Universal took notice of the tremendous business and launched its own national re-release of the same two horror favorites. He lost even more. 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. For all time, at the moment, 2023 year, Bela Lugosi earned $96 Million. 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". 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. 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). . So it should come as no surprise, perhaps, that he was married not once, not twice or even three or four times, but five. He was born in Hungary and died in Los Angeles, California, in 1956. [35] Lugosi memorized the script for the skit, but became confused on the air when Berle began to ad lib. 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. How rich is Bela Lugosi You get the point. 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. . Though at first he was treated with benign pain remedies such as asparagus juice, doctors increased the medication to opiates. 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. $4 Million. 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. . Lillian's parents lived on one of their properties, and Lugosi frequented the health spa there. Lugosi kept busy during the 1940s as a screen menace. Bela's income mostly comes from and basic source was being a successful Hungarian actor (1882-1956). As a youth, Bla Blask dreamed of becoming a stage performer, but his uptight, middle class family disapproved of the profession. It was expected to sell for up to $2 million, but has since been listed again by Bonhams in 2018. Lugosi died of a heart attack on 16 August 1956, while lying on a bed in his Los Angeles apartment. Or Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker. He'd hoped, like his contemporary, Boris Karloff, to win the hearts and minds of not just fans but critics, too. He even took top billing on films in which Lugosi was the star. In Celebrities Gabrielle Miller Wiki: Wedding, Salary, Nationality, Parents. Interestingly enough, Vlad the Impaler, Broker's inspiration for the count, was likewise a misunderstood man. [2] He later starred in the 1931 film version of Dracula directed by Tod Browning and produced by Universal Pictures. [56], Lugosi died of a heart attack on August 16, 1956, in the bedroom of his Los Angeles apartment while taking a nap. 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 would sign her letters "A dash of Hope". On 16 August 1956, Bela Lugosi died of non-communicable . On 26 June 1931, Lugosi became a naturalized United States citizen. Currently, Bela Lugosi is 140 years, 6 months and 11 days old. 2020. The film would be Bela Lugosi's last "A" movie. [18] Three more parts came in 192526, including a five-month run in the comedy-fantasy The Devil in the Cheese. After moving to Budapest in 1911, he played dozens of roles with the National Theatre of Hungary between 1913 and 1919. The division's mission was to launch an attack against Russian troops in Poland. Along the way he picked up a drug habit. Arthur Lennig, The Immortal Count, University Press of Kentucky, 2003, p. 21; Rhodes, Gary (1997). He co-starred in a number of films with Boris Karloff, who was able to demand top billing. Education: Dropped out of school at age 12. 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. The court ruled that under California law any rights of publicity, including the right to his image, terminated with Lugosi's death. - ? 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. It was a wrenching move for the rising star, who, 16 years earlier, had changed his surname from Blask to Lugosi in homage to Lugos, the city of his birth. Fast Facts: Bela Lugosi. Hungarian actor who was immortalized as Dracula in 1931. 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 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. Bela Lugosi was born on October 20, 1882 in Lugoj, Romania. So, how much was Bela Lugosi networth at the age of years old? Lugosi, who got his start acting in Shakespearean dramas in his native Hungary, was an ambitious and stately performer. Landau won an Oscar for his turn as the Hungarian heartthrob who'd fallen on hard times. A copy sold for $798,000 at Christie's in May 2000. ISBN 0977379817 (hardcover), Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers. 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. Monday, [44][45], Lugosi repeatedly married. 's salary? Bela Lugosi Net Worth. 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 acted in several Hungarian language plays before starring in his first English Broadway play, The Red Poppy in 1922. 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. [46], In 1933, the 51-year-old Lugosi married 22-year-old Lillian Arch (19111981), the daughter of Hungarian immigrants living in Hollywood. Biography. In 1921, he married Ilona von Montagh, and divorced in 1924. 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. During these moves, Ilona lost her unborn child,[13] after which she left Lugosi and returned home to her parents where she filed for divorce, and soon after remarried. Lugosi's final resting place is Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. On July 19, 2003, German artist Hartmut Zech erected a bust of Lugosi on one of the corners of Vajdahunyad Castle in Budapest. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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". Frank Sinatra, fresh off the success of his album, In the Wee Small Hours, was quietly contributing to Lugosi's mental health fund. Bela Lugosi will celebrate 141st birthday on a Friday 20th of October 2023. Dracula (1931) $3,500 : 50 Million Frenchmen (1931) $1,000 : Chandu the Magician (1932) $2,500 : White Zombie (1932) . Nearly 20 years later, Lugosi found himself the beneficiary of an unlikely guardian angel. He is often referred to as Bela Lugosi Jr. As this biography notes, he was fired from gigs roughly 20 times over the next two decades for incompetence. Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack August 16, 1956. [4] His father died during his absence. 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. According to SyFy Wire,he learned the language bit by bit, role by role, reading his lines out loud to himself. [7], At the age of 12, Lugosi dropped out of school and left home to work at a succession of manual labor jobs. Continue reading to discover who . When appearing in Hungarian silent films, he used the stage name Arisztid Olt. He currently resides in Lugoj, Romania. 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 was intoxicated and very ill during the film's promotional campaign and had to return to L.A. earlier than planned. [73][74], In 2001, BBC Radio 4 broadcast There Are Such Things by Steven McNicoll and Mark McDonnell. 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. Lugosi's first film appearance was in the movie Az ezredes (The Colonel, 1917). He was the youngest of four children. 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. In some ways, this visit would echo the year his son, Bela Lugosi Jr., was born. 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. The biggest break, really. Bela Lugosi became known as an actor the studios could get on the cheap. Generation generation). 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. 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 complained of her excessive drinking and dancing with other men at social gatherings. 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. Despite the relative size of their roles, Lugosi inevitably received second billing, below Karloff. 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. It's enough to make one turn over in one's grave. Bela Lugosi beckons us to enter The Mystery House ! He was raised in a Roman Catholic family.. At the age of 12, Lugosi dropped out of school and left home to work at a succession of manual labor jobs. The iconic portrayal of Count Dracula marked Lugosi's career and gave him widespread recognition. Also Ed Wood did not meet Lugosi in a funeral parlor, but rather through his roommate Alex Gordon. 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. He wasn't Universal Pictures' first choice, though. Hope later moved to Hawaii, where she worked for many years as a caregiver in a leper colony. During WWI, he volunteered and was commissioned as an infantry lieutenant, and was wounded three times.A distinguished stage actor in his native Hungary, Austria-Hungary, he began his stage career in 1901 and started appearing in films during World War I, fleeing to Germany in 1919 as a result of his left-wing political activity (he organized an actors' union). 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. He was tortured by the idea that, after his star-turn in the Dracula movie in 1931, no one saw would see him as a complicated human being or a talented, sensitive artist. 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. And, indeed, it was made into a beloved film, Ed Wood, starring Johnny Depp as Wood and Martin Landau as Lugosi. Wood hired Tom Mason, his wife's chiropractor, to double for Lugosi in additional shots. He never got to see the finished film. 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]. 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. 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. He was 73. 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. According to this look at Lugosi's itinerant LA lifestyle, he had to borrow money from the Motion Picture Relief Fund to cover the medical costs. Lugosi will probably forever be remembered for playing Count Dracula in Tod Browning's 1931 film version of Bram Stoker's spooky novel. In 1998, he played Mike McDermott in John Dahl's Rounders. It was not immediately successful, though. Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). 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. became famous? 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. Bela Lugosi was a working actor when World War I broke out in Europe. 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 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.". This was one of several projects proposed by Wood, including The Phantom Ghoul and Dr. Acula. As of 2022, Bela Lugosi's net worth is under review. The feature is noteworthy as being Bela Lugosi's only color film. A distinguished stage actor in his native Hungary . The right of publicity in some states endures for 50, 70, 75 or 100 years past the death of the celebrity. 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. [3], Lugosi, the youngest of four children,[4] 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,[5] and Serbian-born mother Paula de Vojnich. ", "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. No Traveler Returns: The Lost Years of Bela Lugosi by Bill Kaffenberger and Gary D. Rhodes (2012). 