Lugosi was intoxicated and very ill during the film's promotional campaign and had to return to L.A. earlier than planned. [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. Speaking of, Lugosi married Lillian Arch, his fourth wife, in 1933. Also in 1931, he became a U.S. citizen. With Lugosi in his Dracula cape, Wood shot impromptu test footage, with no particular storyline in mind, in front of Tor Johnson's home, at a suburban graveyard, and in front of Lugosi's apartment building on Carlton Way. Lugosi left Germany in October 1920, intending to emigrate to the United States, and entered the country at New Orleans in December 1920. [15] Lugosi made at least 10 films in Hungary between 1917 and 1918 before leaving for Germany. 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. 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. [75], On July 19, 2003, German artist Hartmut Zech erected a bust of Lugosi on one of the corners of Vajdahunyad Castle in Budapest. Bela George Lugosi (born January 5, 1938) is an American attorney and the son of actor Bla Lugosi. Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers. Famous for his thick Hungarian accent, he dominated the screen for two decades until his death. It didn't help matters that money was often tight. pg. His immortal role as the count led him to play roles in 1934's The Black Cat and 1935's The Raven. In 1928, Lugosi decided to stay in California when the play ended its West Coast run. Youtube. Bela Lugosi was born in Lugoj, Romania on Friday, October 20, 1882 (G.I. During an impromptu interview upon his release from the treatment center in 1955, Lugosi stated that he was about to begin work on a new Ed Wood film called The Ghoul Goes West. 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. 61. 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 . At age 12 Lugosi ran away from home and began working odd jobs, including stage acting. He began his acting career in 1901 or 1902. In 1996, he had a supporting role in Roland Emmerich's Independence Day. At the age of 12, Lugosi dropped out of school. After playing in 172 different productions in his native Hungary, Lugosi moved on to appearing in Hungarian silent films in 1917. At the age of 12, Lugosi dropped out of school. He never got to see the finished film. . [50] They remained married for 20 years and they had a child, Bela G. Lugosi, in 1938. 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. Lugosi addressed his plea to be cast in non-horror roles directly to casting directors through his listing in the 1937 Players Directory, published by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in which he (or his agent) calls the idea that he is only fit for horror films "an error.". According to Lost Magazine, by the time of his death of a heart attack at 73, Lugosi had played the count 1,300 times, both on stage and on screen. He was born in Lugos on 1882-10-20. Lugosi's jealousy put an end to his union with Arch, who was more than three decades his junior. Fast Facts: Bela Lugosi. To Lugosi's disappointment, however, his role in this film was that of a mute, with no dialogue. [56], Lugosi died of a heart attack on August 16, 1956, in the bedroom of his Los Angeles apartment while taking a nap. Lugosi was born Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask on October 20, 1882, in Lugos . For the remainder of his life, he appeared less and less frequently in obscure, forgettable, low-budget B features. Thursday, Read on for more on this caped legend of stage and screen. [73][74], In 2001, BBC Radio 4 broadcast There Are Such Things by Steven McNicoll and Mark McDonnell. ", "Bela Lugosi is Dracula Again in New Comic Arriving This October", https://www.retroagogo.com/categories/collections/bela-lugosi/, Saturn Award for Best DVD or Blu-ray Collection, Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bela_Lugosi&oldid=1152475029, Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I, Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, Naturalized citizens of the United States, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2015, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from October 2022, Articles needing additional references from August 2020, All articles needing additional references, Articles containing Hungarian-language text, Articles with Hungarian-language sources (hu), Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 30 April 2023, at 13:16. Continue reading to discover who . Universal changed management in 1936 and, because of a British ban on horror films, dropped them from their production schedule; Lugosi found himself consigned to Universal's non-horror B-film unit, at times in small roles where he was obviously used for "name value" only. Tor Johnson said in interviews that Lugosi kept screaming that he wanted to die the night they shared a hotel room together. ISBN 0977379817 (hardcover). You get the point. Net Worth 2020, Salary. He next played Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994). 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. Net Worth. After Dracula, the bulk of Lugosi's roles were in monster movies of varying degrees of ridiculousness. 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. In 1927, he got his big break. If you dare Bela Lugosi grew up in a solidly middle class family in Hungary, the son of a baker-turned-banker. 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. [2] He was 73 and weighed 140 pounds. [3] (Szmik then married wealthy Hungarian architect Imre Francsek in December 1920, moved with him to Iran in 1930, had two children, and died in 1991.)[47]. Bela Lugosi Net Worth (Actor) They remained married until his death in 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. 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. Bela Lugosi was born on October 20, 1882 in Lugoj, Romania. Lillian and Bela vacationed on their lakeshore property in Lake Elsinore, California (then called Elsinore), on several lots between 1944 and 1953. Everywhere Lugosi went, people saw a blood-sucking bad guy from Transylvania. Following the blockbuster release of Dracula in 1931, the striving and serious actor from Transylvania would find himself typecast again and again by Hollywood, passed over for more meaty roles and given, almost without fail, the part of the cheesy villain. The cape Lugosi wore in Dracula (1931) was in the possession of his family until it was put up for auction in 2011. 