In Memoriam
20th October 1882 – 16th August 1956
Fitting for the spooky season, in today’s October Obituary I chose to honour the memory of actor Béla Ferench Dezsõ Blasko, more commonly known as Bela Lugosi. Born in the village of Lugos, Hungary, on October 20th 1882, he later fled the country due to his political views and lived for a while in Austria and Germany. Eventually he migrated to the US where he would become involved with the Hollywood film industry under the name Lugosi, meaning “of Lugos”. It was Bela Lugosi who created the visual look for Bram Stoker’s iconic Count Dracula that many actors, writers, poets and musicians have used in their creative work to this day.
Nowadays teens queue up to watch cheesy, overly-romantic vampire flicks such as Twilight and television is doing its fair share in really sexing the vampires up (to a rather ridiculous level in my opinion) but before vampires swapped their razor-like smile to marshmallow teeth and became a glittering daydream for the masses, the history of vampire entertainment had quite good films up its velvet sleeves too. To many of this, we owe thanks to Bela Lugosi who most certainly is one of the pioneers of said genre, alongside Max Schreck, Ingrid Pitt and Christopher Lee. When the German masterpiece Nosferatu (1922) came out, vampires in films were still portrayed as somewhat perverse and unnatural creatures that had to be destroyed utterly, evil as they were in folktales around the world. Nosferatu is quite loyal to the original story (as written by Bram Stoker), full of murky and harrowing scenes of creeping shadows and plague-struck cities. That would start to change as Lugosi marched on Broadway in 1927 to perform his version of Stoker’s blood-thirsty vampire count, adding a generous portion of good old sex appeal in the mix. Lugosi learned the part of Count Dracula phonetically as he did not speak much English, but his exotic accent, hypnotic eyes and good looks soon started to cause fits of hysteria in the female members of the audience. This suited Mr Lugosi well, as he was quite the ladies’ man and few could resist his animal magnetism.
Bela Lugosi married five times and had one son, Bela G. Lugosi. The marriages were often stormy as according to a biography by Arthur Lennig, Lugosi was old-fashioned and quite dominating in his relationships. He was poor in managing his money and spent what he got, enjoying luxuries when the dollars would roll in. When his career and health started to go downhill, Lugosi became severely addicted to morphine. He would seek treatment for this addiction and overcome it when he started to work in Ed Wood’s films, a man who has often been quoted as the worst director of all time, and indeed his style is quite eccentric. Poor screenplay combined with hasty camerawork and awkward lines make Wood’s films a strange page in the history of silver screen.
Despite having to act quite poor parts most of his career, Bela Lugosi did have talents. An impressive 185cm in height, Lugosi was a charismatic and striking character on stage. His claw-like hands, gash of a mouth and facial expressions are thrilling, and Lugosi’s voice holds a strange, eerie and commanding quality to it. For count Dracula’s role, Lugosi demanded to wear a velvet cape (now a vampire trademark) on stage and combed his hair back to further enhance his looks. With his pallid yet minimal make-up and aristocratic-looking profile Lugosi looked every bit the part he wanted the audience to believe. And they took the bait, frightened and fascinated, having never before seen anything quite like Lugosi. The immortal count had been born, and his shadow would follow Bela Lugosi his whole life and fittingly enough, beyond the grave.
However iconic nowadays, Lugosi was not Hollywood’s first pick to star in the film version of Dracula and his acting career was far from the glamour of other Hollywood stars of the era. Lugosi never made it to the “A – List” and got quite little recognition in his lifetime. Even if he did have his time in the headlines, it was quite short-lived. The producers were uncertain if the foreigner would be fit for the part of Dracula and perhaps he would be too strange for the American audience. Thus, rather unfairly, the part was first offered to another actor who had nothing to do with developing the image for count Dracula. However, the stars shone on the Hungarian and Bela Lugosi got the part. The payment was not great but he enjoyed the attention (and admirers) thoroughly. Dracula was Lugosi’s big breakthrough, and it would transform him into the horror icon that he is today. Over the course of his career, Bela Lugosi acted in more than a hundred films, such as Ninotchka, The Son of Frankenstein, The Body Snatcher, The Black Cat and The Wolf Man. Many are also familiar with Ed Wood’s infamous Plan 9 From Outer Space which Lugosi starred in, alongside the vamp of vamps, Vampirella (Maila Nurmi). Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack before the movie was finished, and a substituting actor (who was quite different by build and body type) would act on the missing shots, covering his face with a cape.
Bela Lugosi was the top dog in horror film circles when he was offered the part of Frankenstein’s monster. Lugosi turned the part down, his opinion being that anyone could grunt and walk around, and that it was not real acting. This was a crucial mistake for his career and he was run over by Boris Karloff. Karloff and Lugosi acted in several films side by side, but Lugosi always got the second billing. There is no certainty as to how Lugosi’s attitude towards Karloff was but a lot of wild guesswork and assumptions still float around. The audience wanted another kind of monster and slick-haired Dracula was no longer frightening enough. But for Lugosi, it was always about the ladies. It was his opinion that the monster had to be frightening yet appealing, sinister but always a little bit seductive in character. In short, Lugosi thrived on the mixed feelings he was able to create in the minds of the audience. He said that if someone wanted to be plain frightened, go and see a film by Karloff. But if someone wanted to watch a movie with their sweetheart, they should go and see one of his instead. He just might have been right about that. There has never been another actor who can capture me in their spider’s web quite as firmly as Bela Lugosi can.
