Actor Bela Lugosi actually became the first performer of the role of Count Dracula - first on the Broadway stage, and then in the cinema. This made him famous. For many decades, he remained an example of how to play dark vampires.
Lugosi before moving to America
Bela Lugosi's real name is Bela Ferenc Döge Blaško. He was born in 1882 in the town of Lugos, which is located on the territory of modern Romania (and then this land was part of Austria-Hungary). Istvan, Bela's father, came from a family of hereditary farmers, but he himself was a baker and then a bank clerk. Bela was the fourth child in a large family.
At the age of twelve, he stopped attending school and joined the provincial theater in the city of Shabadki. At first, the boy simply followed the orders of the actors, and only at the age of 19 began to appear on stage. And the first notable roles began to be given to him only in the 1903 season.
In 1911, Lugosi brilliantly played Romeo in a classic Shakespearean play, which attracted critical attention. This allowed him to move to Budapest and get a job at the Royal National Theater.
Lugosi's film career began after meeting producer Alfred Dishi. Bela signed a two-year contract with Dishi's Star Films company. And the first Hungarian film in which Lugosi took part was a film called "The Colonel". It is interesting that at that time Bela was listed as "Aristide Olt" in the credits.
When the First World War began, Lugosi volunteered for the front. In the Austro-Hungarian army, he was given the rank of lieutenant and assigned to the infantry. During the two years of his service, Bela received three wounds and was even awarded once.
In 1917, Bela Lugosi married for the first time - to a certain Ilona Zmik. However, the marriage soon broke up due to the fact that the spouses had radically opposite political views.
In 1919, Lugosi moved to Germany, where he continued to act in films. Among other things, in 1920 he starred in Friedrich Murnau's "Janus Head" - a kind of film adaptation of the popular story about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
First steps in Hollywood, second and third marriage
In 1920, Lugosi moved to America, and in 1921 settled in New York. In order to have money for a living, he first has to work in non-prestigious jobs. But over time, he began performing in the theater of the Hungarian community, as well as acting in films in minor roles - for example, in the 1924 film "The One Who Gets Slapped", he portrayed one of dozens of equally made-up clowns. His first major role in Hollywood was as a police officer in Tod Browning's The Thirteenth Chair (1929).
The personal life of the emigrant Lugosi was also stormy in the twenties. In 1921 he married Ilona von Montag (this marriage lasted three years). In 1929, Lugosi married for the third time - his next wife was Beatrice Weeks, a widow who owned a fairly large fortune. This marriage broke up after four months for a banal reason: his wife caught Lugosi with his mistress, Clara Luk.
The role of Dracula is the main role in life
By 1930, Lugosi had already achieved some success on Broadway. He was recognized as the leading actor in the theatrical production of Dracula, based on the adaptation of the legendary novel by Bram Stoker. The success of this production was also noticed in the Universal film studio. In 1930, this studio bought all the necessary rights and began to deal with its own adaptation of the story of Dracula.
Lock Cheney was to play the main role in the upcoming film. But he died of cancer even before filming began - this almost became the reason for the closure of the project. A way out was found by director Tod Browning: he offered to give the role of the vampire count Lugosi, with whom he was already familiar.
Bela Lugosi understood that this role could open up new opportunities for him in Hollywood, so he approached the creation of the image very responsibly. Interestingly, the actor asked not to put on makeup before appearing in the frame, and this turned out to be a good decision. Many viewers remembered Count Dracula performed by a charismatic Hungarian. The villain turned out to be really very expressive: scary, cruel, but with aristocratic manners. Largely thanks to this image, Lugosi was (albeit posthumously) awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Lugosi in the thirties
Dracula's popularity influenced Lugosi's further career. He was now offered only the roles of stereotypical villains - the crazy Dr. Miracles in Murder on Morgue Street (1932), zombies in White Zombie (1932), Roxora in The Wizard Chandu (1932), the vampire in black in The Sign of the Vampire (1935) and so on.
A special place in the filmography of Lugosi in the thirties is occupied by the film "Black Cat" (1934). Here Lugosi played the psychiatrist Vitus Verdegast, a character who, on the contrary, confronted the main villain. In addition, in this film, Lugosi's partner was Boris Karloff - another great master of horror films.
In 1933, Lugosi married nineteen-year-old Lilian Arch, the daughter of Hungarian émigrés. In the end, Bela lived with her for 20 years. And five years after the conclusion of the marriage union, that is, in 1938, she gave birth to his son (he was also given the name Bela). Becoming a father in 1938, the actor began to experience a certain lack of funds, and therefore took on any role.
Fun fact: when his son grew up, Lugosi Sr. advised him not to become an actor. And the son listened to the advice - he chose the profession of a lawyer.
The Forties: The End of a Career
From 1939 to 1945, the horror genre itself in American cinema was significantly degrading. Horror films released during this time are usually a low-quality spectacle, the goal of which is to bring producers income at the lowest cost. Lugosi is forced to adjust and agree to shoot in third-rate films, which are now of little interest to anyone.
At this time, the attitude of the University producers to Lugosi is also changing: they begin to pay him very little money by Hollywood standards. So, for example, for a week of filming in "The Phantom of Frankenstein" (1942), he initially received only $ 500. Upon learning of this, director Rowland Lee specifically expanded the role of the evil hunchback Igor, played by Lugosi, so that the actor could get more money for his work.
Probably one of the reasons for the poor attitude towards Lugosi on the part of the producers was the accent, which the Hungarian actor could not completely get rid of. Do not forget about the considerable age of Lugosi - he was then already more than 60 years old!
In the second half of the forties, the situation only worsened: the actor practically did not receive financial or creative satisfaction from the new roles. As a result, Lugosi's health problems worsened, and he became addicted to painkillers of that time, in other words, became a drug addict.
Last years and death
In the 1950s, Lugosi collaborated with the highly distinctive director Edward Wood. Wood was a fan of Lugosi's work, and therefore willingly invited him to his films. So in 1953, Lugosi played in the tape "Glen or Glenda", and in 1955 - in the tape "Bride of the Monster". The royalties earned by the old actor for filming these films helped him to overcome drug addiction.
After that, Lugosi got two more small roles - in the film "Black Inaction" by Reginald Le Borg and in the film "Plan 9 from Deep Space" by the same Wood (by the way, this film is considered by many experts to be the worst in the whole XX century).
It is reliably known that during this period Lugosi wanted to become the host of the Shoka Theater TV program. An actor in this program could review old films, in particular, those in which he himself once starred, but, alas, this has remained only plans.
In the fifties, the old man Lugosi also expected serious changes in his personal life - in 1953 he divorced Lilian Arch. Lillian was tired of her husband's jealousy, and therefore left him. In 1955, Lugosi married for the fifth time - to the thirty-five-year-old Hope Leininger, who was a longtime fan of the actor. But the happiness of the spouses turned out to be short-lived: on August 16, 1956, the original actor died of a sudden heart attack.
