Lugoshi, Bela

Early Life

Bela Ferenc Dejo Blashko was born on October 20, 1882 in the city of Lugos in Austria-Hungary (now Lugoj in Romania ) in the family of Paula De Voinich and Istvan Blashko and was the youngest of four children ^[4] . His ancestors were Magyar farmers bearing the name Blashko from the beginning of the 15th century . Istvan was the first to destroy the tradition, first becoming a baker , and later retraining as a banker ^[5] . Bela grew up in a Roman Catholic family ^[6] . He was educated first in a regular, and since 1893, in the Hungarian state gymnasium, which he dropped out in 1894 , at the age of 12 ^[4] . Blashko began his acting career in the theater of the small town of Shabadka , where his older sister arranged, it was about 1901-1902 ^[4] . His first pseudonym was "Lugoshy" ( Hungarian. Lugossy ), which was simplified to Lugosi in 1903 ^{[7] [8]} . The earliest known roles of Lugosi in the theater date back to 1903-1904 ^{[9] [10]} . He continued to play in Shakespeare's plays. Thanks to the role of Romeo Lugosi, in 1911 he was invited to Budapest , where he played dozens of roles in the National Theater of Hungary in 1913-1919. Although Lugosi later claimed that he “became a leading actor in the Royal Hungarian Royal National Theater,” almost all of his roles were small or minor. ^[11]

During the First World War, he served as an infantryman in the Austro-Hungarian army from 1914 to 1916, rising to the rank of lieutenant. He was injured three times while serving on the Russian front, for which he was awarded a medal ^[4] .

Due to his activity in the Union of Actors in Hungary during the 1919 revolution, Bela was forced to flee his homeland ^[4] . First, he went to Vienna , and then settled in Berlin (on Langestras), where he continued his acting skills ^[4] . Next, the actor went to New Orleans , Louisiana , as a crew member on board a merchant ship ^[4] .

Early films

Lugosi’s film career began with meeting producer and director Alfred Disy - Lugosi signed a two-year contract with his Star Films company for nine films. In Hungary, he starred under his stage name "Aristide Olt", and in Europe under the pseudonym Lugosi ^[12] . His first film was Colonel (Az Ezredes). In total, he participated in 12 films. During the existence of the Hungarian Soviet Republic , he became one of the organizers of the cinema and theater workers' union , as a result of which, after the outbreak of the White Terror , he was forced to emigrate to Germany in 1919 , where he continued to act in films and play in the theater (in all, he starred in 11 movies). In 1920, he starred in the supporting role in the film “ The Head of Janus ” by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau , a free film adaptation of the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In the same year, starred in the movie " Death Caravan " with Dora Gerson (in 1943, Gerson died in a gas chamber in Auschwitz ) ^[13] . Lugosi left Germany in October 1920, intending to emigrate to the United States, and entered New Orleans in December 1920. He reached New York and was inspected by immigration officers on Ellis Island in March 1921. ^[14] He announced his intention to become a US citizen in 1928, and on June 26, 1931, Bela officially received American citizenship ^[15] .

Upon arrival in America, Lugosi’s height was 1.85 m and weight 82 kg, due to which he was a laborer for some time, but then he began to play in the theater of the Hungarian national community. Together with other Hungarian émigré actors, he founded a small company that toured eastern cities, playing for an émigré audience. Lugosi played in several Hungarian plays, and then in 1922 appeared on the stage of his first English Broadway play “Red Poppy” ^[16] . In 1925, he appeared as the Arab Sheikh in Arabesques, which premiered in Buffalo, New York, at the Teck Theater, and then moved to Broadway ^[17] . Bela begins to act in films in the roles of a third plan - for example, in the film “He Who Gets Slapped” (He Who Gets Slapped, 1924 ) with Lon Cheney in the title role, he played one of many circus clowns in indistinguishable make-up. His first American film role was in the melodrama " Silent Team " (1923). Lugosi’s first major movie role in Hollywood is the police inspector in Tod Browning ’s sound film, The Thirteenth Chair (1929). "The Thirteenth Chair" was the first American film called horror. ^[18]

Dracula

In the summer of 1927, Lugosi was invited to play in the Broadway theatrical production of Dracula, which was adapted by Hamilton Dean and John L. Balderston from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel ^[19] . The production of Horace Liveright was successful, 261 performances were played before touring the United States in 1928 and 1929, the production was met with critical acclaim. When the play was finished playing on the West Coast in 1928, Lugosi decided to stay in California. His acting game aroused interest in Fox Film , and he played in the silent film studio Hidden Woman (1929). He also appeared in the film "Prisoners" (1929), which is now considered lost, the film was released both in mute and in sound version ^{[20] [21]} .

