It was thought to be evidence that Lugosi appeared in the film, but historians all agree that is very unlikely, since Lugosi was in both Chicago (appearing in a play called The Werewolf) and New York at the time that film was being made in Hollywood. Wood hired Tom Mason, his wife's chiropractor, to double for Lugosi in additional shots. In some ways, this visit would echo the year his son, Bela Lugosi Jr., was born. 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. . Bela Lugosi Death: and Cause of Death. It was his first English-speaking role. Died: August 16, 1956 in Los Angeles, California, USA. 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. A number of factors began to work against Lugosi's career in the mid-1930s. Regardless of controversy, five films at Universal The Black Cat (1934), The Raven (1935), The Invisible Ray (1936), Son of Frankenstein (1939), Black Friday (1940), plus minor cameo performances in Gift of Gab (1934) and two at RKO Pictures, You'll Find Out (1940) and The Body Snatcher (1945) paired Lugosi with Boris Karloff. Bela Lugosi Net Worth is $200,000 Bela Lugosi Bio/Wiki, Net Worth, Married 2018. . Instead, he was relegated to the horror genre, written off as a B-movie hack. Lugosi was also the subject of "Bela Lugosi's Dead", the first single by the English band Bauhaus. His real name is Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask. His only television dramatic role was on the anthology series Suspense on October 11, 1949, in an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado. ISBN 0977379817 (hardcover). This was one of several projects proposed by Wood, including The Phantom Ghoul and Dr. Acula. And, indeed, it was made into a beloved film, Ed Wood, starring Johnny Depp as Wood and Martin Landau as Lugosi. 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. 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. He later allowed himself to be photographed drinking a glass of milk at a Red Cross booth there. When his son, Bela Jr., was born in 1938, Lugosi couldn't afford to pay the hospital bill. 's family members. Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers. Bela Lugosi's full name is Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask and his nickname is Bela Lugosi. In the same interview he expressed a desire to play more comedy, as he had in the Mother Riley farce. The biggest break, really. Karloff's monster was weak by comparison."[32]. His legal actions in Lugosi v. Universal Pictures led to the creation of the California Celebrities Rights Act. Lionel Atwill was originally slated to appear in the film, but he was too ill to work, so George Zucco replaced him in the cast. "I was dead, and he brought me back to life." ? [20], His first American film role was in the silent melodrama The Silent Command (1923) which was filmed in New York. ), and Lillian Arch (1933 - 1951). [29][38], The Vincent Price film, House of Wax premiered in Los Angeles at the Paramount Theatre on April 16, 1953. [48] The divorce became final in October, 1925. [23] The Horace Liveright production was successful, running in New York City for 261 performances before touring the United States to much fanfare and critical acclaim throughout 1928 and 1929. )[55], Lugosi married Hope Lininger, his fifth wife, in 1955; she was 37 years his junior. April 30, 2023. It's enough to make one turn over in one's grave. 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. In 1925, he appeared as an Arab Sheik in Arabesque which premiered in Buffalo, New York at the Teck Theatre before moving to Broadway. [50] They remained married for 20 years and they had a child, Bela G. Lugosi, in 1938. After living briefly in Germany, Lugosi left Europe by ship and arrived in New Orleans on October 27, 1920, and, after making his way north, underwent his primary alien inspection at Ellis Island, N.Y. on March 23, 1921. 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. He took the name "Lugosi" in 1903 to honor his birthplace, and eventually travelled to New Orleans, Louisiana as a crewman aboard a merchant ship. ? Bela Lugosi was born on October 20, 1882 in Lugoj, Romania (73 years old). [72] In the Hungarian production, directed by Istvn Szab, Lugosi was played by Ivan Darvas. Hope told Sheffield she had searched the apartment for several days looking for $3,000 she suspected Lugosi had hidden there, but she never found it. 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. In September 1949, Milton Berle invited Lugosi to appear in a sketch on Texaco Star Theatre. He was the youngest of four children. [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. Fast Facts: Bela Lugosi. It was expected to sell for up to $2 million,[63] but has since been listed again by Bonhams in 2018. He acted in several films in Weimar Germany, before arriving in New Orleans as a seaman on a merchant ship, then making his way north to New York City and Ellis Island. - ? No Traveler Returns: The Lost Years of Bela Lugosi by Bill Kaffenberger and Gary D. Rhodes (2012). 