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. Bela Lugosi's full name is Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask and his nickname is Bela Lugosi. [68], In 1979, a song called "Bela Lugosi's Dead" was released by UK post-punk band Bauhaus and is widely considered to be a pioneering song in the gothic rock genre. Different prominent actors were considered before Browning cast Lugosi for the role, but the film was a hit. According to SyFy Wire,he learned the language bit by bit, role by role, reading his lines out loud to himself. $4.5 Million. Wood plays Glen/Glenda. Bela Lugosi - Age, Bio, Birthday, Family, Net Worth | National Today Bela's fourth wife Lillian paid for the cemetery plot and stone (which was inscribed "Beloved Father"), while Hope Lugosi paid for the coffin and the funeral service. Bela Lugosi Death: and Cause of Death. Blasko".[70]. 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. ), and Lillian Arch (1933 - 1951). He was the youngest of four children. Continue to the next page to see Bela Lugosi net worth, estimated salary and earnings. Last chapter. His legal actions in Lugosi v. Universal Pictures led to the creation of the California Celebrities Rights Act. Lugosi's will left several inexpensive pieces of real estate in Elsinore and only $1,000 cash to his son, but since the will had been written on Jan. 12, 1954 (before Lugosi's fifth marriage), Bela Jr. had to share the thousand dollars evenly with Hope Lugosi. 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. Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask. [a] Different prominent actors, such as Paul Muni, Chester Morris, Ian Keith, John Wray, Joseph Schildkraut, Arthur Edmund Carewe, William Courtenay, John Carradine, and Conrad Veidt were considered. Bela Lugosi Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family Lugosi went to 20th Century-Fox for The Gorilla (1939), which had him playing straight man (a butler) to Patsy Kelly and the Ritz Brothers. He was kept employed by the studios principally so that they could put his name on the posters. 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. Bela Lugosi Net Worth. 103. Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein(1948). He also continued to lobby for his prized role in the film version of Dracula. She died in 1997 at age 78. Lugosi helped organize the Screen Actors Guild in the mid-'30s, joining as member number 28.Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack August 16, 1956. Regarding Son of Frankenstein, the film's director Rowland V. Lee said his crew let Lugosi "work on the characterization; the interpretation he gave us was imaginative and totally unexpected when we finished shooting, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that he stole the show. Universal took notice of the tremendous business and launched its own national re-release of the same two horror favorites. 's salary? [67], 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. His net worth is estimated at about $5 million. These horror, comedy and mystery B-films were mostly released by Monogram Pictures. 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". 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. The same can be said for Plan 9 FromOuter Space, whichSmithsonian Magazine describes as Wood's "magnum opus of sci-fi schlock." [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. 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. Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers. California's descendibility statute for rights of publicity, Civil Code Section 990, was enacted in 1988, and Lugosi's estate now licenses the commercial use of his name and image. 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. 58. In September 1921, he married Hungarian actress Ilona von Montagh in New York City, and she filed for divorce on November 11, 1924, charging him with adultery and complaining that he wanted her to abandon her acting career to keep house for him. Or Heath Ledger as the Joker. The iconic portrayal of Count Dracula marked Lugosi's career and gave him widespread recognition. Despite the relative size of their roles, Lugosi inevitably received second billing, below Karloff. [64] In 2019, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announced acquisition of the cape via partial donation from the Lugosi family. 1941. Along the way he picked up a drug habit. "I was dead, and he brought me back to life." 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. He was sent to fight in the Carpathian Winter War. Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack August 16, 1956. Bela Lugosi (born October 20, 1882) is famous for being movie actor. 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. When this proved not to be the case, according to Karloff, Lugosi settled down and they worked together amicably (though some have further commented that the English Karloff's on-set demand to break from filming for mid-afternoon tea annoyed Lugosi). He wasn't Universal Pictures' first choice, though. Bela Lugosi, Romania Actor. In some ways, this visit would echo the year his son, Bela Lugosi Jr., was born. His immortal role as the count led him to play roles in 1934s The Black Cat and 1935s The Raven. 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. The couple divorced in 1920, reputedly over political differences with her parents. This recording, "The Thirsty Death," is a considerable mystery unto itself. Bela Lugosi was an actor who was best known for his role as Count Dracula in a 1931 movie. As film offers declined, he became more and more dependent on live venues to support his family. Sheffield said years later "Lugosi had probably spent it all on alcohol." [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. Strange, but also fitting and bittersweet. Lugosi left Germany in October 1920, emigrating by ship to the United States, and entered the country at New Orleans in December 1920. Nationality. 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? Bela Lugosi made money by Actors niche. $4 Million. 