The iconic portrayal of Count Dracula marked Lugosi's career and gave him widespread recognition. When it was clear the film was going to be a monster at the box office, the over-heated publicity department of Universal Studios got busy concocting a backstory for Lugosi worthy of Bram Stoker. He went on to perform in Shakespeare's plays. Lugosi married Hope Lininger, his fifth wife, in 1955; they remained married until his death. Before her death, she gave several (rather downbeat) interviews to the fan press. Along the way he picked up a drug habit. He lost out to Lionel Barrymore for the role of Grigori Rasputin in Rasputin and the Empress (also 1932); C. Henry Gordon for the role of Surat Khan in Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), and Basil Rathbone for the role of Commissar Dimitri Gorotchenko in Tovarich (1937), a role Lugosi had played on stage. As this piece in American Ghost Stories, points out, Lugosi wasn't always truthful about his past he was prone to exaggeration, claiming in one 1941 interview to have stolen 700 hats as a young boy but his childhood was undeniably cut short by his father's death, propelling him into menial labor jobs that tested his mettle. She died in 1997 at age 78. Then Cheney died, and Lugosi replaced him on the bill. 103. Hungarian actor who was immortalized as Dracula in 1931. [46] The couple divorced after Lugosi was forced to flee his homeland for political reasons (risking execution if he stayed) and Ilona did not wish to leave her parents. They remained married until his death in 1956. Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers. 1979)", "Bela Lugosi's 'Dracula' Cape To Be Auctioned Off", "Bonhams: Bela Lugosi's Count Dracula cape from Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein", "Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Announces Acquisition of Bela Lugosi's Cape from Dracula", "Bela Lugosi's Screen-Worn 'Dracula' Cape Will Be on Display at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures", Andy Warhol (19281987): The Kiss (Bela Lugosi), "Bauhaus on 'Bela Lugosi's Dead': "It was the 'Stairway To Heaven' of the 1980s", "Die Bela Lugosi Story Mller, Pter / Theobalt , Gerold / Schmidtke, Wolfgang", "Hartmut Zech Steinmetz- und Steinbildhauermeister", "A Bla Lugosi Bust Was Snuck Onto the Facade of This Budapest Castle", "Visiting the Ellis Island Immigration Museum", "Review: Can carnivore instinct be overcome in BEASTARS? In their place was a count's pedigree and a castle in the mountains of Transylvania. The problem first manifested itself in 1937, when Lugosi was forced to withdraw from a leading role in a serial production, The Secret of Treasure Island, due to constant back pain. It's worthy of its own movie the love story of two tragically underestimated and maligned men. The film is lost today, but a March 16, 1959, critical review in the Kinematograph Weekly mentioned that the movie contained new Lugosi footage (intriguing since Lugosi had died in 1956). Released in August 1979, it is often considered to be the first gothic rock record. He is 140 years old and is a Libra. . According to One Room With A View, the two men never met and Lugosi never discovered the reason behind Sinatra's generosity. Lugosi developed severe, chronic sciatica, ostensibly aggravated by injuries received during his military service. Nationality. Following his treatment, Lugosi made one final film, in late 1955, The Black Sleep, for Bel-Air Pictures, which was released in the summer of 1956 through United Artists with a promotional campaign that included several personal appearances by Lugosi and his co-stars, as well as Maila Nurmi (TV's horror host "Vampira"). 2021. On July 19, 2003, German artist Hartmut Zech erected a bust of Lugosi on one of the corners of Vajdahunyad Castle in Budapest. But his victory failed to last. His first American film role was in the melodrama The Silent Command (1923). Currently, Bela Lugosi is 140 years, 6 months and 11 days old. . To his frustration, Lugosi, a charter member of the American Screen Actors Guild, was increasingly restricted to mad scientist roles because of his inability to speak English more clearly. [43][71], Pter Mller's 1998 theatrical play Lugosi the Shadow of the Vampire (Hungarian: Lugosi a vmpr rnyka) is based on Lugosi's life, telling the story of his life as he became typecast as Dracula and as his drug addiction worsened. While its relatively simple to predict his income, its harder to know how much Bela has spent over the years. He is the father of Bela Lugosi Jr. (1938). [3], Lugosi married five times and had one son, Bela G. Lugosi (with his fourth wife, Lillian). 