61. On choosing the topic of the song, the band's bassist David J remarked "It's so weird you should say that, because I've got this lyric about Bela Lugosi, the actor who played a vampire. In June 1917, Lugosi married 19-year-old Ilona Szmik (18981991) in Hungary. Lugosi died of a heart attack on 16 August 1956, while lying on a bed in his Los Angeles apartment. He was awarded the Wound Medal for wounds he sustained while serving on the Russian front. Tor Johnson said in interviews that Lugosi kept screaming that he wanted to die the night they shared a hotel room together. [2] He later starred in the 1931 film version of Dracula directed by Tod Browning and produced by Universal Pictures. 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"). Bela Lugosi made money by Actors niche. His net worth has been growing significantly in 2022-2023. 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. ? 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. [64] In 2019, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announced acquisition of the cape via partial donation from the Lugosi family. 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. At that time, in 1938, the new father was so strapped for cash he had to borrow from a Hollywood relief fund to pay the hospital bills. 59. During post-production of the latter, Lugosi decided to seek treatment for his drug addiction, and the film's premiere was arranged to raise money for Lugosi's hospital expenses (resulting in a paltry amount of money). That honor went to Lon Cheney. DETAILS BELOW. Later, the emotional and physical wounds of the war not to mention the pressures of Hollywood caught up with him and he had a very public struggle with drug addiction. 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 was 48-years-old when he got the part in the iconic film, and he was already many years into his acting career. Skinny and desperate, he begged a judge to commit him. 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. Add to that illustrious list Bela Lugosi and the British-born Boris Karloff. People are becoming more and more interested in Bela Lugosi because of how much money he makes. Biography. . [14], He later moved to California in 1928 to tour in the Dracula stage play, and his Hollywood film career took off. He was eventually invited to join the National Theater of Budapest. Read on for more on this caped legend of stage and screen. These low-budget thrillers indicate that Lugosi was much less discriminating than Karloff in selecting screen vehicles, but the exposure helped Lugosi financially if not artistically. 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. Through the 1930s, he occupied an important niche in horror films, but his notoriety as "Dracula" and ominous thick Hungarian accent greatly limited the roles offered to him, and he unsuccessfully tried for years to avoid the typecasting. 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. He co-starred in a number of films with Boris Karloff, who was able to demand top billing. Hungarian actor who was immortalized as Dracula in 1931. She would sign her letters "A dash of Hope". Due to his activism in the actors' union in Hungary during the revolution of 1919, he was forced to flee his homeland. In 1929, Lugosi took his place in Hollywood society and scandal when he married wealthy San Francisco resident Beatrice Weeks (1897-1931), widow of architect Charles Peter Weeks. His immortal role as the count led him to play roles in 1934's The Black Cat and 1935's The Raven. His earliest known performances are from provincial theatres in the 190304 season, playing small roles in several plays and operettas. [7], At the age of 12, Lugosi dropped out of school and left home to work at a succession of manual labor jobs. pg. In 2019 the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announced acquisition of the cape via partial donation from the Lugosi family and that the cape will be on display in 2020. Hope later gave most of Lugosi's personal belongings and memorabilia to Bela's young neighborhood friend Richard Sheffield, who gave Lugosi's duplicate Dracula cape to Bela Jr. and sold some of the other items to Forrest J. Ackerman. . Lugosi kept busy during the 1940s as a screen menace. This footage ended up in Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), which was mostly filmed after Lugosi died. 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. 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. In their place was a count's pedigree and a castle in the mountains of Transylvania. In 1921, he married Ilona von Montagh, and divorced in 1924. 