In 1929, when there were no other roles in the films, Lugosi returned to the scene as Dracula for a short tour on the West Coast. Lugosi remained in California, where he resumed his work in films under a contract with Fox, often appearing in episodic roles with few replicas. He also continued to lobby for his valuable role in the film version of Dracula. ^[22]

Significant commercial success of the production attracted the attention of the Universal Pictures film studio , which by 1930 managed to collect the package of copyright necessary for the film adaptation and began working on the film. Despite critical acclaim, Lugosi was not the first choice of Universal; Lon Cheney was assigned the main role, but he died of cancer and the project was nearly closed. When it was decided to continue working on the film, the studio invited Toda Browning to the director's chair, and the main role was assigned to Lugosi. Realizing that participation in this film opens up great prospects for him, Bela approached the work very responsibly, worked on the image for days and, as a result, played Dracula brilliantly not only in the part of the plastic that was worked out in the theater, but also in close-ups. He practically abandoned makeup and created a classic image of a vampire aristocrat, whom secularism does not make less monstrous.

" Dracula " was released in February 1931 and enjoyed tremendous success with the audience, having withstood several repeated releases. His success not only allowed later on to make several thematic sequels, but also opened the way for a whole wave of horror films . Bela Lugosi received a permanent contract with Universal Studios, which wanted to make him a “second Lone Cheney” and immediately offered to play the role of the Beast in Frankenstein . However, after successful trials, Lugosi rejected this proposal, since the role was without words, which deprived him of expressive capabilities, and he did not want to play in heavy makeup; according to another, more believable, version, the director James Wale himself rejected his candidacy, in general he very scrupulously selected the actors. As a result, the role went to Boris Karloff , who subsequently repeatedly was Lugosi’s partner on the set. Lugosi himself regretted the missed role.

Further career

After Dracula, Lugosi began to regularly appear in genre films - he usually got the roles of villains, who he played in good faith, but, with a few exceptions, pretty monotonous. Such are Dr. Miracle in “ Murder on the Morgue Street ” ( 1932 ), Legend in the “ White Zombie ” (1932), Roxor in “The Magician Chandu ” (Chandu the Magician, 1932) and so on. Lugosi also played Talking Law in Island of Lost Souls (Island of Lost Souls, 1933 ), an adaptation of Herbert Wells' novel, Island of Dr. Moreau . In the film " Black Cat " ( 1934 ), he played the role of Dr. Verdegast, who is not a villain, but obsessed with revenge. Then he almost exactly repeats his own picture of the role of the vampire in The Sign of the Vampire ( 1935 ). Roles in the film " Raven " (1935) and the serial film "The Invisible Ray " (The Invisible Ray, 1936 ) strengthen his reputation as a genre actor.

For filming the movie White Zombies , where Lugosi often replaced the director, he received a thousand (according to other sources, 5,000) dollars, while the film itself cost Universal Studios 100 thousand dollars. But at the box office, the picture collected more than 8 million.

