HAPPY BIRTHDAY COUNT BELA

White on white
translucent black capes
Back on the rack
Bela Lugosi's dead
The bats have left the bell tower
The victims have been bled
Red velvet lines the black box
Bela Lugosi's dead.

- Lyric excerpt from "Bela Lugosi's Dead" by Bauhaus.



BELA LUGOSI
born: 29-10-1882
birth place: Lugos, Hungary (Now Romania)
died: 16-08-1956

Born Be’la Ferenc Dezso Blasko, the actor who brought
Dracula to life on the silver screen changed his name for
the stage, taking Lugosi as it meant “one from the town of
Lugos.”



Bela Lugosi was the youngest of four children to be born into
an upper middle-class family in Hungary. However, at the age
of twelve he ran away and hoped to act. He found little work,
other than in the mines or railroad yards, until one of his older
sisters arrange for him to take some small roles in provincial
theatre.

Formal training was the usual route for actors at this time, so
Lugosi studied acting theory and method diligently.



Soon, Bela Lugosi was averaging thirty to forty roles per year,
many of which were operettas, as he possessed a fine singing
voice as a young man. In 1911, Lugosi went to work in the
theatre in the capital city of Budapest, and gained much
popularity.

When World War I broke out, although actors were exempt from
military service, Bela volunteered to fight for his country and
became an infantry lieutenant. He was wounded three times
during the war, and decorated for his efforts, before leaving
the army in 1916.



After the war, Bela Lugosi made several films under the name
“Arisztidt Olt” until political turmoil in his own country forced
him to move to Germany in 1919.

In 1921, Lugosi moved to New York, where he established a
Hungarian-speaking troupe, as he himself still spoke no
English. When, in 1923, he landed the role of Fernando in the
Broadway production 'The Red Poppy', the actor learnt his lines
phonetically.

1927 saw Bela Lugosi cast as 'Dracula' for the first time in the
original Broadway show of the same name, in which he starred
for two years. He then went on to do other film roles, before
taking his 'Dracula' to the silver screen in 1930.



Lugosi went on to star in several other vampire films, before
returning to the role of Dracula for the last time in 'Abbott and
Costello Meet Frankenstein', in 1948.



Bela Lugosi died a peaceful death in 1956, and was buried in
full 'Dracula' costume.

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Happy Halloween!

Fonts: The Biography Channel