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. The rumor originated from the discovery of a publicity still from this film found posthumously in Lugosi's scrapbook, which showed an unidentified clown in heavy makeup standing near Lon Chaney in one scene. His real name is Bla Ferenc Dezs? In 1933, he married 22-year-old Lillian Arch (1911-1981), the daughter of Hungarian immigrants. Wounded twice in the fighting, Lugosi received a medal for his faithful service. He was 73. Focusing on Lugosi and his well-documented struggle to escape from the role that had typecast him, the play went on to receive the Hamilton Deane Award for best dramatic presentation from the Dracula Society in 2002. 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. [66], 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. [4] Returning to civilian life, Lugosi became an actor in Hungarian silent films, appearing in many of them under the stage name "Arisztid Olt". Actor: Dracula. He'd hoped, like his contemporary, Boris Karloff, to win the hearts and minds of not just fans but critics, too. Hal B. Wallis, Martin and Lewis's producer, unsuccessfully sued Broder. As of 2022, Bela Lugosi's net worth is under review. Bela Lugosi's film career was all but dead when the B-movie (D-movie?) A distinguished stage actor in his native Hungary . 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. Who is Bela Lugosi his net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. Universal took notice of the tremendous business and launched its own national re-release of the same two horror favorites. Born: October 20, 1882 in Lugos, Hungary. Bela Lugosi is a member of Richest Celebrities and Movie Actors. The growth of his dependence on opiates, particularly morphine and (after 1947, when it became available in America) methadone, was directly proportional to the dwindling of Lugosi's screen offers. Not true, but so is the power of suggestion. Whether or not the two men actually disliked each other is a matter of lively debate. His performance had piqued the interest of Fox Film, and he was cast in the studio's silent film The Veiled Woman (1929). 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. Play episode. Karloff's monster was weak by comparison."[32]. Skinny and desperate, he begged a judge to commit him. Wood added what footage he had of the star and used and (unconvincing) body double. During WWI, he volunteered and was commissioned as an infantry lieutenant, and was wounded three times. 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. Bela Lugosi - Wikipedia Bela Lugosi will celebrate 141st birthday on a Friday 20th of October 2023. The film played at midnight with a number of celebrities in the audience that night (Judy Garland, Ginger Rogers, Rock Hudson, Broderick Crawford, Gracie Allen, Eddie Cantor, Shelley Winters and others). 's family members. In 1925, he appeared as an Arab Sheik in Arabesque which premiered in Buffalo, New York at the Teck Theatre before moving to Broadway. Weeks subsequently filed for divorce on November 4, 1929, accusing Lugosi of infidelity, citing actress Clara Bow as the "other woman", and claimed Lugosi tried to take her checkbook and the key to her safe deposit box away from her. So, how much was Bela Lugosi networth at the age of years old? 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. But at the last minute, Lugosi's heavily-accented dialogue was edited out after the film was completed, along with the idea of the Monster being blind, leaving his performance featuring groping, outstretched arms and moving lips seeming enigmatic (and funny) to audiences. Lugosi's first film appearance was in the movie Az ezredes (The Colonel, 1917). According to Bela G. Lugosi (his son), Forrest Ackerman, Dolores Fuller and Richard Sheffield, the film's portrayal of Lugosi is inaccurate: In real life, he never used profanity, did not hate Karloff, owned no small dogs, nor did he sleep in a coffin. Lugosi made 12 films in Hungary between 1917 and 1918 before leaving for Germany. No Traveler Returns: The Lost Years of Bela Lugosi by Bill Kaffenberger and Gary D. Rhodes (2012). The heat clearly worked. As per our current Database, Bela Lugosi died on Aug 16, 1956 (age 73). 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. Lugosi died of a heart attack on 16 August 1956, while lying on a bed in his Los Angeles apartment. He is 140 years old and is a Libra. 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. He was born in Lugos, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary in 1882 and died in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1956. Four other silent roles followed, villains and continental types, all in productions made in the New York area. Bela had four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. 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". 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 biggest break, really. 2022. The fact that he was born just 50 miles from where the novel is set made him a natural choice for the part. He began his acting career in 1901 or 1902. [33] He was finally cast in the role of Frankenstein's monster for Universal's Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943). "I owe it all to that little man at the Regina Theatre," said Lugosi of exhibitor Umann. Due to his activism in the actors' union in Hungary during the revolution of 1919, he was forced to flee his homeland. He also appeared in the film Prisoners (also 1929), believed lost, which was released in both a silent and partial talkie version. I was saying how Bela Lugosi was the quintessential Dracula, the elegant depiction of the character. According to TheVintage News, 100,000 Austro-Hungarian soldiers perished in the battle, and Lugosi was promoted to ski patrol. A number of factors began to work against Lugosi's career in the mid-1930s. The article quotes Lugosi as saying, "Never has a role so influenced and dominated an actor's life as has the role of Dracula. Lugosi was never a contender for such an award. Ames was in turn replaced with David Manners, who would instead come to play John Harker. In 1928, Lugosi decided to stay in California when the play ended its first West Coast run. Bela Lugosi Net Worth, Height, Age, and More - Popular Celebrity Biography She would sign her letters "A dash of Hope". 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). became famous? 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. 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. It was his first English-speaking role.