Lugosi made 12 films in Hungary between 1917 and 1918 before leaving for Germany. (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]. 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. He began his acting career in 1901 or 1902. Also in 1931, he became a U.S. citizen. Read on for more on this caped legend of stage and screen. Regardless, it seems safe to say that, when it came to philanthropy, Sinatra did it his way. 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. Bela Lugosi Net Worth - Valued Plan 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. Arthur Lennig, The Immortal Count, University Press of Kentucky, 2003, p. 21; Rhodes, Gary (1997). 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). He acted in several films in Weimar Germany, before arriving in New Orleans as a seaman on a merchant ship, then making his way north to New York City and Ellis Island. his net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. The funeral was held on Saturday, August 18 at the Utter-McKinley funeral home in Hollywood. Scared to Death is a 1947 thriller Gothic film directed by Christy Cabanne and starring Bela Lugosi. 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. [26] Lugosi had played the role on Broadway,[27] and was considered before director Tod Browning cast him in the role. titled "Last of the Red Hot Vampires" was an homage to Bela Lugosi; at the end of the episode, it was dedicated to "Mr. 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. 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. Much like that of the vampire he brought to life, Lugosi's story is a fascinating one, full of ups and downs and twists of fate. His earliest known performances are from provincial theatres in the 190304 season, playing small roles in several plays and operettas. $4.5 Million. Interestingly enough, Vlad the Impaler, Broker's inspiration for the count, was likewise a misunderstood man. 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. Bela married 19-year-old Lillian Arch in 1933. Bela Lugosi Jr. Net Worth He next played Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994). 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. [48] The divorce became final in October, 1925. The article quotes Lugosi as saying, "Never has a role so influenced and dominated an actor's life as has the role of Dracula. It was expected to sell for up to $2 million, but has since been listed again by Bonhams in 2018. Net Worth 2020, Salary. As film offers declined, he became more and more dependent on live venues to support his family. For the remainder of his life, he appeared less and less frequently in obscure, forgettable, low-budget B features. 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 Net Worth Net Worth List Lugosi left Germany in October 1920, emigrating by ship to the United States, and entered the country at New Orleans in December 1920. 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 . Speaking of, Lugosi married Lillian Arch, his fourth wife, in 1933. After moving to Budapest in 1911, he played dozens of roles with the National Theatre of Hungary between 1913 and 1919. He was discovered in bed by his fifth wife, Hope, upon her return from work. In the same interview he expressed a desire to play more comedy, as he had in the Mother Riley farce. He was the youngest of four children. In the same interview he expressed a desire to play more comedy, as he had in the Mother Riley farce. 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. This was one of several projects proposed by Wood, including The Phantom Ghoul and Dr. Acula. After playing in 172 different productions in his native Hungary, Lugosi moved on to appearing in Hungarian silent films in 1917. A Trip Down Memory Lane: the Death of Bela Lugosi He went first to Vienna before settling in Berlin (in the Langestrasse), where he continued acting. Which makes it somewhat strange that his son, Bela Jr., and fourth wife,Lillian, made the decision to bury Lugosi in his Dracula cape. Lugosi went to 20th Century-Fox for The Gorilla (1939), which had him playing straight man (a butler) to Patsy Kelly and the Ritz Brothers. He was 48-years-old when he got the part in the iconic film, and he was already many years into his acting career. 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. Later, the emotional and physical wounds of the war not to mention the pressures of Hollywood caught up with him and he had a very public struggle with drug addiction. She would sign her letters "A dash of Hope". During an impromptu interview upon his release from the treatment center in 1955, Lugosi stated that he was about to begin work on a new Ed Wood film called The Ghoul Goes West. Currently, Bela Lugosi is 140 years, 6 months and 11 days old. Lugosi enjoyed a lively career on stage, with plenty of personal appearances. Or Heath Ledger as the Joker. 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. Different prominent actors were considered before Browning cast Lugosi for the role, but the film was a hit. Bela Lugosi Net Worth, Biography, Age, Weight, Height Then Cheney died, and Lugosi replaced him on the bill. Bela's fifth wife was a fan who continuously wrote to him while he was recovering from drugs in a hospital. Independent producer Jack Broder took Lugosi at his word, casting him in a jungle-themed comedy, Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952), starring nightclub comedians Duke Mitchell and Jerry Lewis look-alike Sammy Petrillo, whose act closely resembled that of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis (Martin and Lewis). [54](Lillian eventually did marry Brian Donlevy in 1966, by which time she had also become an alcoholic and she died in 1981. 