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. Despite the relative size of their roles, Lugosi inevitably received second billing, below Karloff. After moving to Budapest in 1911, he played dozens of roles with the National Theatre of Hungary between 191319. As film offers declined, he became more and more dependent on live venues to support his family. It was his first English-speaking role. Following a role as a mute in "The Black Sheep" (1956), Lugosi died on Aug. 16, 1956 of a heart attack while lying on his couch in Los Angeles. Contrary to popular belief, Lugosi never requested to be buried in his cloak; Bela G. Lugosi confirmed on numerous occasions that he and his mother, Lillian, made the decision but believed that it is what his father would have wanted.[58]. His net worth is estimated at about $5 million. Born: October 20, 1882 in Lugos, Hungary. On choosing the topic of the song, the band's bassist David J remarked "It's so weird you should say that, because I've got this lyric about Bela Lugosi, the actor who played a vampire. Bela Lugosi Net Worth. Universal took notice of the tremendous business and launched its own national re-release of the same two horror favorites. Thursday, October 20, 2014. Who is Bela Lugosi (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]. These low-budget thrillers indicate that Lugosi was much less discriminating than Karloff in selecting screen vehicles, but the exposure helped Lugosi financially if not artistically. He was 48-years-old when he got the part in the iconic film, and he was already many years into his acting career. According to SyFy Wire,he learned the language bit by bit, role by role, reading his lines out loud to himself. In 1927, he starred as Count Dracula in a Broadway adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, moving with the play to the West Coast in 1928 and settling down in Hollywood. In the same interview he expressed a desire to play more comedy, as he had in the Mother Riley farce. $4 Million. Several more silent roles followed, villains and continental types, all in productions made in the New York area. [35] Lugosi memorized the script for the skit, but became confused on the air when Berle began to ad lib. [4], Lugosi eventually travelled to New Orleans, Louisiana in December, 1920 working as a crewman aboard a merchant ship, then made his way north to New York City, where he again took up acting in (and sometimes directing) stage plays in 19211922, then worked in the New York silent film industry from 1923 to 1926. [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. Bela Lugosi will celebrate 141st birthday on a Friday 20th of October 2023. Lugosi's first film appearance was in the movie Az ezredes (The Colonel, 1917). From 1947 to 1950, he performed in summer stock, often in productions of Dracula or Arsenic and Old Lace, and during the rest of the year, made personal appearances in a touring "spook show", and on early commercial television. He also appeared in the film Prisoners (also 1929), believed lost, which was released in both silent and talkie versions. He didn't know a word of English at the time, but that didn't stop him from auditioning, and, two years after his arrival in the States, he was cast in the play, The Red Poppy. This footage ended up posthumously in Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957[41]), which was filmed in 1956 soon after Lugosi died. Lugosi's first film appearance was in the 1917 Hungarian silent film Leoni Leo. It was around this time, on January 31, 1933, that Lugosi married 21 year old Lillian Arch, and despite the almost 30 year age gap and Lugosi's previous marriage record, the pair would remain . When Lugosi's Black Friday premiered in 1940 on a double bill with the Vincent Price film The House of the Seven Gables, Lugosi and Price both appeared in person at the Chicago theatre where it opened on Feb. 29, 1940 and remained for four performances. The division's mission was to launch an attack against Russian troops in Poland. [3], Lugosi married five times and had one son, Bela G. Lugosi (with his fourth wife, Lillian). He is often referred to as Bela Lugosi Jr. Monday, Lillian and Bela vacationed on their lakeshore property in Lake Elsinore, California (then called Elsinore), on several lots between 1944 and 1953. He spent a great deal of money. 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. So, how much is Bela Lugosi worth at the age of 74 years old? The heat clearly worked. The judge sent Lugosi to a nearby hospital, where he plotted a comeback that would never materialize. 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. [16] He only declared his intention to become a US citizen in 1928; on June 26, 1931, he was naturalized. Bela Lugosi Net Worth. [75], On July 19, 2003, German artist Hartmut Zech erected a bust of Lugosi on one of the corners of Vajdahunyad Castle in Budapest. Lugosi's life as an actor had begun. Lugosi left Germany in October 1920, emigrating by ship to the United States, and entered the country at New Orleans in December 1920. Occupation: Actor. Died: August 16, 1956 in Los Angeles, California, USA. Lugosi was proscribed from acting due to his participation in the formation of an actors' union. Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff are referenced in the Curtis Stigers' song "Sleeping with the Lights On", from the 1991 album Curtis Stigers. Lughorrort age 18. 