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. Today is the 134thbirthday of NAME: Bela Lugosi OCCUPATION: Actor BIRTH DATE: October 20, 1882 DEATH DATE: August 16, 1956 EDUCATION: Budapest Academy of Theatrical Arts PLACE OF BIRTH: Lugos, Hun, Bela Lugosi: Happy 132nd birthday - Blog - Spokane7. 2020. He went first to Vienna before settling in Berlin (in the Langestrasse), where he continued acting. Lugosi developed severe, chronic sciatica, ostensibly aggravated by injuries received during his military service. Bela G. Lugosi - Wikipedia [36] He also appeared on the anthology series Suspense on October 11, 1949, in a live adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado".[37]. In 1998, he played Mike McDermott in John Dahl's Rounders. Lugosi died of a heart attack prior to filming. Lugosi enjoyed a lively career on stage, with plenty of personal appearances. Lugosi was also the subject of "Bela Lugosi's Dead", the first single by the English band Bauhaus. Not exactly a natural fit for a banker's boy. . 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. Incidentally, Lugosi persuaded Bow to pose nude for a portrait artist friend of his, and, as this article on Nitrateville reveals, he happily hung the painting in his many homes, over the possible objections of Mrs. Lugosi Number Four and Five. Bela Lugosi Remembered 65 Years After His Death Add to that illustrious list Bela Lugosi and the British-born Boris Karloff. Financial difficulties forced him into taking roles that were beneath both his talent and pay grade. There was a season of old horror films on TV and I was telling Daniel about how much I loved them. Ames was in turn replaced with David Manners, who would instead come to play John Harker. Hollywood is, of course, no stranger to celebrity feuds. As of 2022, Bela Lugosi's net worth is under review. Short biography, height, weight, dates: Birth date: October 20, 1882, Lugoj, Romania Death date: August 16, 1956, Los Angeles, California, United States Birth place: Lugos, Kingdom of Hungary . became famous? The role went to Karloff instead, and soon the hollow-cheeked leading man began beating Lugosi out for roles. He also continued to lobby for his prized role in the film version of Dracula. He was eventually invited to join the National Theater of Budapest. Born: October 20, 1882 in Lugos, Hungary. Lugosi played Dracula for a second and final time on film in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), which was his last "A" movie. He lost even more. The one that had been on the night before was Dracula [1931]. Bela Lugosi Net Worth, Height, Age, and More - Popular Celebrity Biography [2] When appearing in Hungarian silent films, he mostly used the stage name Arisztid Olt. Itsvan died when Bela was just 12-years-old, throwing the family fortunes into turmoil. Shortly thereafter, according to this profile in Workers World, he had to leave Hungary for German because his left-wing sympathies were not tolerated when Hungary's short-lived communist government was overthrown in 1919. He was the youngest of four children. 70. Bela's fifth wife was a fan who continuously wrote to him while he was recovering from drugs in a hospital. Though at first he was treated with benign pain remedies such as asparagus juice, doctors increased the medication to opiates. Bela Lugosi Net Worth - Celebrity Net Worth Wiki Bela Lugosi Net Worth. She would sign her letters "A dash of Hope". Full Real Name. A copy sold for $798,000 at Christie's in May 2000. BearManor Media, ISBN 1593932855, Arthur Lennig, The Immortal Count, University Press of Kentucky, 2003, the failed Hungarian Communist Revolution of 1919, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "From the Archives: Actor Bela Lugosi, Dracula of Screen, Succumbs After Heart Attack at 73", https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XCJB-Z61, "15 Intriguing Halloween-Related Factoids! Lillian would produce Lugosi's only son, Bella Jr., five years later. When his son, Bela Jr., was born in 1938, Lugosi couldn't afford to pay the hospital bill. Karloff himself in interviews suggested that Lugosi was initially mistrustful of him when they acted together, believing that the Englishman would attempt to upstage him. [30] Lugosi did get a few heroic leads, as in Universal's The Black Cat after Karloff had been accorded the more colorful role of the villain, The Invisible Ray, and a romantic role in producer Sol Lesser's adventure serial The Return of Chandu (1934), but his typecasting problem appears to have been too entrenched to be alleviated by those films. [16] He only declared his intention to become a US citizen in 1928; on June 26, 1931, he was naturalized. The feature is noteworthy as being Bela Lugosi's only color film. His first marriage, to Ilona Smzik, ended in divorce in 1920, reportedly because his lefty politics upset his Smzik's parents. Wood plays Glen/Glenda. [21] A rumor has circulated for decades among film historians that Lugosi played an uncredited bit part as a clown in the 1924 Lon Chaney Hollywood film He Who Gets Slapped, but this has been heavily disputed. Lugosi took his place in Hollywood society and scandal when he married wealthy San Francisco resident Beatrice Woodruff Weeks (18971931), widow of architect Charles Peter Weeks, on July 27, 1929. After moving to Budapest in 1911, he played dozens of roles with the National Theatre of Hungary between 1913 and 1919. Blask. From the Archives: Actor Bela Lugosi, Dracula of Screen, Succumbs After 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. Lugosi had also expressed interest in playing Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey to help himself professionally. 