In 1933, Lugosi married Lilian Arch, who, five years later, bore him a son, Bela Jr. In the film " Black Cat " Lugosi first starred with Boris Karloff. Ralph Bellamy , who knew both actors working together, noted: “Between Lugosi and Karloff there was a bit of a healthy competition - they did not try to find out whose talent and skill were better. Rather, they realized that they embody the genre of horror itself. ”

The role of the evil hunchback Igor, which Lugosi played in the films “ The Son of Frankenstein ” ( 1939 ) and “ The Phantom of Frankenstein ” ( 1942 ), is very bright and rich in expressive means. In order to get a role in the film “The Son of Frankenstein”, he had to beg the creators of the film. Having become a father in 1937, the actor experienced an acute shortage of money, although Lugosi’s son warmly noted in an interview that his father always provided enough for his family, and they did not live in poverty. For this role, which initially required a week of shooting time, he received only $ 500. The director Rowland Lee , learning about how he reacted to the actor, got angry with the producers and expanded the role of Igor, which accordingly required an increase in his salary. He also played (after all) the Frankenstein Monster in the film Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman ( 1943 ).

The history of Lugosi's career decline very accurately reflected the degradation and self-discrediting of the horror genre as such in American cinema during the military years 1939-1945. The commercial approach of the studios, aimed at the maximum exploitation of images at the lowest cost, aggravated by censorship , led to the fact that during the 1930s horror films quickly slipped from the drama genre with fiction elements into the category of the V-movie and became a set of stamps and a heap of repetitions, which neither the directors nor the producers (with very few exceptions, like Val Lewton ) even tried to bring at least something new or unusual, semantic or emotional depth. In the end, the audience themselves ceased to take monsters any seriously. Realizing that their characters became "walking props", other horror movie stars of the 30s tried to break out of the role - Claude Rains , Fredrick March , Boris Karloff who ascended on the wave of the first hits were able to stay at a high level, retaining their independence, unaccustomed for actors of the classic Hollywood era refusing roles that they thought were outright ridiculous, although they mostly played villains in historical films, thrillers, action films and science fiction films. A patient with sciatica Lugosi was not able to show off his versatility and sense of humor, especially in an environment of increasingly strained relations with the management of Universal Studios . So, the role of Lawrence Talbot, which was initially seen as an incentive for the “Son of Frankenstein”, went to the younger Lon Cheney Jr. , and the role of his father to Claude Raines. The situation was even worse with the role of Dracula that made the actor famous - in the remake of the classic horror films Universal, this image was transferred to John Kerradine in the films Frankenstein 's House (1944) and Dracula 's House (1945). The reason for this neglect was that some acting colleagues who knew him considered an accent extremely disliked by American filmmakers, and which, despite the efforts, he could not get rid of, and did not suit the producers for a significant age - the role of the seducer of their victims seemed inappropriate to the 62-year-old Meadows. The smaller studios Columbia , RKO , and Monogram tried to attract him to work in leading roles in more or less decent pictures, among which there is another joint work with Karloff, “The Body Thief ” (1945), directed by Robert Wise and produced Val Lewton. But in most cases, in the 1940s, Lugosi was cast aside in frankly third-rate and parody films, which, if they were of any interest, were only due to his participation. More and more often, being left without work, and without playing either creative or financial returns from the roles played, Lugosi drops in the second half of the 1940s, his health problems worsen, his dependence on drugs increases and he becomes a morphist, addicted to painkillers. During this period, he occasionally gets minor roles, the only at least a slight exception is the role of Dracula in the parody comedy " Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein " ( 1948 ).

Working with Ed Wood

In the 1950s, Lugosi starred in several films - “ Glen or Glenda ” ( 1953 ), “ Monster 's Bride ” ( 1955 ), directed by Ed Wood , who was an ardent admirer of his previous roles. The fee received by Lugosi for participating in these films helped him defeat his addiction to morphine, and he decided to return to work in a big movie, having managed to work for a short time on television in the Dracula television show for NBS. His return marked a small role in the film " Black Dream " - ironically, the role was without text, and she also became his last role. Wood tried to organize Lugoshi a place in the local Los Angeles broadcasting program “Shock Theater”, where Lugoshi was supposed to conduct a film review of old films and could tell about his own paintings, which during the 1950s television boom was very promising for him as for the actor and for the Wood director, Boris Karloff, who worked in the late 1940s and early 1950s, mainly on radio and television, was able to try himself in various genres (including comedy) and return to the movie, where he successfully starred almost de nine years, having managed to work with Roger Corman and Mario Bava . Lugosi was planning to star in the film “ Plan 9 from outer space, ” but he didn’t have time to finish the work - he died when only about 10 minutes of the film was shot, a week after signing the contract with the television studio. However, it can be seen in several scenes.