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". He declared his intention to become a US citizen in 1928; on June 26, 1931, he was naturalized. ISBN 0977379817 (hardcover). Lugosi had also expressed interest in playing Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey to help himself professionally. It might have been a turning point for the actor, but within the year he was back on Hollywood's Poverty Row, playing leads for Sam Katzman. His earliest. He made his way to New York and was inspected by immigration officers at Ellis Island in March 1921. This was one of several projects proposed by Wood, including The Phantom Ghoul and Dr. Acula. Bela Lugosi Net Worth. Sadly, his reputation rapidly declined, mainly because he had been blacklisted by the main studios and had no choice but to accept any part (and script) handed to him, and ended up playing parodies of his greatest role, in low-grade poverty row films. He was sent to fight in the Carpathian Winter War. She claimed he slapped her in the face one night because she ate a pork chop he had hidden in their refrigerator. 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". 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 Lugosi was a working actor when World War I broke out in Europe. With fellow expatriate Hungarian actors he formed a small stock company that toured Eastern cities, playing for immigrant audiences. As a youth, Bla Blask dreamed of becoming a stage performer, but his uptight, middle class family disapproved of the profession. 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. Universal took notice of the tremendous business and launched its own national re-release of the same two horror favorites. Lugosi began acting on the Hungarian stage in 1902. [4] His father died during his absence. 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. In September 1949, Milton Berle invited Lugosi to appear in a sketch on Texaco Star Theatre. Bela Lugosi beckons us to enter The Mystery House ! He died a year into their marriage of a heart attack. Since the studio executives refused to give him his due in life, Lugosi's family namely his son, Bela LugosiJr., and his fourth wife, Lillian were determined that Universal Studio would not be able to profit off his likeness in death. [73][74], In 2001, BBC Radio 4 broadcast There Are Such Things by Steven McNicoll and Mark McDonnell. Lugosi memorized the script for the skit, but became confused on the air when Berle began to ad lib. Lugosi, who got his start acting in Shakespearean dramas in his native Hungary, was an ambitious and stately performer. Ames was in turn replaced with David Manners, who would instead come to play John Harker. Financial difficulties forced him into taking roles that were beneath both his talent and pay grade. He also made plenty of personal live appearances to promote his horror image or an accompanying film. Wood added what footage he had of the star and used and (unconvincing) body double. If you dare Bela Lugosi grew up in a solidly middle class family in Hungary, the son of a baker-turned-banker. He was, to moviegoers and followers of 1930s Hollywood, Dracula. Bela Lugosi grew up in a solidly middle class family in Hungary, the son of a baker-turned-banker. Bela Lugosi Net Worth. Bela Lugosi, born on October 20, 1882, began his acting career when he was a teenager in Hungary and went on to become one of the best-known actors in the world. Lugosi plays a character named The Scientist who narrates the hackneyed and often embarrassing but also hilarious exploration of sex and gender identity. In 1955, recently divorced from his fourth wife, he checked himself into the Los Angeles General Hospital Psychopathic Ward, hoping to kick his methadone and morphine habits. titled "Last of the Red Hot Vampires" was an homage to Bela Lugosi; at the end of the episode, it was dedicated to "Mr. . Bela Lugosi was an actor who was best known for his role as Count Dracula in a 1931 movie. They remained married until his death in 1956. What's clear, though, is that Lugosi was often on the losing end of Tinsel Town's notoriously flaky attention span. 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. Not only did the role take over his life; it subsumed his very identity. He currently resides in Lugoj, Romania. 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. It appeared on their 1972 album Everybody's in Show-Biz. 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 . Or Heath Ledger as the Joker. Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack August 16, 1956. 103. California Supreme Court decision on personality rights. He was the youngest of four children. 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." April 30, 2023. $4.5 Million. In Celebrities Gabrielle Miller Wiki: Wedding, Salary, Nationality, Parents. Afterward, Lugosi was interviewed by a female reporter who botched the interview by asking the prearranged questions out of order, thoroughly confusing the aging star. Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein(1948). 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. Lugosi died of a heart attack prior to filming. 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! Lugosi enjoyed a lively career on stage, with plenty of personal appearances. Bela had four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. He was learning to act by trial and error, or, as he put it, his will "was forged to whiter and whiter heat." Bela Lugosi Net worth and Salary. 