contradictory reports, some claiming 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.
Later on, the acting jobs dried up and he had become addicted to morphine, originally prescribed him for severe back pain in the early 1940s, though he did get to recreate the role of Dracula one last time for the film Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein in 1948.
Late in his life, he again star billing in movies when Ed Wood, a would-be filmmaker and fan of Lugosi's, found him living in obscurity and near-poverty and offered him roles in his films, such as Glen or Glenda — (where his role made no sense) and as a mad scientist in Bride of the Monster. During post-production of the latter, Lugosi entered treatment for his morphine addiction, and the premier of the film was ostensibly intended to help pay for his treatment expenses. The pseudo-biographical film Ed Wood, by Tim Burton, featured Wood's relationship with Lugosi, played by Martin Landau in an inaccurate and satirical interpretation.
Following his treatment, he was make one final film, in late 1955, The Black Sleep, for Bel-Air Pictures, which was released in the summer of 1956 through United Artists Corp. with an a-film campaign that included several personal appearances. To his disappointment, however, his role in this film was of a mute - no dialogue.
He died of a heart attack, aged 73, in August of 1956, in his Los Angeles, California home, while sitting in a chair. The script for Final Curtain, written by Ed Wood, was in his lap. (The role was later given to Kenne Duncan, and the shots of that production made their way into Wood's Night of the Ghouls, a sequel of sorts to "Bride of the Monster".)
One of Lugosi's most infamous roles was in a movie that was released after he was dead. Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space featured footage of Lugosi interspersed with a double who looked nothing like him. Wood had taken a few minutes of silent footage of Lugosi, in his Dracula cape, for a planned vampire picture but was unable to find financing for the project. When he later conceived of "Plan 9", he wrote the script to incorporate the Lugosi footage and hired his wife's chiropractor to double for Lugosi in additional shots. The "double" is easily spotted by the fact that
- He looks nothing like Lugosi
- He covers his face with his cape in every shot.
Contrary to Burton's Ed Wood, Lugosi did not receive top billing for Plan 9. Instead he was listed as a guest-star, below Tor Johnson, Vampira and Kenne Duncan.
In the postmodern period, Lugosi became the subject of a song by gothic rock band Bauhaus entitled "Bela Lugosi's Dead", and a couple of his worst films turned up for mocking on the televison program Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Truth being stranger than fiction sometimes, Bela Lugosi was buried in his full Dracula costume, as per the request in his will, in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
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