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." It was not immediately successful, though. Bela's fifth wife was a fan who continuously wrote to him while he was recovering from drugs in a hospital. Lillian's father was against her marriage to Lugosi at first as the actor was experiencing financial difficulties at the time, so Bela talked her into eloping with him to Las Vegas in January 1933. While its relatively simple to predict his income, its harder to know how much Bela has spent over the years. Following the collapse of Bla Kun's Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919, leftists and trade unionists became vulnerable, some being imprisoned or executed in public. [73][74], In 2001, BBC Radio 4 broadcast There Are Such Things by Steven McNicoll and Mark McDonnell. Bela Lugosi was born on October 20, 1882 in Lugoj, Romania (73 years old). His legal actions in Lugosi v. Universal Pictures led to the creation of the California Celebrities Rights Act. [3], Lugosi, the youngest of four children,[4] was born Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask in 1882 in Lugos, Kingdom of Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania) to Hungarian father Istvn Blask, a baker who later became a banker,[5] and Serbian-born mother Paula de Vojnich. Lugosi was never a contender for such an award. He was kept employed by the studios principally so that they could put his name on the posters. [65] In 2019 it was announced that the cape would be on display the following year. Appeared with Lon Chaney Jr. in five films: The Wolf Man (1941), The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man . Four other silent roles followed, villains and continental types, all in productions made in the New York area. Regarding Son of Frankenstein, the film's director Rowland V. Lee said his crew let Lugosi "work on the characterization; the interpretation he gave us was imaginative and totally unexpected when we finished shooting, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that he stole the show. Add to that illustrious list Bela Lugosi and the British-born Boris Karloff. During World War I, he served as an infantryman in the Austro-Hungarian Army from 1914 to 1916, rising to the rank of Lieutenant. Read on for more on this caped legend of stage and screen. The right of publicity in some states endures for 50, 70, 75 or 100 years past the death of the celebrity. Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers. )[55], Lugosi married Hope Lininger, his fifth wife, in 1955; she was 37 years his junior. He made his way to New York and was inspected by immigration officers at Ellis Island in March 1921. Lugosi, who got his start acting in Shakespearean dramas in his native Hungary, was an ambitious and stately performer. His Hungarian accent led to him being typecasted as a horror villain in many films. 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. Bela Lugosi, born on October 20, 1882, began his acting career when he was a teenager in Hungary and went on to become one of the best-known actors in the world. pg. The couple divorced in 1920, reputedly over political differences with her parents. In 1921, he met and married his second wife, Ilona von Montagh, a young Hungarian emigree and stage actress whom he had worked with years before in Europe. It appeared on their 1972 album Everybody's in Show-Biz. Lugosi, the youngest of four children, was born Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask in 1882 in Lugos, Kingdom of Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania) to Hungarian father Istvn Blask, a baker who later became a banker, and Serbian-born mother Paula de Vojnich. In 1955, he checked himself into the psych ward of Los Angeles General Hospital. The song was a part of the Light Leaks record. In 1928, Lugosi decided to stay in California when the play ended its first West Coast run. Strange, but also fitting and bittersweet. For the remainder of his life he appeared less and less frequently in obscure, low-budget features.Bela Lugosi died on August 16, 1956 of a coronary occlusion at the age of 73. Nationality. Wood hired Tom Mason, his wife's chiropractor, to double for Lugosi in additional shots. . During post-production of the latter, Lugosi decided to seek treatment for his drug addiction, and the film's premiere was arranged to raise money for Lugosi's hospital expenses (resulting in a paltry amount of money). [3] (Szmik then married wealthy Hungarian architect Imre Francsek in December 1920, moved with him to Iran in 1930, had two children, and died in 1991.)[47]. 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. 's family members. [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. 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. Sinatra would recall Lugosi's amazement at his visit, since the two men had never met before.[40]. 