Bela Lugosi died on August 16, 1956 from a heart attack. According to the will of his relatives, he was buried in one of the theater costumes of Dracula stored in the family. In 1964, at the memorial service of Peter Lorre , Vincent Price said that when they were together at the funeral of Lugosha, Lorre told him: “Do you think it might be worth stuffing a stake in his chest just in case?”. Price noticed that Lorre was joking so gloomily to overcome his grief over a colleague and friend.

• There is a legend that Bela Lugosi played the role of Dracula, not knowing the English language and learning cues by ear. However, this story is only partially true: Lugosi really didn’t want to learn English for a very long time and the memorized the text for his theater roles. By the time he began work on the film, he could already communicate in English ^[23] .
• In the famous “worst movie of all time” “ Plan 9 from outer space ” ( 1959 ), Ed Wood used Lugosi’s archival footage in Dracula’s cloak and introduced the character allegedly played by Lugosi into the film. Most of the role was played by the understudy with his face almost completely covered by a cloak.
• Bela Lugosi awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• Christopher Lee , who himself created a vivid and impressive image of Dracula in a series of classic horror films at Hammer Studios, in an interview in the episode of the program “100 Years of Horror” (1996), dedicated to Bela Lugosi, noted, not without self-ironic sadness: “If you ask someone to portray Dracula , then he will not imitate Kerradine or me (Lee). Not. And 40 years after his death, the Face and Voice of Bela Lugosi are inextricably linked with his most famous role. ” Lee also noted that Lugosi dreamed of starring or at least seeing a color version of Dracula, which Lee himself had to perform in 1958. Lugosi fans gave him a copy of the ring with which Lugosi played Dracula, and Lee wore it to pay tribute to his predecessor in all subsequent paintings where he played this role.
• The song of the English Bauhaus band “ Bela Lugosi's Dead ” (“Bela Lugosi is Dead”), dedicated to the actor, sounds in the first frames of the vampire thriller Tony Scott's “Hunger” ( 1983 ) and at the beginning of the episode (“Midnight”) dedicated to the carnivorous creature in the series “ For Facet ”( 2009 ).
• Исполнитель роли Белы Лугоши в биографическом фильме Тима Бёртона «Эд Вуд» ( 1994 ) актёр Мартин Ландау за свою работу удостоился премии «Оскар» . Наблюдатели увидели в этом запоздалое признание заслуг классического исполнителя роли Дракулы. Роберт Уайз , лично знавший и работавший с Лугоши, назвал работу Ландау великолепной: «Ему действительно удалось передать Лугоши».

• Gary Don Rhodes. Lugosi: His Life in Films, on Stage, and in the Hearts of Horror Lovers . — McFarland , 1997. — 414 с. — ISBN 9780786402571 .
• Arthur Lennig. The Immortal Count: The Life and Films of Bela Lugosi . — University Press of Kentucky , 2003. — 548 с. — ISBN 9780813122731 .
• Gregory William Mank. Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration, With a Complete Filmography of Their Films Together . — McFarland , 2009. — 685 с. — ISBN 9780786434800 .
• Roxana Stuart. Stage Blood: Vampires of the 19th Century Stage . — Popular Press , 1994. — 377 с. — ISBN 9780879726607 .
• Андрей Шарый , Владимир Ведрашко . Знак D: Дракула в книгах и на экране . — Новое лит. обозрение , 2009. — 246 с. — ISBN 9785867937119 . Архивная копия от 14 октября 2013 на Wayback Machine
• Roy Milano. Monsters: A Celebration of the Classics from Universal Studios . — Del Rey, 2006. — 176 с. — ISBN 0345486854 . — ISBN 978-0345486851 .
• Frank Noack. Veit Harlan: The Life and Work of a Nazi Filmmaker . — University Press of Kentucky, 2016. — 496 с.
• David Skal. Hollywood Gothic . — Faber & Faber, 2004. — 390 с. — ISBN 978-0571211586 . — ISBN 9780571211586 .

• Official website