Despite his reputation, not all of Lugosi’s films are of the horror genre. During his early years in Hungary he did act romantic parts (both on film and on stage) and wished dearly for such opportunities to rise in the US too. Sadly once he got the “bad guy”‘s cloak on him there was no shedding it. Lugosi simply was too exotic for the American audience to accept him as anything else than something a little sinister and his age started to get on the way of his career too. But being the bad boy of the silver screen has it’s benefits too. As Ingrid Pitt, noted horror actress sums it “You can’t be a legend if you play a victim. Only villains are remembered” and sure enough, Bela Lugosi is one of the most memorable horror actors of all times, perhaps only bested by Boris “Frankenstein Monster” Karloff. Most certainly Lugosi would not have left such an impact in the history of cinema if he would have starred in romantic flicks.
Bela Lugosi was buried wearing one of his Dracula capes in the Holy Cross Cemetery, California but his legacy lives on. The Gothic rock band Bauhaus paid tribute to Bela Lugosi in their 1979 single “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”, now largely considered to be the first record released in the genre. The immortal count would become a important figure in Gothic aesthetics and friends of White Wolf role-playing games probably recognise “dread gaze” from their character sheets, something which I suspect has much to do with Bela Lugosi’s hypnotic, commanding eyes as portrayed in many of his films. The word “Dracula” has become a synonym for a vampire, and kids running around in high-collar capes and rubber fangs this October owe it all to Bela Lugosi, one of the most memorable characters of Hollywood’s golden era of horror films. Personally, I owe him a lot more – my early crush on the Hungarian legend has most probably shaped my own taste in films, music, art and aesthetics and made me watch most of the vampire films around. For these reasons and many more:
May your legend live on, Bela Lugosi.
Written by Katla
Filmography:
Nászdal (1917)
Az Ezredes (1917)
A Régiséggyüjtö (1917)
Leoni Leo (1917)
Casanova (1918)
Lulu (1918)
Álarcosbál (1918)
Küzdelem a létért (1918)
(Spring Tempest) Tavaszi vihar (1918)
Lili (1918)
Az Élet királya (1918)
A 99-es számú bérkocsi (1918)
Die Sklavenhalter von Kansas-City (1920)
Die Frau im Delphin (1920)
Die Fluch der Menschheit (1920)
Die Teufelsanbeter (1920)
Hypnose (1920)
Der Tanz auf dem Vulkan (1920)
Nat Pinkerton im Kampf (1920)
Der Januskopf (1920)
Der Wildtöter und Chingachgook (1920)
Der Im Rausche der Milliarden (1920)
Auf den Trümmern des Paradieses (1920)
Der Letzte der Mohikaner (1920)
Die Todeskarawane (1920)
Die verschwundene Million (1921)
Ihre Hoheit die Tänzerin (1922)
The Silent Command (1923)
The Rejected Woman (1924)
He Who Gets Slapped (1924) (uncredited) (unconfirmed)
The Midnight Girl (1925)
Daughters Who Pay (1925)
Punchinello (1926)
How to Handle Women (1928)
The Veiled Woman (1929)
Prisoners (1929)
The Thirteenth Chair (1929)
Such Men Are Dangerous (1930)
King of Jazz (1930)
Wild Company (1930)
Renegades (1930)
Viennese Nights (1930)
Oh, For A Man (1930)
Dracula (1931)
50 Million Frenchmen (1931)
Women of All Nations (1931)
The Black Camel (1931)
Broadminded (1931)
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
White Zombie (1932)
Chandu the Magician (1932)
The Death Kiss (1932)
Island of Lost Souls (1932)
The Whispering Shadow (1933)
Night of Terror (1933)
International House (1933)
The Devils in Love (1933)
The Black Cat (1934)
Gift of Gab (1934)
The Return of Chandu (1934)
The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934)
Chandu on the Magic Island (1935)
The Best Man Wins (1935)
Mark of the Vampire (1935)
Phantom Ship (1935)
The Mystery of the Marie Celeste (1935)
The Raven (1935)
Murder by Television (1935)
The Invisible Ray (1936)
Postal Inspector (1936)
Shadow of Chinatown (1936)
S.O.S. Coast Guard (1937)
The Phantom Creeps (1939)
Son of Frankenstein (1939)
The Gorilla (1939)
Ninotchka (1939)
The Dark Eyes of London (1939)
The Saint’s Double Trouble (1940)
Black Friday (1940)
The Devil Bat (1940)
You’ll Find Out (1940)
Invisible Ghost (1941)
The Black Cat (1941)
Spooks Run Wild (1941)
The Wolf Man (1941)
Black Dragons (1942)
The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
S.O.S. Coast Guard (1942)
The Corpse Vanishes (1942)
Night Monster (1942)
Bowery at Midnight (1942)
The Ape Man (1943)
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
Ghosts on the Loose (1943)
The Return of the Vampire (1944)
Voodoo Man (1944)
Return of the Ape Man (1944)
One Body Too Many (1944)
Zombies on Broadway (1945)
The Body Snatcher (1945)
Genius at Work (1946)
Scared to Death (1947)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
Vampire Over London/Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire (1951)
Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952)
Glen or Glenda (1953)
Bride of the Monster (1955)
The Black Sleep (1956)
Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)
Lock Up Your Daughters (1959)