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. After Dracula, the bulk of Lugosi's roles were in monster movies of varying degrees of ridiculousness. He was raised in a Roman Catholic family.. At the age of 12, Lugosi dropped out of school and left home to work at a succession of manual labor jobs. [78], In 2013 the Hungarian electronic music band agar recorded a song entitled "Mr. Lugosi", which contains a recording of the voice of Bela Lugosi. Lugosi was born Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask on October 20, 1882, in Lugos . [39], Late in his life, Bela Lugosi again received star billing in films when the ambitious but financially limited filmmaker Ed Wood, a fan of Lugosi, found him living in obscurity and near-poverty and offered him roles in his films, such as an anonymous narrator in Glen or Glenda (1953) and a mad scientist in Bride of the Monster (1955). [33] He was finally cast in the role of Frankenstein's monster for Universal's Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943). In 2001, BBC Radio 4 broadcast There Are Such Things by Steven McNicoll and Mark McDonnell. Everywhere Lugosi went, people saw a blood-sucking bad guy from Transylvania. Not true, but so is the power of suggestion. 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. Sadly, his reputation rapidly declined, mainly because he had been blacklisted by the main studios and had no choice but to accept any part (and script) handed to him, and ended up playing parodies of his greatest role, in low-grade poverty row films. After almost breaking up their marriage in 1944, Lillian and Bela finally divorced on July 17, 1953,[52] at least partially because of Bela's excessive drinking[2] and his jealousy over Lillian taking a full-time job as an assistant to actor Brian Donlevy on Donlevy's radio and television series Dangerous Assignment. [67], Lugosi's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is mentioned in "Celluloid Heroes", a song performed by The Kinks and written by their lead vocalist and principal songwriter, Ray Davies. In 1917, Lugosi married Ilona Szmik (1898-1991). [46], In 1933, the 51-year-old Lugosi married 22-year-old Lillian Arch (19111981), the daughter of Hungarian immigrants living in Hollywood. Famous for his thick Hungarian accent, he dominated the screen for two decades until his death. His earliest. Dracula (1931) $3,500 : 50 Million Frenchmen (1931) $1,000 : Chandu the Magician (1932) $2,500 : White Zombie (1932) . The iconic portrayal of Count Dracula marked Lugosi's career and gave him widespread recognition. ISBN 0977379817 (hardcover). He co-starred in a number of films with Boris Karloff, who was able to demand top billing. He might have been a bit blood thirsty, but he was a hero, too. His only television dramatic role was on the anthology series Suspense on October 11, 1949, in an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado. [18] Three more parts came in 192526, including a five-month run in the comedy-fantasy The Devil in the Cheese. Bela Lugosi's film career was all but dead when the B-movie (D-movie?) [17], On his arrival in America, the 6-foot-1-inch (1.85m),[15] 180-pound (82kg) Lugosi worked for some time as a laborer, and then entered the theater in New York City's Hungarian immigrant colony. Afterward, Lugosi was interviewed by a female reporter who botched the interview by asking the prearranged questions out of order, thoroughly confusing the aging star. [20], His first American film role was in the silent melodrama The Silent Command (1923) which was filmed in New York. He was learning to act by trial and error, or, as he put it, his will "was forged to whiter and whiter heat." The Horace Liveright production was successful, running for 261 performances before touring the United States to much fanfare and critical acclaim throughout 1928 and 1929. He declared his intention to become a US citizen in 1928; on June 26, 1931, he was naturalized. [8] His earliest known performances are from provincial theatres in the 190304 season, playing small roles in several plays and operettas. Bela Lugosi Death: and Cause of Death. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. 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. Before her death, she gave several (rather downbeat) interviews to the fan press. Among them, English architect Christopher Wren (in 1632), French poet Arthur Rimbaud (in 1854), Kenyan strongman Jomo Kenyatta(in 1891), Sen. Wayne Morse (in in 1900), pundit Will Rogers Jr. (in 1911), columnist Art Buchwald (in 1925), baseball Hall-of-Famer trends.embed.renderExploreWidget("TIMESERIES", {"comparisonItem":[{"keyword":"Bela Lugosi","geo":"","time":"today 12-m"}],"category":0,"property":""}, {"exploreQuery":"q=Bela Lugosi&date=today 12-m","guestPath":"https://trends.google.com:443/trends/embed/"}); His Hungarian accent led to him being typecasted as a horror villain in many films. Lugosi acted in several Hungarian plays before breaking out into his first English Broadway play, The Red Poppy, in 1922. It was both the fulfillment of a dream for Lugosi and, as this look at his career in Naked History suggests, the beginning of a nightmare. 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. Veteran Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi, 73, best known for his many Dracula screen roles, died late yesterday in his apartment at 5620 Harold Way, apparently the victim of a heart attack. 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. He died a year into their marriage of a heart attack. He was sent to fight in the Carpathian Winter War. 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. He is 140 years old and is a Libra. 