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. He dropped out of school when he was twelve years old, and began appearing in Shakespeare plays. Bela Lugosi Net Worth - How Much Is Bela Lugosi Worth? According to Kitty Kelley's biography of Frank Sinatra, when the entertainer heard of Lugosi's problems, he visited Lugosi at the hospital and gave him a $1,000 check. [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. Read on for more on this caped legend of stage and screen. While its relatively simple to predict his income, its harder to know how much Bela has spent over the years. pg. Lugosi tried to keep busy with stage work, but had to borrow money from the Actors Fund of America to pay hospital bills when his only child, Bela George Lugosi, was born in 1938. Due to his activism in the actors' union in Hungary during the revolution of 1919 and his active participation in the Hungarian Soviet Republic,[11] he was forced to flee his homeland when the government changed hands, initially accompanied by his first wife Ilona Szmik. In 1917, Lugosi married Ilona Szmik (1898-1991). As his career faltered, Lugosi fell victim to drug addiction. . 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. pg. Bela Lugosi is an Actor, zodiac sign: Libra. 1941. It was not immediately successful, though. In 1996, he had a supporting role in Roland Emmerich's Independence Day. Lugosi was proscribed from acting due to his participation in the formation of an actors' union. 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. Online estimates of Bela Lugosis net worth vary. [42] 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. Bela Lugosi Net Worth | Age, Height, Weight, Dating And More Lugosi began acting on the Hungarian stage in 1902. Through his association with Dracula (in which he appeared with minimal makeup, using his natural, heavily accented voice), Lugosi found himself typecast as a horror villain in films such as Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), The Black Cat (1934) and The Raven (1935) for Universal, and the independent White Zombie (1932). 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. He was buried in a Dracula costume, including a cape, but not the ones used in the 1931 film, contrary to popular--but unfounded--rumors. Lugosi plays a character named The Scientist who narrates the hackneyed and often embarrassing but also hilarious exploration of sex and gender identity. 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. 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. 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. In 1986, the court's decision was, in effect, overturned with the ruling in the California Celebrity Rights Act stipulating that children and spouses of celebrities have jurisdiction over the use of their loved one's likeness up to 70 years after the celebrity's death. Bela Lugosi Net Worth Net Worth List [50] They remained married for 20 years and they had a child, Bela G. Lugosi, in 1938. Despite the relative size of their roles, Lugosi inevitably received second billing, below Karloff. Along the way he picked up a drug habit. The division's mission was to launch an attack against Russian troops in Poland. Historian John McElwee reports, in his 2013 book Showmen, Sell It Hot!, that Bela Lugosi's popularity received a much-needed boost in August 1938, when California theater owner Emil Umann revived Dracula and Frankenstein as a special double feature. [8] He took the last name "Lugosi" in 1903 to honor his birthplace,[4][9] and went on to perform in Shakespeare plays. Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers. Bela Lugosi Discusses His Drug Habit as He Leaves the Hospital in 1955 [46], In 1933, the 51-year-old Lugosi married 22-year-old Lillian Arch (19111981), the daughter of Hungarian immigrants living in Hollywood. He was born in Hungary and died in Los Angeles, California, in 1956. He even took top billing on films in which Lugosi was the star. Died: August 16, 1956 in Los Angeles, California, USA. Karloff's monster was weak by comparison."[32]. The bank ultimately foreclosed on the home Lugosi and his then wife, Lillian, were living in at the time. 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. 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. Think Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort, Dolph Lundgren as Ivan Drago, and Jack Nicholson as the Joker. Bela Lugosi Net worth and Salary. Also in 1931, he became a U.S. citizen. 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 learning to act by trial and error, or, as he put it, his will "was forged to whiter and whiter heat." 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."[31]. He spent a great deal of money. Bela Lugosi Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family Bela Lugosi | Biography, Movies, Dracula, & Facts | Britannica (Lugosi learned in 1935 that von Montagh and a female friend were both arrested for shoplifting in New York City, which was the last he heard of her.)[49]. 