Bela Lugosi

Hungarian-American actor (1882–1956)

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Lived 1882–1956, aged 74

Wikipedia
64 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1882–1956
Aged 74
Known for
Dracula
1931

Summary

Updated 2026-06-09

He played Dracula once on film, in 1931, and spent the next 25 years unable to escape it. The accent that made him eerie also made him unhirable for anything else, so Bela Lugosi stayed in the shadows — horror pictures, morphine, and eventually Ed Wood's backyard sets — until the end.

Biography

About

Born Béla Blaskó in Hungary in 1882, he worked the stage there for 15 years before the failed Communist Revolution of 1919 sent him west as a political refugee. He landed in New Orleans as a seaman, worked his way to New York, and in 1927 starred as Dracula on Broadway. The 1931 film version, directed by Tod Browning, made him a star and a prisoner: his thick accent locked him into horror roles through the '30s, opposite Boris Karloff in The Black Cat and The Raven. Sciatic pain led to morphine, morphine to addiction, and by 1948 the work dried to B-pictures and Ed Wood cheapies. He died in Au…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Bela Lugosi

Bela Lugosi

said5 Apr 1939

I’ve lived here for 20 years and I have been a citizen for 10 years. I hope I am a good one. I know I don’t take it for granted.

— Interview for the Broadway Newsreel (April 5, 1939)

Bela Lugosi

said6 Jul 1930

It is a peculiar role in many respects, when you see the play Dracula seems to be constantly on the stage. A casual glance would indicate that he speaks as many lines as Hamlet.

— IN THE WORLD OF SCREEN & STAGE The Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California (July 6, 1930)

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

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