Bela Lugosi is practically famous for his role in the film and play productions of Dracula. In his life, Lugosi continued his work as an actor but never really left the influence of Count Dracula. Bela as a actor had limited roles and mainly played in horror movies. Did you know that Dracula influence Bela Lugosi so much that he actually change his own appearance to look like Dracula?Nosferatu:
(5)Lugosi took many several roles in silent films including Nosferatu. Nosferatu is a silent vampire film written by Murnau. This film borrowed Stoker's main plot, but changed a lot of details like characters name, and how his main vampire died at the end. In this film Bela Lugosi was the lead vampire.
Influence from Dracula:
(1)Occurring to the biography article about Bela Lugosi, he starred in the 1931 film of Dracula, and was "the first to introduce the mythology of the vampire into American pop culture."(4) Lugosi had actually played Dracula for about 9 months on Broadway. Lugosi was influenced by Dracula so much that he started to resemble Stoker "Dracula" from the novel.Lugosi career to the world was almost like a one hit wonder. (2) Sadly, Lugosi died from a heart attack and was buried in one of his own Dracula costume even with the cape.
This is a small moive clip of Bela Lugosi playing Dracula. This is the scene where Johnathan eats dinner at Dracula's castle.
Work cited:
1. Gilmore, Kim. “Remembering Bela Lugosi, The Classic Dracula.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 19 Apr. 2016, www.biography.com/news/remembering-bela-lugosi-the-classic-dracula-21004911.
2. Lamb, Bill. “The Story of Bela Lugosi, Hollywood's Most Famous Dracula.” ThoughtCo, www.thoughtco.com/biography-of-bela-lugosi-4164228.
3. Memo, Oscar, director. Favorite Part in Dracula 1931. YouTube, YouTube, 19 Oct. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf2IhYToDY4.
4. Pockross, Adam, and Ilise S. Carter. “There Is Still No Better or More Important Dracula than the Original, Bela Lugosi.” SYFY, SYFY WIRE, 20 Oct. 2017, www.syfy.com/syfywire/there-is-still-no-better-or-more-important-dracula-than-the-original-bela-lugosi.
5. Rutigliano, Olivia. “Blood Brothers: Dracula vs. Nosferatu.” Public Books, 3 Mar. 2017, www.publicbooks.org/blood-brothers-dracula-vs-nosferatu/.
I really loved this! I'm always intrigued by actors who stay within a certain genre or only get attached to one specific role that they like to revisit again and again. I also loved how you touched upon the fact that he was Dracula on Broadway. Despite being a major Broadway fan, I never knew that it was on Broadway, it is something that I am definitely going to find out more about now. I also never knew that Dracula inspired silent films were made. That was something new to me.
ReplyDeleteI did not realize that Bela stuck to very specific roles. I think that makes it even more interesting to see his take on Dracula. I also think that him being in the Broadway version is very interesting and definitely adds to his legacy.
ReplyDeleteIt's intriguing that Lugosi committed to the Dracula look in his regular life, and was even buried in his costume. That takes method acting to a whole new level. I also didn't know that he did not have many roles, as his name had been familiar to me in the past. I must have heard of him strictly related to Dracula.
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