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. pg. They remained married until his death in 1956. . What's clear, though, is that Lugosi was often on the losing end of Tinsel Town's notoriously flaky attention span. 61. What is Bela Lugosi He was 73. However Bela and Hope were actually discussing getting divorced around the time he passed away. He was discovered in bed by his fifth wife, Hope, upon her return from work. Tor Johnson said in interviews that Lugosi kept screaming that he wanted to die the night they shared a hotel room together. Bela Lugosi Net Worth 2022: Money, Salary, Bio - CelebsMoney Net Worth 2020, Salary. "I owe it all to that little man at the Regina Theatre," said Lugosi of exhibitor Umann. Famous for his thick Hungarian accent, he dominated the screen for two decades until his death. Lionel Atwill was originally slated to appear in the film, but he was too ill to work, so George Zucco replaced him in the cast. director Ed Wood single-handedly resurrected it, albeit in an undeniably problematic way. Lugosi, who got his start acting in Shakespearean dramas in his native Hungary, was an ambitious and stately performer. In fact, he often told reporters that sex was the most important thing in the universe. [56], Lugosi died of a heart attack on August 16, 1956, in the bedroom of his Los Angeles apartment while taking a nap. 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]. Lillian's parents lived on one of their properties, and Lugosi frequented the health spa there. [23] The Horace Liveright production was successful, running in New York City for 261 performances before touring the United States to much fanfare and critical acclaim throughout 1928 and 1929. Lillian and Bla divorced in 1953, at least partially because of Bla's jealousy over Lillian taking a full-time job as an assistant to Brian Donlevy on the sets and studios for Donlevy's radio and television series Dangerous Assignment Lillian eventually did marry Donlevy in 1966. At the time of his death, Lugosi was in such poor financial straits that Frank Sinatra was rumored to have paid for his funeral. Lugosi was intoxicated and very ill during the film's promotional campaign and had to return to L.A. earlier than planned. That honor went to Lon Cheney. The heat clearly worked. You've got your Bette Davises vs. your Joan Crawfords, your Sarah Jessica Parkers vs. your Kim Cattralls, your Marlon Brandos vs. your Frank Sinatras. Lugosi's life as an actor had begun. 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. [59][60] Hope died in Hawaii in 1997, at age 78, having never remarried. Scared to Death (1947 film) - Wikipedia To Lugosi's disappointment, however, his role in this film was that of a mute, with no dialogue. He eventually became a U.S. citizen in 1931, soon after the release of his film version of Dracula.[12][4]. The film would be Bela Lugosi's last "A" movie. Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers. [19] In 1925, he played an Arab Sheik in Arabesque which premiered in Buffalo, New York at the Teck Theatre before moving to Broadway. 's salary? [3], Lugosi married five times and had one son, Bela G. Lugosi (with his fourth wife, Lillian). [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. [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). In Celebrities Gabrielle Miller Wiki: Wedding, Salary, Nationality, Parents. Youtube. For Lugosi, the third time would not prove to be the charm. Bela Lugosi's full name is Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask and his nickname is Bela Lugosi. Bela married 19-year-old Lillian Arch in 1933. [25], Despite his critically acclaimed performance on stage, Lugosi was not Universal Pictures' first choice for the role of Dracula when the company optioned the rights to the Deane play and began production in 1930. No Traveler Returns: The Lost Years of Bela Lugosi by Bill Kaffenberger and Gary D. Rhodes (2012). In their place was a count's pedigree and a castle in the mountains of Transylvania. DETAILS BELOW. He was kept employed by the studios principally so that they could put his name on the posters. Released in August 1979, it is often considered to be the first gothic rock record. 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. Lugosi left Germany in October 1920, intending to emigrate to the United States, and entered the country at New Orleans in December 1920. His Hungarian accent led to him being typecasted as a horror villain in many films. [65] In 2019 it was announced that the cape would be on display the following year. 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. [22], 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. Life of Bela Lugosi: Hollywood's Most Famous Dracula - LiveAbout Nearly 20 years later, Lugosi found himself the beneficiary of an unlikely guardian angel. 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. He was born in Lugos, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary in 1882 and died in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1956. 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. These horror, comedy and mystery B-films were mostly released by Monogram Pictures. The funeral was held on Saturday, August 18 at the Utter-McKinley funeral home in Hollywood. Producer Alex Gordon, knowing Lugosi was in dire need of cash, arranged for the actor to stand outside the theater wearing a cape and dark glasses, holding a man costumed as a gorilla on a leash. 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. Bela Lugosi. The couple divorced in 1920, reputedly over political differences with her parents. [76][77], The Ellis Island Immigration Museum in New York City features a live 30-minute play that focuses on Lugosi's illegal entry into the country via New Orleans and his arrival at Ellis Island months later to enter the country legally. The divorce became final on July 17, 1920 and was uncontested as Lugosi could not show up for the proceedings. Many believed, thanks to the 1994 filmEd Wood,that Lugosi went so far as to sleep in a coffin. Hungarian actor who was immortalized as Dracula in 1931. [18] Three more parts came in 192526, including a five-month run in the comedy-fantasy The Devil in the Cheese. Continue to the next page to see Bela Lugosi net worth, estimated salary and earnings. 