2020. [79], According to Paru Itagaki, the creator of the Japanese manga/anime Beastars, the main character Legoshi was inspired by Bela Lugosi (regarding the similar-sounding names). His real name is Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask. The court ruled that under California law any rights of publicity, including the right to his image, terminated with Lugosi's death. So, how much was Bela Lugosi networth at the age of years old? Death, Net Worth, Wife, Family, Brother. [25], Despite his critically acclaimed performance on stage, Lugosi was not Universal Pictures' first choice for the role of Dracula when the company optioned the rights to the Deane play and began production in 1930. His professional status made him exempt from the draft, but he signed up anyway and was made a lieutenant in the 43rd Royal Hungarian Infantry. [48] The divorce became final in October, 1925. [6] He was raised in a Roman Catholic family. ISBN 0977379817 (hardcover). His net worth is estimated at about $5 million. [21] A rumor has circulated for decades among film historians that Lugosi played an uncredited bit part as a clown in the 1924 Lon Chaney Hollywood film He Who Gets Slapped, but this has been heavily disputed. Landau won an Oscar for his turn as the Hungarian heartthrob who'd fallen on hard times. He was learning to act by trial and error, or, as he put it, his will "was forged to whiter and whiter heat." Although Lugosi would later claim that he "became the leading actor of Hungary's Royal National Theatre", many of his roles there were small or supporting parts, which led him to enter the Hungarian film industry.[10]. Last chapter. 's family members. His accent, while a part of his image, limited the type of role he could play. [33] He was finally cast in the role of Frankenstein's monster for Universal's Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943). [22], Lugosi was approached in the summer of 1927 to star in a Broadway theatre production of Dracula, which had been adapted by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel. She had been a fan, writing letters to him when he was in the hospital, recovering from addiction to Demerol. Lugosi was also the subject of "Bela Lugosi's Dead", the first single by the English band Bauhaus. April 30, 2023. Bela Lugosi was born on October 20, 1882 in Lugoj, Romania. Bela Lugosi is a Libra and was born in The Year of the Horse. Many believed, thanks to the 1994 filmEd Wood,that Lugosi went so far as to sleep in a coffin. According to the Imaginative Conservative, the erasure of Lugosi's actual history was just one unfortunate blow he had to survive, following his star turn as the count. Lugosi's life as an actor had begun. Bela Lugosi Net Worth. Lugosi was third-billed with his name above the title alongside Basil Rathbone as Dr. Frankenstein's son and Boris Karloff reprising his role as Frankenstein's monster. [b], The cape Lugosi wore in Dracula (1931) was in the possession of his son until it was put up for auction in 2011. [50] They remained married for 20 years and they had a child, Bela G. Lugosi, in 1938. Despite the relative size of their roles, Lugosi inevitably received second billing, below Karloff. Actually, Bela's widow Hope and ex-wife Lillian paid it; Sinatra's only connection to the aging actor was sending him a $1000 check . Online estimates of Bela Lugosis net worth vary. (Lugosi learned in 1935 that von Montagh and a female friend were both arrested for shoplifting in New York City, which was the last he heard of her.)[49]. Lillian and Bla divorced in 1953, at least partially because of Bla's jealousy over Lillian taking a full-time job as an assistant to Brian Donlevy on the sets and studios for Donlevy's radio and television series Dangerous Assignment Lillian eventually did marry Donlevy in 1966. Lugosi: His Life in Films, on Stage, and in the Hearts of Horror Lovers. [8] His earliest known performances are from provincial theatres in the 190304 season, playing small roles in several plays and operettas. Lugosi will probably forever be remembered for playing Count Dracula in Tod Browning's 1931 film version of Bram Stoker's spooky novel. Interestingly enough, Vlad the Impaler, Broker's inspiration for the count, was likewise a misunderstood man. He was discovered in bed by his fifth wife, Hope, upon her return from work. Mason was noticeably taller and thinner than Lugosi, and had the lower half of his face