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. Bela Lugosi (born October 20, 1882) is famous for being movie actor. Bela Lugosi (born October 20, 1882) is famous for being movie actor. 's family members. )[55], Lugosi married Hope Lininger, his fifth wife, in 1955; she was 37 years his junior. Itsvan, a strict and conventional man, had high hopes for his son, but Bela struggled in school and, when asked what profession he hoped to pursue in the future, he answered, "highway bandit." Lugosi acted in several Hungarian language plays before starring in his first English Broadway play, The Red Poppy in 1922. . 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. 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. 2021. [14], He later moved to California in 1928 to tour in the Dracula stage play, and his Hollywood film career took off. 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. It was his first English-speaking role. He currently resides in Lugoj, Romania. Prior to his death, Lugosi shot test footage of him wearing one of his Dracula capes in a graveyard. [19] In 1925, he played an Arab Sheik in Arabesque which premiered in Buffalo, New York at the Teck Theatre before moving to Broadway. ? "I was dead, and he brought me back to life." ISBN 0977379817 (hardcover), Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers. Lugosi was proscribed from acting due to his participation in the formation of an actors' union. As this biography notes, he was fired from gigs roughly 20 times over the next two decades for incompetence. His immortal role as the count led him to play roles in 1934's The Black Cat and 1935's The Raven. 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. A copy sold for $798,000 at Christie's in May 2000. Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask (Hungarian:[bel frnts d blko]; October 20, 1882 August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (/losi/; Hungarian:[luoi]), was a HungarianAmerican actor, best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic Dracula, Ygor in Son of Frankenstein (1939) and his roles in many other horror films from 1931 through 1956.[1]. As film offers declined, he became more and more dependent on live venues to support his family. He was 73. [29][38], The Vincent Price film, House of Wax premiered in Los Angeles at the Paramount Theatre on April 16, 1953. Back in 1950 however, Lugosi had appeared on a one-hour TV program called Murder and Bela Lugosi (which WPIX-TV broadcast on Sept. 18, 1950) in which Lugosi was interviewed and provided commentary about a number of his old horror films while clips from the films were being shown; historian Gary Rhodes thinks some of this Lugosi TV production found its way into the 1959 British film, which would finally explain the mystery. His immortal role as the count led him to play roles in 1934's The Black Cat and 1935's The Raven. BearManor Media, ISBN 1593932855, Arthur Lennig, The Immortal Count, University Press of Kentucky, 2003, the failed Hungarian Communist Revolution of 1919, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "From the Archives: Actor Bela Lugosi, Dracula of Screen, Succumbs After Heart Attack at 73", https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XCJB-Z61, "15 Intriguing Halloween-Related Factoids! He began his acting career in 1901 or 1902. 's birthday? [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. He descended into drug use and despair. Lugosi was never a contender for such an award. His immortal role as the count led him to play roles in 1934s The Black Cat and 1935s The Raven. In 1921, he married Ilona von Montagh, and divorced in 1924. It was a long way to fall for the star of one of Hollywood's most successful talkies. The studio then rehired Lugosi to star in new films, fortunately just as Lugosi's fourth wife had given birth to a son. Bela Lugosi Net Worth - How Much Is Bela Lugosi Worth? She had been a fan, writing letters to him when he was in the hospital, recovering from addiction to Demerol. By this time, Lugosi had been receiving regular medication for sciatic neuritis, and he became addicted to doctor-prescribed morphine and methadone. 5 Million. [12][4] They escaped to Vienna before settling in Berlin (in the Langestrasse), where he began acting in German silent films. Birth Day: October 20, 1882: Birth Place: Lugoj, Romania: Bela Lugosi age: 137 YEARS OLD: Died On: Aug . Universal Studios paid him only $3,500 for his work on Dracula, and, as this piece in the Standard Examiner illustrates, he was always paid less than his rival, Boris Karloff, for comparable roles. Bela Lugosi Net worth and Salary. 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. Bela Lugosis source of wealth comes from being a movie actor. Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). This drug dependence (and his gradually worsening alcoholism) was becoming apparent to producers, and after 1948's Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, the offers dwindled to parts in low-budget films; some of these were directed by Ed Wood, including a brief (posthumous) appearance in Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957). Much like that of the vampire he brought to life, Lugosi's story is a fascinating one, full of ups and downs and twists of fate. [33] He was finally cast in the role of Frankenstein's monster for Universal's Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943). His Hungarian accent led to him being typecasted as a horror villain in many films. Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack August 16, 1956. From 1947 to 1950, he performed in summer stock, often in productions of Dracula or Arsenic and Old Lace, and during the rest of the year, made personal appearances in a touring "spook show", and on early commercial television. [15] Lugosi made at least 10 films in Hungary between 1917 and 1918 before leaving for Germany. The combination was so successful that Umann scheduled extra shows to accommodate the capacity crowds, and invited Lugosi to appear in person, which thrilled new audiences that had never seen Lugosi's classic performance. Lugosi: His Life in Films, on Stage, and in the Hearts of Horror Lovers. 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. [72] In the Hungarian production, directed by Istvn Szab, Lugosi was played by Ivan Darvas. However Bela and Hope were actually discussing getting divorced around the time he passed away. Bela Lugosi beckons us to enter The Mystery House ! Lugosi complained of her excessive drinking and dancing with other men at social gatherings. April 30, 2023. (Weeks died 17 months later (at age 34) from alcoholism in Panama, Lugosi never receiving a penny from her fortune. She filed for divorce four months later, citing actress Clara Bow as the "other woman". Lugosi tried to keep busy with stage work, but had to borrow money from the Actors Fund of America to pay hospital bills when his only child, Bela George Lugosi, was born in 1938. His next bride, Ilona von Montagh, divorced him after three years. titled "Last of the Red Hot Vampires" was an homage to Bela Lugosi; at the end of the episode, it was dedicated to "Mr. "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (, Lugosi: The Man Behind the Cape by Robert Cremer (1976), Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers. Lugosi's first film appearance was in the movie Az ezredes (The Colonel, 1917). Due to his activism in the actors' union in Hungary during the revolution of 1919 and his active participation in the Hungarian Soviet Republic,[11] he was forced to flee his homeland when the government changed hands, initially accompanied by his first wife Ilona Szmik. She would sign her letters "A dash of Hope". 58. ISBN 0977379817 (hardcover). 's girlfriend? The feature is noteworthy as being Bela Lugosi's only color film. Lillian would produce Lugosi's only son, Bella Jr., five years later. Bela Lugosi Net Worth. 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]. . Appeared with Lon Chaney Jr. in five films: The Wolf Man (1941), The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man . [80], In 2020, Legendary Comics published an adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 Dracula novel, which used the likeness of Lugosi. [39], Late in his life, Bela Lugosi again received star billing in films when the ambitious but financially limited filmmaker Ed Wood, a fan of Lugosi, found him living in obscurity and near-poverty and offered him roles in his films, such as an anonymous narrator in Glen or Glenda (1953) and a mad scientist in Bride of the Monster (1955). [1] 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. The Hungarian actor Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask, better known as Bela Lugosi, became known to many as the face of Dracula after his iconic appearance as the famous vampire in the 1931 film adaptation of Bram Stoker's classic novel. 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. Hal B. Wallis, Martin and Lewis's producer, unsuccessfully sued Broder. became famous? Age (2022) Update Soon. During an impromptu interview upon his exit from the treatment center in 1955, Lugosi stated that he was about to go to work on a new Ed Wood film, The Ghoul Goes West. Following his return to the United States, he was interviewed for television, and reflected wistfully on his typecasting in horror parts: "Now I am the boogie man". Death, Net Worth, Wife, Family, Brother. His legal actions in Lugosi v. Universal Pictures led to the creation of the California Celebrities Rights Act. Bela George Lugosi net worth is $9 Million Bela George Lugosi Wiki: Salary, Married, Wedding, Spouse, Family Bela Lugosi Jr. was born on January 5, 1938 in Los Angeles, California, USA as Bela George Lugosi. The role went to Karloff instead, and soon the hollow-cheeked leading man began beating Lugosi out for roles. [56], Lugosi died of a heart attack on August 16, 1956, in the bedroom of his Los Angeles apartment while taking a nap. [6] He was raised in a Roman Catholic family. Also Ed Wood did not meet Lugosi in a funeral parlor, but rather through his roommate Alex Gordon. 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. 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. [65] In 2019 it was announced that the cape would be on display the following year. [16] He only declared his intention to become a US citizen in 1928; on June 26, 1931, he was naturalized. Many believed, thanks to the 1994 filmEd Wood,that Lugosi went so far as to sleep in a coffin. Blask. Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask. Several more silent roles followed, villains and continental types, all in productions made in the New York area. 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". Monday, Lugosi left Germany in October 1920, intending to emigrate to the United States, and entered the country at New Orleans in December 1920. In 1925, he appeared as an Arab Sheik in Arabesque which premiered in Buffalo, New York at the Teck Theatre before moving to Broadway. April 30, 2023. Insult to injury, Karloff was able to move on from his appearances in silly vampire and wolfman and monster flicks to more illustrious roles, whereas Lugosi was stuck in a hall of mirrors of sorts, every new part more ridiculous and broad than the last. How tall is Bela Lugosi 59. In 1955 Bela Lugosi was in a sad state. This recording, "The Thirsty Death," is a considerable mystery unto itself.
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