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. He next played Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994). Generation generation). He was sent to fight in the Carpathian Winter War. During World War I, he served as an infantryman in the Austro-Hungarian Army from 1914 to 1916, rising to the rank of Lieutenant. His next bride, Ilona von Montagh, divorced him after three years. Lugosi left Germany in October 1920, emigrating by ship to the United States, and entered the country at New Orleans in December 1920. It's enough to make one turn over in one's grave. As per our current Database, Bela Lugosi died on Aug 16, 1956 (age 73). He was, to moviegoers and followers of 1930s Hollywood, Dracula. Find out Bela Lugosinet worth 2020, salary 2020 detail bellow. He currently resides in Lugoj, Romania. It also guaranteed that he would never work as a serious actor again. Universal cast Lugosi in Son of Frankenstein (1939), appearing in the character role of Ygor, a mad blacksmith with a broken neck, in heavy makeup and beard. Lugosi's first film appearance was in the 1917 Hungarian silent film Leoni Leo. He was 73. The biggest break, really. Different prominent actors were considered before Browning cast Lugosi for the role, but the film was a hit. 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. [43][71], Pter Mller's 1998 theatrical play Lugosi the Shadow of the Vampire (Hungarian: Lugosi a vmpr rnyka) is based on Lugosi's life, telling the story of his life as he became typecast as Dracula and as his drug addiction worsened. his net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. [54](Lillian eventually did marry Brian Donlevy in 1966, by which time she had also become an alcoholic and she died in 1981. He never got to see the finished film. Bela Lugosi is American by birth. He was buried in a Dracula costume, including a cape, but not the ones used in the 1931 film, contrary to popular--but unfounded--rumors. )[55], Lugosi married Hope Lininger, his fifth wife, in 1955; she was 37 years his junior. Biography. 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. Bela Lugosi Net Worth Net Worth List Regardless, it seems safe to say that, when it came to philanthropy, Sinatra did it his way. Bela Lugosi Death: and Cause of Death. [48] The divorce became final in October, 1925. Also Ed Wood did not meet Lugosi in a funeral parlor, but rather through his roommate Alex Gordon. He died a year into their marriage of a heart attack. His net worth has been growing significantly in 2022-2023. How tall is Bela Lugosi Arthur Lennig, The Immortal Count, University Press of Kentucky, 2003, p. 21; Rhodes, Gary (1997). The court ruled that under California law any rights of publicity, including the right to his image, terminated with Lugosi's death. After playing in 172 different productions in his native Hungary, Lugosi moved on to appearing in Hungarian silent films in 1917. According to SyFy Wire,he learned the language bit by bit, role by role, reading his lines out loud to himself. Bela Lugosi became known as an actor the studios could get on the cheap. October 20, 2014. Who is Bela Lugosi 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. With fellow expatriate Hungarian actors he formed a small stock company that toured Eastern cities, playing for immigrant audiences. Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask. He had to suddenly emigrate to Germany after the failed Hungarian Communist Revolution of 1919 because of his former socialist activities (organizing a stage actors' union), leaving his first wife in the process. 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. If you dare Bela Lugosi grew up in a solidly middle class family in Hungary, the son of a baker-turned-banker. At the age of 12, Lugosi dropped out of school. His relationship with the movie was fraught: it made him famous and, for a time, quite rich. 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. Bela had four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Lugosi claimed he performed the Dracula play around 1,000 times during his lifetime. Bela Lugosi Net Worth, Age, Height, Weight, Wife, Wiki, Family 2022 California Supreme Court decision on personality rights. He also appeared in the film Prisoners (also 1929), believed lost, which was released in both silent and talkie versions. His real name is Bla Ferenc Dezs? Itsvan, a strict and conventional man, had high hopes for his son, but Bela struggled in school and, when asked what profession he hoped to pursue in the future, he answered, "highway bandit." He was the youngest of four children. If Lugosi hoped that the success of Dracula would allow him to emerge from the gentleman vampire's ahem shadow, he was sorely mistaken. 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. In 1920 he emigrated to the US and made a living as a character actor, shooting to fame when he played Count Dracula in the legendary 1927 Broadway stage adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel. 5 Million. Bela Lugosi was born in Lugoj, Romania on Friday, October 20, 1882 (G.I. On 26 June 1931, Lugosi became a naturalized United States citizen. 71. Despite his critically acclaimed performance on stage, Lugosi was not Universal Pictures' first choice for the role of Dracula when the company optioned the rights to the Deane play and began production in 1930.
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