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. Which makes it somewhat strange that his son, Bela Jr., and fourth wife,Lillian, made the decision to bury Lugosi in his Dracula cape. 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. 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). 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. 134th birthday - Last chapter. He also continued to lobby for his prized role in the film version of Dracula. 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]. Currently, Bela Lugosi is 140 years, 6 months and 11 days old. It didn't help matters that money was often tight. Bela George Lugosi (born January 5, 1938) is an American attorney and the son of actor Bla Lugosi. . Continue to the next page to see Bela Lugosi net worth, estimated salary and earnings. On his arrival in America, the 6-foot-1-inch (1.85 m), 180-pound (82 kg) Lugosi worked for some time as a laborer, and then entered the theater in New York City's Hungarian immigrant colony. She had been a fan, writing letters to him when he was in the hospital recovering from his drug addiction. 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). The one that had been on the night before was Dracula [1931]. The divorce became official on December 9, 1929. If Lugosi hoped that the success of Dracula would allow him to emerge from the gentleman vampire's ahem shadow, he was sorely mistaken. When and how did Bela Lugosi Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers. Online estimates of Bela Lugosis net worth vary. After playing in 172 different productions in his native Hungary, Lugosi moved on to appearing in Hungarian silent films in 1917. She would sign her letters "A dash of Hope". Lugosi complained of her excessive drinking and dancing with other men at social gatherings. In fact, he often told reporters that sex was the most important thing in the universe. (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]. Along the way he picked up a drug habit. He eventually became a U.S. citizen in 1931, soon after the release of his film version of Dracula.[12][4]. Exiled in Weimar-era Germany, he began appearing in a small number of well-received films, among them adaptations of the Karl May novels On the Brink of Paradise (Auf den Trmmern des Paradieses, 1920) and Caravan of Death (Die Todeskarawane, also 1920) with Dora Gerson (Gerson, who was Jewish, died in Auschwitz). 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. 2020. Blasko".[70]. Lugosi claimed he performed the Dracula play around 1,000 times during his lifetime. He dropped out of school when he was twelve years old, and began appearing in Shakespeare plays. After moving to Budapest in 1911, he played dozens of roles with the National Theatre of Hungary between 191319. Several more silent roles followed, villains and continental types, all in productions made in the New York area. Lugosi's first film appearance was in the 1917 Hungarian silent film Leoni Leo. [17], On his arrival in America, the 6-foot-1-inch (1.85m),[15] 180-pound (82kg) Lugosi worked for some time as a laborer, and then entered the theater in New York City's Hungarian immigrant colony. It also guaranteed that he would never work as a serious actor again. What terrible revenge has Lugosi's character concocted for his revenge? His first American film role was in the melodrama The Silent Command (1923). [19] In 1925, he played an Arab Sheik in Arabesque which premiered in Buffalo, New York at the Teck Theatre before moving to Broadway. By this time, Lugosi had been receiving regular medication for sciatic neuritis, and he became addicted to doctor-prescribed morphine and methadone. She filed for divorce four months later, citing actress Clara Bow as the "other woman". Bela's income mostly comes from and basic source was being a successful Hungarian actor (1882-1956). Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff are referenced in the Curtis Stigers' song "Sleeping with the Lights On", from the 1991 album Curtis Stigers. Death, Net Worth, Wife, Family, Brother. She had been a fan, writing letters to him when he was in the hospital, recovering from addiction to Demerol. He made his way to New York and was inspected by immigration officers at Ellis Island in March 1921. Among them, English architect Christopher Wren (in 1632), French poet Arthur Rimbaud (in 1854), Kenyan strongman Jomo Kenyatta(in 1891), Sen. Wayne Morse (in in 1900), pundit Will Rogers Jr. (in 1911), columnist Art Buchwald (in 1925), baseball Hall-of-Famer trends.embed.renderExploreWidget("TIMESERIES", {"comparisonItem":[{"keyword":"Bela Lugosi","geo":"","time":"today 12-m"}],"category":0,"property":""}, {"exploreQuery":"q=Bela Lugosi&date=today 12-m","guestPath":"https://trends.google.com:443/trends/embed/"}); His Hungarian accent led to him being typecasted as a horror villain in many films.
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