covered with his cape in every shot, as Lugosi sometimes did in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Among his teamings with Karloff, he performed major roles only in The Black Cat (1934), The Raven (1935), and Son of Frankenstein (1939); even in The Raven, Karloff received top billing despite Lugosi performing the lead role. Who is Bela Lugosi So, how much is Bela Lugosi worth at the age of 74 years old? The underpayment was due in part to racism as a non-native English speaker, Lugosi was often undervalued and taken advantage of and Lugosi's unwillingness to engage in the age-old art of self-promotion. Bela's income mostly comes from and basic source was being a successful Hungarian actor (1882-1956). [29] He played the elegant, somewhat hot-tempered General Nicholas Strenovsky-Petronovich in International House (1933). I was saying how Bela Lugosi was the quintessential Dracula, the elegant depiction of the character. He was kept employed by the studios principally so that they could put his name on the posters. He was buried in a Dracula costume, including a cape, but not the ones used in the 1931 film, contrary to popular--but unfounded--rumors. Bela Lugosi, original name Blasko Bla Ferenc Dezs, (born October 20, 1882, Lugos, Hungary [now Lugoj, Romania]died August 16, 1956, Los Angeles, California, U.S.), Hungarian-born motion-picture actor who was most famous for his sinister portrayal of the elegantly mannered vampire Count Dracula. ", "Bla Lugosi: actor, union leader, anti-fascist", Bela Lugosi premieres in Buffalo, New York, "Why Bela Lugosi remains the ultimate Dracula", "Filmography Bela Lugosi the Official Site", "Friedemann O'Brien Goldberg & Zarian Names Bela G. Lugosi Of Counsel", "Beyond Quatermass Brian Donlevy, the Good Bad Guy: A Bio-Filmography by Derek Sculthorpe", "Lugosi v. Universal Pictures, 603 P.2d 425 (Cal. According to Kitty Kelley's biography of Frank Sinatra, when the entertainer heard of Lugosi's problems, he visited Lugosi at the hospital and gave him a $1,000 check. In 1927, he starred as Count Dracula in a Broadway adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, moving with the play to the West Coast in 1928 and settling down in Hollywood. pg. Short biography, height, weight, dates: Birth date: October 20, 1882, Lugoj, Romania Death date: August 16, 1956, Los Angeles, California, United States Birth place: Lugos, Kingdom of Hungary . After Dracula, the bulk of Lugosi's roles were in monster movies of varying degrees of ridiculousness. Bela Lugosi was born on October 20, 1882 in Lugoj, Romania (73 years old). There are contradictory reports of Lugosi's attitude toward Karloff, some claiming that he was openly resentful of Karloff's long-term success and ability to gain good roles beyond the horror arena, while others suggested the two actors were for a time, at least amicable. On 16 August 1956, Bela Lugosi died of non-communicable . The court ruled that under California law any rights of publicity, including the right to his image, terminated with Lugosi's death. In 1927, he got his big break. Lugosi remained in California where he resumed his film work under contract with Fox, appearing in early talkies often as a heavy or an "exotic sheik". Gone were Lugosi's middle class parents, his teenage struggles to make ends meet in the mines and rail yards of turn-of-the-century Hungary. (Weeks died 17 months later (at age 34) from alcoholism in Panama, Lugosi never receiving a penny from her fortune. Having spent a year acting in silent films in Germany's Weimar Republic, Lugosi traveled to America on a merchant ship in 1920, landing in New Orleans before heading north to New York City. 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. [18] Three more parts came in 192526, including a five-month run in the comedy-fantasy The Devil in the Cheese. [35] Lugosi memorized the script for the skit, but became confused on the air when Berle began to ad lib. [54](Lillian eventually did marry Brian Donlevy in 1966, by which time she had also become an alcoholic and she died in 1981. Bela Lugosi beckons us to enter The Mystery House ! In 1921, he met and married his second wife, Ilona von Montagh, a young Hungarian emigree and stage actress whom he had worked with years before in Europe. According to the biography, The Immortal Count: The Life and Films of Bela Lugosi, Lugosi's father, Itsvan, was a prosperous man who left the baking profession in 1883 to set up, with the help of a few partners, a small savings bank in the town of Lugos. Bela Lugosi Net