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. 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. 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. In 1996, he had a supporting role in Roland Emmerich's Independence Day. He descended into drug use and despair. Lugosi's first film appearance was in the 1917 Hungarian silent film Leoni Leo. 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 . pg. "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. 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. At the age of 12, Lugosi dropped out of school. Bela Lugosi Death: and Cause of Death. He was the youngest of four children. [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). She had been a fan, writing letters to him when he was in the hospital recovering from his drug addiction. Bla Ferenc Dezs? [50] They remained married for 20 years and they had a child, Bela G. Lugosi, in 1938. She died in 1997 at age 78. [29] He played the elegant, somewhat hot-tempered General Nicholas Strenovsky-Petronovich in International House (1933). Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack August 16, 1956. [54](Lillian eventually did marry Brian Donlevy in 1966, by which time she had also become an alcoholic and she died in 1981. His first marriage, to Ilona Smzik, ended in divorce in 1920, reportedly because his lefty politics upset his Smzik's parents. Lugosi was also the subject of "Bela Lugosi's Dead", the first single by the English band Bauhaus. Bela Lugosi's film career was all but dead when the B-movie (D-movie?) However Bela and Hope were actually discussing getting divorced around the time he passed away. [48] The divorce became final in October, 1925. 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. 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. With fellow expatriate Hungarian actors he formed a small stock company that toured Eastern cities, playing for immigrant audiences. He was born in Lugos, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary in 1882 and died in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1956. The same can be said for Plan 9 FromOuter Space, whichSmithsonian Magazine describes as Wood's "magnum opus of sci-fi schlock." His net worth has been growing significantly in 2022-2023. There was a season of old horror films on TV and I was telling Daniel about how much I loved them. Bela Lugosi, Romania Actor. Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers. Many believed, thanks to the 1994 filmEd Wood,that Lugosi went so far as to sleep in a coffin. Bela Lugosi Net Worth - How Much Is Bela Lugosi Worth? 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. Which makes it somewhat strange that his son, Bela Jr., and fourth wife,Lillian, made the decision to bury Lugosi in his Dracula cape. [15] Lugosi made at least 10 films in Hungary between 1917 and 1918 before leaving for Germany. Financial difficulties forced him into taking roles that were beneath both his talent and pay grade. The judge sent Lugosi to a nearby hospital, where he plotted a comeback that would never materialize. With fellow expatriate Hungarian actors he formed a small stock company that toured Eastern cities, playing for immigrant audiences. Known For: Starring in the iconic role of Count Dracula in the 1931 film Dracula. (Weeks died 17 months later (at age 34) from alcoholism in Panama, Lugosi never receiving a penny from her fortune. The couple divorced in 1920, reputedly over political differences with her parents. 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. . They had a child, Bela G. Lugosi, in 1938. 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. 5 Million. Before her death, she gave several (rather downbeat) interviews to the fan press. 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. 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. For the remainder of his life he appeared less and less frequently in obscure, low-budget features.Bela Lugosi died on August 16, 1956 of a coronary occlusion at the age of 73. 134th birthday - [75], On July 19, 2003, German artist Hartmut Zech erected a bust of Lugosi on one of the corners of Vajdahunyad Castle in Budapest. 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. 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). He was awarded the Wound Medal for wounds he sustained while serving on the Russian front. [26] Lugosi had played the role on Broadway,[27] and was considered before director Tod Browning cast him in the role. It's worthy of its own movie the love story of two tragically underestimated and maligned men. 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. Bela Lugosi was an actor who was best known for his role as Count Dracula in a 1931 movie. After moving to Budapest in 1911, he played dozens of roles with the National Theatre of Hungary between 191319. "I owe it all to that little man at the Regina Theatre," said Lugosi of exhibitor Umann. His Hungarian accent led to him being typecasted as a horror villain in many films. It ran for three years, and was subsequently, and memorably, filmed by Tod Browning in 1931, establishing Lugosi as one of the screen's greatest personifications of pure evil.
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