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. 2022. In some ways, this visit would echo the year his son, Bela Lugosi Jr., was born. Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff are referenced in the Curtis Stigers' song "Sleeping with the Lights On", from the 1991 album Curtis Stigers. Born: October 20, 1882 in Lugos, Hungary. Bela Lugosi Jr. attended the Elsinore Naval & Military School in Lake Elsinore. [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. . Bela Lugosi was born on October 20, 1882 in Lugoj, Romania. As this biography notes, he was fired from gigs roughly 20 times over the next two decades for incompetence. Lugosi was proscribed from acting due to his participation in the formation of an actors' union. Hope later moved to Hawaii, where she worked for many years as a caregiver in a leper colony. [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. pg. 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. 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). He was 48-years-old when he got the part in the iconic film, and he was already many years into his acting career. Bela Lugosi will celebrate 141st birthday on a Friday 20th of October 2023. [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. According to Classic Monsters, his third bride was the wealthy widow, Beatrice Weeks, who grew so enraged over his flirtation with "It Girl" Clara Bow that she dissolved the union after only three months. He was awarded the Wound Medal for wounds he sustained while serving on the Russian front. Wounded twice in the fighting, Lugosi received a medal for his faithful service. Everywhere Lugosi went, people saw a blood-sucking bad guy from Transylvania. The film was a major hit, but Lugosi was paid a salary of only $3,500, since he had too eagerly accepted the role.[12][28]. [2] When appearing in Hungarian silent films, he mostly used the stage name Arisztid Olt. 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. "I was dead, and he brought me back to life." In 1996, he had a supporting role in Roland Emmerich's Independence Day. 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 studio then rehired Lugosi to star in new films, fortunately just as Lugosi's fourth wife had given birth to a son. Skinny and desperate, he begged a judge to commit him. Which makes it somewhat strange that his son, Bela Jr., and fourth wife,Lillian, made the decision to bury Lugosi in his Dracula cape. [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. Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack August 16, 1956. 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. As his career faltered, Lugosi fell victim to drug addiction. 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 . Bela Lugosi was a working actor when World War I broke out in Europe. In this article, we covered Bela Lugosi's net worth, wiki, bio, career, height, weight, pics, family, affairs, car, salary, age, facts, and other details in 2022. He died a year into their marriage of a heart attack. Bela G. Lugosi - Wikipedia Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack August 16, 1956. He is often referred to as Bela Lugosi Jr. 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). Age (2022) Update Soon. 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. "[69], An episode of Sledge Hammer! Lugosi left Germany in October 1920, intending to emigrate to the United States, and entered the country at New Orleans in December 1920. Bela Lugosi Net Worth Net Worth List 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. It's worthy of its own movie the love story of two tragically underestimated and maligned men. Episode 80: The Thirsty Death - Ghoulish Delights The cape Lugosi wore in Dracula (1931) was in the possession of his family until it was put up for auction in 2011. I was saying how Bela Lugosi was the quintessential Dracula, the elegant depiction of the character. Pg 61. Death, Net Worth, Wife, Family, Brother. He was buried in a Dracula costume, including a cape, but not the ones used in the 1931 film . In 1921, he married Ilona von Montagh, and divorced in 1924. [26] Lugosi had played the role on Broadway,[27] and was considered before director Tod Browning cast him in the role. 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 Lugosi Net Worth. He is 140 years old and is a Libra. Strange, but also fitting and bittersweet. We hope you enjoy it! [75], On July 19, 2003, German artist Hartmut Zech erected a bust of Lugosi on one of the corners of Vajdahunyad Castle in Budapest. [20], His first American film role was in the silent melodrama The Silent Command (1923) which was filmed in New York. Bela's fifth wife was a fan who continuously wrote to him while he was recovering from drugs in a hospital. [46] The couple divorced after Lugosi was forced to flee his homeland for political reasons (risking execution if he stayed) and Ilona did not wish to leave her parents. [65] In 2019 it was announced that the cape would be on display the following year. 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). Life of Bela Lugosi: Hollywood's Most Famous Dracula - LiveAbout He next played Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994). The picture was filmed in Cinecolor.The film is historically important as the only color film in which Bela Lugosi has a starring role. 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. Lugosi acted in several Hungarian language plays before starring in his first English Broadway play, The Red Poppy in 1922. Regardless, it seems safe to say that, when it came to philanthropy, Sinatra did it his way. Lughorrort age 18. 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". In June 1917, Lugosi married 19-year-old Ilona Szmik (18981991) in Hungary. [56], Lugosi died of a heart attack on August 16, 1956, in the bedroom of his Los Angeles apartment while taking a nap. Want to more about Him? 103. 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". Whether or not the two men actually disliked each other is a matter of lively debate. Bla Ferenc Dezs? Bela Lugosi Net Worth, Age, Height, Weight, Wife, Wiki, Family 2022 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). 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. The divorce became official on December 9, 1929. 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. His relationship with the movie was fraught: it made him famous and, for a time, quite rich. [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. The funeral was held on Saturday, August 18 at the Utter-McKinley funeral home in Hollywood. Bela Lugosi was born on October 20, 1882 in Lugoj, Romania (73 years old). Lugosi complained of her excessive drinking and dancing with other men at social gatherings. The story features Lugosi and John Carradine in a mad tale of love, suspicion, and rabies in the jungle. 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. The division's mission was to launch an attack against Russian troops in Poland. 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. Lugosi did attempt to break type by auditioning for other roles. Bela Lugosi is a member of Richest Celebrities and Movie Actors. 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. Bela Lugosi Death: and Cause of Death. trends.embed.renderExploreWidget("TIMESERIES", {"comparisonItem":[{"keyword":" Bela Lugosi ","geo":"","time":"today 12-m"}],"category":0,"property":""}, {"exploreQuery":"q=bela%20lugosi&date=today 12-m","guestPath":"https://trends.google.com:443/trends/embed/"}); He performed in many of William Shakespeare s plays when he was younger. Bela Lugosi Net Worth, Height, Age, and More - Popular Celebrity Biography He also appeared in the film Prisoners (also 1929), believed lost, which was released in both silent and talkie versions. According to Bela G. Lugosi (his son), Forrest Ackerman, Dolores Fuller and Richard Sheffield, the film's portrayal of Lugosi is inaccurate: In real life, he never used profanity, did not hate Karloff, owned no small dogs, nor did he sleep in a coffin.