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. In 1955, recently divorced from his fourth wife, he checked himself into the Los Angeles General Hospital Psychopathic Ward, hoping to kick his methadone and morphine habits. Bela's income mostly comes from and basic source was being a successful Hungarian actor (1882-1956). She would sign her letters "A dash of Hope". Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein(1948). 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. On 26 June 1931, Lugosi became a naturalized United States citizen. Focusing on Lugosi and his well-documented struggle to escape from the role that had typecast him, the play went on to receive the Hamilton Deane Award for best dramatic presentation from the Dracula Society in 2002. He later allowed himself to be photographed drinking a glass of milk at a Red Cross booth there. His immortal role as the count led him to play roles in 1934s The Black Cat and 1935s The Raven. Find out Bela Lugosinet worth 2020, salary 2020 detail bellow. He was, to moviegoers and followers of 1930s Hollywood, Dracula. [68], In 1979, a song called "Bela Lugosi's Dead" was released by UK post-punk band Bauhaus and is widely considered to be a pioneering song in the gothic rock genre. (At the end of the previous film in the series, The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), Lugosi's voice had been dubbed over that of Lon Chaney Jr. since Ygor's brain was now in the Monster's skull[34].) He currently resides in Lugoj, Romania. Universal Studios paid him only $3,500 for his work on Dracula, and, as this piece in the Standard Examiner illustrates, he was always paid less than his rival, Boris Karloff, for comparable roles. Bela Lugosi Net Worth. That honor went to Lon Cheney. Hungarian actor who was immortalized as Dracula in 1931. Then there was the fact that Universal Studios didn't pay him a living wage for the seven weeks he spent pouring his heart and soul into his portrayal of the bloodsucking count from Transylvania. It made the 6'1" Hungarian hunk irresistible to a series of beautiful women, including the notoriously sexy Clara Bow. As of 2022, Bela Lugosi's net worth is under review. Despite playing one of the world's most blood-thirsty villains, Lugosi was a lover, not a fighter. . At the age of 12, Lugosi dropped out of school. I was saying how Bela Lugosi was the quintessential Dracula, the elegant depiction of the character. This recording, "The Thirsty Death," is a considerable mystery unto itself. Bela Lugosi, Romania Actor. Lugosi's partnership with Wood began in 1953 with the cross-dressing cult classic, Glen or Glenda, written and directed by Wood, a known transvestite. Generation generation). Whether or not the two men actually disliked each other is a matter of lively debate. Who is Bela Lugosi 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. Sheffield said years later "Lugosi had probably spent it all on alcohol." 71. Regardless of controversy, five films at Universal The Black Cat (1934), The Raven (1935), The Invisible Ray (1936), Son of Frankenstein (1939), Black Friday (1940), plus minor cameo performances in Gift of Gab (1934) and two at RKO Pictures, You'll Find Out (1940) and The Body Snatcher (1945) paired Lugosi with Boris Karloff. When it was clear the film was going to be a monster at the box office, the over-heated publicity department of Universal Studios got busy concocting a backstory for Lugosi worthy of Bram Stoker. Released in August 1979, it is often considered to be the first gothic rock record. Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask. Following his return to the United States, he was interviewed for television, and reflected wistfully on his typecasting in horror parts: "Now I am the boogie man". People are becoming more and more interested in Bela Lugosi because of how much money he makes. Bela married 19-year-old Lillian Arch in 1933. [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. [4] Returning to civilian life, Lugosi became an actor in Hungarian silent films, appearing in many of them under the stage name "Arisztid Olt". Wood hired Tom Mason, his wife's chiropractor, to double for Lugosi in additional shots. Full Real Name. In 1925, he appeared as an Arab Sheik in Arabesque which premiered in Buffalo, New York at the Teck Theatre before moving to Broadway. Actually, Bela's widow Hope and ex-wife Lillian paid it; Sinatra's only connection to the aging actor was sending him a $1000 check . Exiled in Weimar-era Germany, he co-starred in at least 14 German silent films in 1920, among them Hypnose: Sklaven fremden Willens (1920), Der Januskopf (1920) and an adaptation of the Karl May novel Caravan of Death (1920). Birth Day: October 20, 1882: Birth Place: Lugoj, Romania: Bela Lugosi age: 137 YEARS OLD: Died On: Aug . Lugosi died of a heart attack prior to filming. [8] He took the last name "Lugosi" in 1903 to honor his birthplace,[4][9] and went on to perform in Shakespeare plays. [66], Andy Warhol's 1963 silkscreen The Kiss depicts Lugosi from Dracula about to bite into the neck of co-star Helen Chandler, who played Mina Harker. Lugosi made 12 films in Hungary between 1917 and 1918 before leaving for Germany. Bela Lugosi is American by birth. The underpayment was due in part to racism as a non-native English speaker, Lugosi was often undervalued and taken advantage of and Lugosi's unwillingness to engage in the age-old art of self-promotion. 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.
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