worth and Salary. "I owe it all to that little man at the Regina Theatre," said Lugosi of exhibitor Umann. Bela Lugosi Jr. was boarded at the Elsinore Naval and Military School in Lake Elsinore, and also lived with Lillian's parents while she and Bela were touring. For Lugosi, the third time would not prove to be the charm. In 1951, while in England to play a six-month tour of Dracula, Lugosi co-starred in a lowbrow film comedy, Mother Riley Meets the Vampire (also known as Vampire over London and My Son, the Vampire), released the following year. Lugosi's first film appearance was in the movie Az ezredes (The Colonel, 1917). We hope you enjoy it! In September 1949, Milton Berle invited Lugosi to appear in a sketch on Texaco Star Theatre. [61], In 1979, the Lugosi v. Universal Pictures decision by the California Supreme Court held that Lugosi's personality rights could not pass to his heirs, as a copyright would have. Or Heath Ledger as the Joker. Lugosi's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is mentioned in "Celluloid Heroes", a song performed by The Kinks and written by their lead vocalist and principal songwriter, Ray Davies. Youtube. This was one of several projects proposed by Wood, including The Phantom Ghoul and Dr. Acula. [2] When appearing in Hungarian silent films, he mostly used the stage name Arisztid Olt. He was simply, as he put it in this biography, the boogeyman. 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, made the decision but believed that it is what his father would have wanted.[58]. On 26 June 1931, Lugosi became a naturalized United States citizen. [44][45], Lugosi repeatedly married. The film, daring as it is in its willingness to go where no one else would at the time, is considered one of the worst movies ever made. The fact that he was born just 50 miles from where the novel is set made him a natural choice for the part. [36] He also appeared on the anthology series Suspense on October 11, 1949, in a live adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado".[37]. [8] He took the last name "Lugosi" in 1903 to honor his birthplace,[4][9] and went on to perform in Shakespeare plays. Bela Lugosi. The role went to Karloff instead, and soon the hollow-cheeked leading man began beating Lugosi out for roles. Bela Lugosi Death: and Cause of Death. It was, perhaps, simply the result of admiration and compassion. Lillian and Bela, as well as his mother, vacationed on their lake property in Lake Elsinore, California (then called Elsinore), on two lots between 1944 and 1953. Lugosi made 12 films in Hungary between 1917 and 1918 before leaving for Germany. 134th birthday - At the time of his death, Lugosi was in such poor financial straits that Frank Sinatra was rumored to have paid for his funeral. When appearing in Hungarian silent films, he used the stage name Arisztid Olt. [24], In 1929, with no other film roles in sight, he returned to the stage as Dracula for a short West Coast tour of the play. In the same interview he expressed a desire to play more comedy, as he had in the Mother Riley farce. The funeral was held on Saturday, August 18 at the Utter-McKinley funeral home in Hollywood. Independent producer Jack Broder took Lugosi at his word, casting him in a jungle-themed comedy, Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952), starring nightclub comedians Duke Mitchell and Jerry Lewis look-alike Sammy Petrillo, whose act closely resembled that of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis (Martin and Lewis). Throughout the 1930s, Lugosi, experiencing a severe career decline despite popularity with audiences (Universal executives always preferred his rival Karloff), accepted many leading roles from independent producers like Nat Levine, Sol Lesser, and Sam Katzman. With fellow expatriate Hungarian actors he formed a small stock company that toured Eastern cities, playing for immigrant audiences. 's salary? He later allowed himself to be photographed drinking a glass of milk at a Red Cross booth there. [16] He only declared his intention to become a US citizen in 1928; on June 26, 1931, he was naturalized. Lillian received custody of their son Bela Jr.