Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (20 October 1882 – 16 August
1956),
better known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian-American actor, famous for
portraying Count Dracula in the
original 1931 film and for his roles in various other
horror films.
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| Lugosi died 60 years ago today. |
In 1927, he appeared as Count Dracula in
a Broadway adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel. He later appeared in the classic
1931 film Dracula by Universal Pictures. Through the 1930s, he occupied an
important niche in popular horror films, with their East European setting, but
his Hungarian accent limited his repertoire, and he tried unsuccessfully to
avoid typecasting.
Lugosi died of a heart attack on August
16, 1956, while lying on a couch in his Los Angeles home. He was 73. The rumor
that Lugosi was clutching the script for The
Final Curtain, a planned Ed Wood project, at the time of his death is not
true.
Lugosi was buried wearing one of the "Dracula" cape costumes, per
the request of his son and fifth wife, in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver
City, California. Contrary to popular belief, Lugosi never requested to be
buried in his cloak; Bela G. Lugosi confirmed on numerous occasions that he and
his mother, Lillian, actually made the decision but believed that it is what
his father would have wanted.
Dracula is a 1931 American Pre-Code
vampire-horror film directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Lugosi as Count
Dracula. The film was produced by Universal and is based on the 1924 stage play
Dracula by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, which in turn is loosely
based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.