2021. 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.". He dropped out of school when he was twelve years old, and began appearing in Shakespeare plays. Bela Lugosi | Biography, Movies, Dracula, & Facts | Britannica Died: August 16, 1956 in Los Angeles, California, USA. As per our current Database, Bela Lugosi died on Aug 16, 1956 (age 73). Blasko".[70]. Bela Lugosis source of wealth comes from being a movie actor. A copy sold for $798,000 at Christie's in May 2000. According to the Imaginative Conservative, the erasure of Lugosi's actual history was just one unfortunate blow he had to survive, following his star turn as the count. Lillian and Bela vacationed on their lakeshore property in Lake Elsinore, California (then called Elsinore), on several lots between 1944 and 1953. Lugosi's jealousy put an end to his union with Arch, who was more than three decades his junior. Bela Lugosi was born in Lugoj, Romania on Friday, October 20, 1882 (G.I. He spent a great deal of money. Landau won an Oscar for his turn as the Hungarian heartthrob who'd fallen on hard times. In late April of 1955 the 72-year-old actor, destitute and recently divorced from his . The same can be said for Plan 9 FromOuter Space, whichSmithsonian Magazine describes as Wood's "magnum opus of sci-fi schlock." Bela Lugosi's full name is Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask and his nickname is Bela Lugosi. In June 1917, Lugosi married 19-year-old Ilona Szmik (18981991) in Hungary. 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. 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. [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. Bela Lugosi Wiki, Biography, Age, Career, Relationship, Net Worth Following a successful run as Count Dracula in the stage version of Bram Stoker's bloody tale, Lugosi was cast as the lead in the film adaptation. He was sent to fight in the Carpathian Winter War. 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! Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein(1948). 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. . . Youtube. 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. What's clear, though, is that Lugosi was often on the losing end of Tinsel Town's notoriously flaky attention span. Despite the relative size of their roles, Lugosi inevitably received second billing, below Karloff. Bela Lugosi Discusses His Drug Habit as He Leaves the Hospital in 1955 She had been a fan, writing letters to him when he was in the hospital recovering from his drug addiction. His performance had piqued the interest of Fox Film, and he was cast in the Hollywood studio's silent film The Veiled Woman (1929). The combination was so successful that Umann scheduled extra shows to accommodate the capacity crowds, and invited Lugosi to appear in person, which thrilled new audiences that had never seen Lugosi's classic performance. [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. If you dare Bela Lugosi grew up in a solidly middle class family in Hungary, the son of a baker-turned-banker. With Lugosi in his Dracula cape, Wood shot impromptu test footage, with no particular storyline in mind, in front of Tor Johnson's home, at a suburban graveyard, and in front of Lugosi's apartment building on Carlton Way. [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. Unable or unwilling to finish his studies, he supported himself as a miner and railroad worker until the age of 18 when his sister, Vilma, persuaded her husband to secure Bela a place in a traveling theater troupe. His legal actions in Lugosi v. Universal Pictures led to the creation of the California Celebrities Rights Act. He took the name "Lugosi" in 1903 to honor his birthplace, and eventually travelled to New Orleans, Louisiana as a crewman aboard a merchant ship. She filed for divorce four months later, citing actress Clara Bow as the "other woman". Biography. He currently resides in Lugoj, Romania. ISBN 0977379817 (hardcover), Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers. Pg. His immortal role as the count led him to play roles in 1934's The Black Cat and 1935's The Raven. 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. That honor went to Lon Cheney. Monday, During an impromptu interview upon his exit from the treatment center in 1955, Lugosi stated that he was about to go to work on a new Ed Wood film, The Ghoul Goes West. It was expected to sell for up to $2 million,[63] but has since been listed again by Bonhams in 2018. Bela Lugosi is a member of Richest Celebrities and Movie Actors. Through the 1930s, he occupied an important niche in horror films, but his notoriety as "Dracula" and ominous thick Hungarian accent greatly limited the roles offered to him, and he unsuccessfully tried for years to avoid the typecasting. The cape Lugosi wore in Dracula (1931) was in the possession of his family until it was put up for auction in 2011. Lugosi died of a heart attack prior to filming. Bela Lugosi grew up in a solidly middle class family in Hungary, the son of a baker-turned-banker. 