[53] Lugosi called the police one night after Lillian left him and threatened to commit suicide, but when the police showed up at his apartment, he denied making the call. Lugosi died of a heart attack on 16 August 1956, while lying on a bed in his Los Angeles apartment. The judge sent Lugosi to a nearby hospital, where he plotted a comeback that would never materialize. Despite playing one of the world's most blood-thirsty villains, Lugosi was a lover, not a fighter. According to SyFy Wire,he learned the language bit by bit, role by role, reading his lines out loud to himself. It was around this time, on January 31, 1933, that Lugosi married 21 year old Lillian Arch, and despite the almost 30 year age gap and Lugosi's previous marriage record, the pair would remain . Blask. He was the youngest of four children. Itsvan died when Bela was just 12-years-old, throwing the family fortunes into turmoil. Education: Dropped out of school at age 12. Bla Ferenc Dezs? . He is often referred to as Bela Lugosi Jr. In 1928, Lugosi decided to stay in California when the play ended its West Coast run. Full Real Name. Bela Lugosi was a working actor when World War I broke out in Europe. [75], On July 19, 2003, German artist Hartmut Zech erected a bust of Lugosi on one of the corners of Vajdahunyad Castle in Budapest. He was buried in a Dracula costume, including a cape, but not the ones used in the 1931 film . Bela Lugosi Net Worth. In Celebrities Gabrielle Miller Wiki: Wedding, Salary, Nationality, Parents. According to the biography, The Immortal Count: The Life and Films of Bela Lugosi, Lugosi's father, Itsvan, was a prosperous man who left the baking profession in 1883 to set up, with the help of a few partners, a small savings bank in the town of Lugos. In some ways, this visit would echo the year his son, Bela Lugosi Jr., was born. Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask. 's birthday? Bela Lugosi was born Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask on October 20, 1882, Lugos, Hungary, Austria-Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania), to Paula de Vojnich and Istvn Blask, a banker. [42] Mason was noticeably taller and thinner than Lugosi, and had the lower half of his face covered with his cape in every shot, as Lugosi sometimes did in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Historian John McElwee reports, in his 2013 book Showmen, Sell It Hot!, that Bela Lugosi's popularity received a much-needed boost in August 1938, when California theater owner Emil Umann revived Dracula and Frankenstein as a special double feature. With Lugosi in his Dracula cape, Wood shot impromptu test footage, with no storyline in mind, in front of Tor Johnson's home, a suburban graveyard, and in front of Lugosi's apartment building on Carlton Way. Once in a full moon, an actor portrays a villain with such flare that fans have a hard time separating the man from the character. Hope later moved to Hawaii, where she worked for many years as a caregiver in a leper colony. Karloff's monster was weak by comparison."[32]. Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack August 16, 1956. People are becoming more and more interested in Bela Lugosi because of how much money he makes. Fast Facts: Bela Lugosi. Lugosi complained of her excessive drinking and dancing with other men at social gatherings. (At the end of the previous film in the series, The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), Lugosi's voice had been dubbed over that of Lon Chaney Jr. since Ygor's brain was now in the Monster's skull[34].) [2] He later starred in the 1931 film version of Dracula directed by Tod Browning and produced by Universal Pictures. Shortly thereafter, according to this profile in Workers World, he had to leave Hungary for German because his left-wing sympathies were not tolerated when Hungary's short-lived communist government was overthrown in 1919. After moving to Budapest in 1911, he played dozens of roles with the National Theatre of Hungary between 1913 and 1919. As his career faltered, Lugosi fell victim to drug addiction. During WWI, he volunteered and was commissioned as an infantry lieutenant, and was wounded three times. After moving to Budapest in 1911, he played dozens of roles with the National Theatre of Hungary between 191319. 61. [57], Lugosi was buried wearing one of the "Dracula" capes and his full costume as well as his Dracula ring in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. He didn't know a word of English at the time, but that didn't stop him from auditioning, and, two years after his arrival in the States, he was cast in the play, The Red Poppy. . Continue reading to discover who . Lew Ayres was eventually hired to play Dracula, only to be replaced by Robert Ames after being cast in a different role in a different Universal Pictures film. It was his first English-speaking role.
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