When Lugosi playfully attempted to bite the "nurse" in attendance, she overreacted and spilled a glass of milk all over his shirt and cape. The once-handsome, Hungarian-born star of Dracula had seen his career degenerate over the previous two decades until at last he was reduced to playing a cruel parody of himself in some of the tackiest B horror films ever made. [44][45], Lugosi repeatedly married. He dropped out of school when he was twelve years old, and began appearing in Shakespeare plays. Age (2022) Update Soon. 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. His first American film role was in the melodrama The Silent Command (1923). Lugosi's first film appearance was in the 1917 Hungarian silent film Leoni Leo. He also continued to lobby for his prized role in the film version of Dracula. 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 . He currently resides in Lugoj, Romania. Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask. ? 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. 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. [54](Lillian eventually did marry Brian Donlevy in 1966, by which time she had also become an alcoholic and she died in 1981. [80], In 2020, Legendary Comics published an adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 Dracula novel, which used the likeness of Lugosi. Born: October 20, 1882 in Lugos, Hungary. 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. Lugosi eventually grew very bitter over the fact that the general public took him for Dracula. 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. A copy sold for $798,000 at Christie's in May 2000. He was 48-years-old when he got the part in the iconic film, and he was already many years into his acting career. Universal cast Lugosi in Son of Frankenstein (1939), appearing in the character role of Ygor, a mad blacksmith with a broken neck, in heavy makeup and beard. His first marriage, to Ilona Smzik, ended in divorce in 1920, reportedly because his lefty politics upset his Smzik's parents. In 2001, BBC Radio 4 broadcast There Are Such Things by Steven McNicoll and Mark McDonnell. Blask (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. At age 12 Lugosi ran away from home and began working odd jobs, including stage acting. Not true, but so is the power of suggestion. California Supreme Court decision on personality rights. In 1917, Lugosi married Ilona Szmik (1898-1991). [64] In 2019, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announced acquisition of the cape via partial donation from the Lugosi family. Want to more about Him? He had to suddenly emigrate to Germany after the failed Hungarian Communist Revolution of 1919 because of his former socialist activities (organizing a stage actors' union), leaving his first wife in the process. Bela Lugosi's full name is Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask and his nickname is Bela Lugosi. The same year saw Lugosi making a rare appearance in an A-list motion picture: he was a stern Soviet commissar in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer romantic comedy Ninotchka, starring Greta Garbo and directed by Ernst Lubitsch. [56], Lugosi died of a heart attack on August 16, 1956, in the bedroom of his Los Angeles apartment while taking a nap. It was a long way to fall for the star of one of Hollywood's most successful talkies. She would sign her letters "A dash of Hope". Unable or unwilling to finish his studies, he supported himself as a miner and railroad worker until the age of 18 when his sister, Vilma, persuaded her husband to secure Bela a place in a traveling theater troupe. Bela Lugosi Net Worth. Lugosi later told reporters that he had no choice but to leave his home to find a job, walking 300 miles to an industrial center where he worked as a miner. The film would be Bela Lugosi's last "A" movie. He was born in Lugos on 1882-10-20. Below we countdown to Bela Lugosi upcoming birthday. 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. (Weeks died 17 months later (at age 34) from alcoholism in Panama, Lugosi never receiving a penny from her fortune. He declared his intention to become a US citizen in 1928; on June 26, 1931, he was naturalized. Nearly 20 years later, Lugosi found himself the beneficiary of an unlikely guardian angel. His fifth and final wife, Hope Lininger, wrote him passionate letters while he tried to kick his addiction to methadone and morphine. The studio then rehired Lugosi to star in new films, fortunately just as Lugosi's fourth wife had given birth to a son. 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. Bela's income mostly comes from and basic source was being a successful Hungarian actor (1882-1956). Veteran Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi, 73, best known for his many Dracula screen roles, died late yesterday in his apartment at 5620 Harold Way, apparently the victim of a heart attack. Not exactly a natural fit for a banker's boy. He also accepted the lead in an experimental, economical feature, shot in the semi-professional 16mm film format and blown up to 35mm for theatrical release, Scared to Death (produced in 1944 but not released until 1947). [29] He played the elegant, somewhat hot-tempered General Nicholas Strenovsky-Petronovich in International House (1933). pg. Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff are referenced in the Curtis Stigers' song "Sleeping with the Lights On", from the 1991 album Curtis Stigers. Lugosi, the youngest of four children, was born Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask in 1882 in Lugos, Kingdom of Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania) to Hungarian father Istvn Blask, a baker who later became a banker, and Serbian-born mother Paula de Vojnich. Lugosi died of a heart attack prior to filming. Andy Warhol's 1963 silkscreen The Kiss depicts Lugosi from Dracula about to bite into the neck of co-star Helen Chandler, who played Mina Harker. [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. Bela Lugosi Net worth and Salary. His performance had piqued the interest of Fox Film, and he was cast in the Hollywood studio's silent film The Veiled Woman (1929). Youtube. She had been a fan, writing letters to him when he was in the hospital recovering from his drug addiction. "I was dead, and he brought me back to life." During WWI, he volunteered and was commissioned as an infantry lieutenant, and was wounded three times. Lugosi's partnership with Wood began in 1953 with the cross-dressing cult classic, Glen or Glenda, written and directed by Wood, a known transvestite. This footage ended up in Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), which was mostly filmed after Lugosi died. In Tim Burton's Ed Wood, Bela Lugosi is portrayed by Martin Landau, who received the 1994 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the performance. In some ways, this visit would echo the year his son, Bela Lugosi Jr., was born. [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). ), and Lillian Arch (1933 - 1951). Continue reading to discover who . [78], In 2013 the Hungarian electronic music band agar recorded a song entitled "Mr. Lugosi", which contains a recording of the voice of Bela Lugosi. They remained married until his death in 1956. The picture was filmed in Cinecolor.The film is historically important as the only color film in which Bela Lugosi has a starring role. He also appeared in the film Prisoners (also 1929), believed lost, which was released in both a silent and partial talkie version. Lugosi claimed he performed the Dracula play around 1,000 times during his lifetime. )[55], Lugosi married Hope Lininger, his fifth wife, in 1955; she was 37 years his junior. 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. He was the youngest of four children. On 16 August 1956, Bela Lugosi died of non-communicable . Four other silent roles followed, villains and continental types, all in productions made in the New York area. As far as we know, he has never risen from it. Bela Lugosi Net Worth is $200,000 Bela Lugosi Bio/Wiki, Net Worth, Married 2018. . [48] The divorce became final in October, 1925. Itsvan died when Bela was just 12-years-old, throwing the family fortunes into turmoil. Blasko".[70]. He went first to Vienna before settling in Berlin (in the Langestrasse), where he continued acting. [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. Speaking of, Lugosi married Lillian Arch, his fourth wife, in 1933. Hungarian actor who was immortalized as Dracula in 1931. 2022. Bela Lugosi was a working actor when World War I broke out in Europe. The Horace Liveright production was successful, running for 261 performances before touring the United States to much fanfare and critical acclaim throughout 1928 and 1929. The rivalry all started, according to this piece on Bloody Disgusting, when Lugosi turned down the chance to play Frankenstein's monster in the 1931 film version of Mary Shelley's groundbreaking novel. The one that had been on the night before was Dracula [1931]. 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. [18] Three more parts came in 192526, including a five-month run in the comedy-fantasy The Devil in the Cheese. It was an inescapable legacy. Lugosi's final resting place is Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. Lugosi developed severe, chronic sciatica, ostensibly aggravated by injuries received during his military service. - ? Lugosi plays a character named The Scientist who narrates the hackneyed and often embarrassing but also hilarious exploration of sex and gender identity. [59][60] Hope died in Hawaii in 1997, at age 78, having never remarried. Hal B. Wallis, Martin and Lewis's producer, unsuccessfully sued Broder. In September 1949, Milton Berle invited Lugosi to appear in a sketch on Texaco Star Theatre. 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". When and how did Bela Lugosi 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. 58. He even took top billing on films in which Lugosi was the star. Lugosi was also the subject of "Bela Lugosi's Dead", the first single by the English band Bauhaus.
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