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. The studio then rehired Lugosi to star in new films. Bela Lugosi Net Worth, Age, Height, Weight, Wife, Wiki, Family 2022 Lugosi claimed he performed the Dracula play around 1,000 times during his lifetime. His wife Hope discovered him dead, on his bed dressed only in his underwear, when she came home from work that evening, he having apparently died peacefully in his sleep around 6:45 PM according to the medical examiner. Bela Lugosi - Turner Classic Movies Lugosi's will left several inexpensive pieces of real estate in Elsinore and only $1,000 cash to his son, but since the will had been written on Jan. 12, 1954 (before Lugosi's fifth marriage), Bela Jr. had to share the thousand dollars evenly with Hope Lugosi. 134th birthday - [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. As this biography notes, he was fired from gigs roughly 20 times over the next two decades for incompetence. Wood plays Glen/Glenda. It appeared on their 1972 album Everybody's in Show-Biz. Bla Ferenc Dezs? Bela Lugosi is American by birth. 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]. The young Bela was born just the year before. He is the father of Bela Lugosi Jr. (1938). Ames was in turn replaced with David Manners, who would instead come to play John Harker. A copy sold for $798,000 at Christie's in May 2000. 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. Bela Lugosi - Wikipedia Bela Lugosi Net Worth. No Traveler Returns: The Lost Years of Bela Lugosi by Bill Kaffenberger and Gary D. Rhodes (2012). With Lugosi in his Dracula cape, Wood shot impromptu test footage, with no storyline in mind, in front of Tor Johnson's home, a suburban graveyard, and in front of Lugosi's apartment building on Carlton Way. Bela Lugosi is a Libra and was born in The Year of the Horse. Bela Lugosi was born on October 20, 1882 in Lugoj, Romania. Appeared with Lon Chaney Jr. in five films: The Wolf Man (1941), The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man . They remained married until his death in 1956. While its relatively simple to predict his income, its harder to know how much Bela has spent over the years. Lillian and Bela, as well as his mother, vacationed on their lake property in Lake Elsinore, California (then called Elsinore), on two lots between 1944 and 1953. Bela Lugosi Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family Lugosi had also expressed interest in playing Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey to help himself professionally. He was the youngest of four children. 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. Born: October 20, 1882 in Lugos, Hungary. 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. His first marriage, to Ilona Smzik, ended in divorce in 1920, reportedly because his lefty politics upset his Smzik's parents. Lugosi was born Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask on 20 October 1882, in Lugos, Kingdom of Hungary (modern Lugoj . His immortal role as the count led him to play roles in 1934's The Black Cat and 1935's The Raven. Lugosi did attempt to break type by auditioning for other roles. At the age of 12, Lugosi dropped out of school. [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. 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: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers. It made the 6'1" Hungarian hunk irresistible to a series of beautiful women, including the notoriously sexy Clara Bow. To Lugosi's disappointment, however, his role in this film was that of a mute butler with no dialogue. director Ed Wood single-handedly resurrected it, albeit in an undeniably problematic way. As of 2022, Bela Lugosi's net worth is under review. In 1921, he married Ilona von Montagh, and divorced in 1924. "I owe it all to that little man at the Regina Theatre," said Lugosi of exhibitor Umann. The heat clearly worked. In September 1949, Milton Berle invited Lugosi to appear in a sketch on Texaco Star Theatre. $4 Million. This recording, "The Thirsty Death," is a considerable mystery unto itself. [4] Returning to civilian life, Lugosi became an actor in Hungarian silent films, appearing in many of them under the stage name "Arisztid Olt". Exiled in Weimar-era Germany, he began appearing in a small number of well-received films, among them adaptations of the Karl May novels On the Brink of Paradise (Auf den Trmmern des Paradieses, 1920) and Caravan of Death (Die Todeskarawane, also 1920) with Dora Gerson (Gerson, who was Jewish, died in Auschwitz). Skinny and desperate, he begged a judge to commit him. 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. Lugosi was quite effective in this small but prestigious character part and he even received top billing among the film's supporting cast, all of whom had significantly larger roles. This footage ended up in Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), which was mostly filmed after Lugosi died. 70. The story features Lugosi and John Carradine in a mad tale of love, suspicion, and rabies in the jungle. Lugosi, who got his start acting in Shakespearean dramas in his native Hungary, was an ambitious and stately performer. Bela Lugosi - IMDb This drug dependence (and his gradually worsening alcoholism) was becoming apparent to producers, and after 1948's Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, the offers dwindled to parts in low-budget films; some of these were directed by Ed Wood, including a brief (posthumous) appearance in Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957).
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