Bela Lugosi, born Bela Blasko on
October 20, 1882, in Lugos, Hungary. He trained for the stage at the
Budapest Academy of Theatrical
Arts. From 1901 he played lead parts on the Hungarian stage
and from 1915 in films, sometimes
using the name Arisztid Olt. In 1918,
during the collapse of the Hungarian
monarchy and the establishment
of a Communist regime,
he was active in politics and organized an actors' union.
When the Leftists were defeated,
in 1919, he fled to Germany,
where he appeared in a number of films.
In 1921 he emigrated to the US
and began playing character
parts on the stage and in films.
His most notable success was in
the title role of the stage presentation of Dracula, which he played for
a year
(1927) on Broadway
and two years on the road. When he repeated the role in Tod Browning's
1931
screen version, introducing
himself to film audiences with a heavy,
deliberate, inimitable accent,
"I - am - Dracu-la...," it was
clear that the American
screen had found itself a worthy aristocrat of evil.
During the 30s and early 40s, Lugosi
shared with Boris Karloff the legacy of the silent screen's Lon Chaney.
Technically, Lugosi
might not have been as good an actor as Karloff, but he had a superior
screen personality
and as a personification
of dark evil had no peer in Hollywood or elsewhere. Unfortunately, he was
not
choosy about his roles,
and in addition to performing in the
quality horror films at Universal and other major
studios (and his only comic role,
in Ninotchka, 1939) which
made him famous, he appeared indiscriminately
in scores of infantilefilms in
which he was given the
most ludicrous lines.
On the screen,Lugosi portrayed mad
scientists and demented megalomaniacs
who evoked no pity or compassion
in audiences. But his
personal life had its pathetic quality.
At first under pressure from
studio publicity, and later on his own
accord, he allowed the Vampire image
to become part of his real life.
He began giving interviews while
lying in a coffin, was
once seen at a Hollywood premiere accompanied
by a gorilla, and in his later
films played parodies of himself.
Besides, he was almost always involved in
money or marital problems. In 1955
he had himself committed to the California
State Hospital as a drug addict.
He then returned briefly to the
screen and even announced plans for a fourth marriage,
but in August of 1956 he died.
He was buried with his Dracula cape.