Bela Lugosi

Lugosi was married for five times, with four of his marriages ending in divorce. He married his fifth wife, Hope Lininger in 1955. They were married for just a year when he died. He had one son with his fourth wife, Lillian.

He suffered from Sciatica and was addicted to morphine and methadone.

He died of a heart attack at the age of 73, and was buried in his Dracula costume as per the request of his son.

Bela Lugosi was born as the youngest of four siblings to Paula de Vojnich and Istv�n Blask� in Lugos. His father was a banker.

He attended the local grammar school in Lugos, but dropped out at the age of 12 as he did not like the strict discipline there.

He began his career as a stage actor playing small roles in provincial theatres. He went on to play several major roles with the National Theatre of Hungary.

He served as an infantry lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I, gradually rising to the rank of captain in the ski patrol.

He was forced to flee his motherland during the Hungarian Revolution of 1919. First he went to Germany where he found work as a film actor. Later he migrated to the U.S, and went to New York where there was a sizeable Hungarian community.

He became involved with the Hungarian Theatre in New York, and took the last name of “Lugosi” in honour of his hometown. He acted in his first English language play ‘The Red Poppy’ in 1922.

He made debut in American films with the melodrama ‘The Silent Command’ in 1923, and followed it with ‘The Midnight Girl’ in 1925. Soon other roles followed.

The biggest success of Lugosi’s career was ‘Dracula’ (1931) in which he played the Count Dracula. His Hungarian accent added to the mystery of the character he portrayed. Even though there had been many other actors who had played the same character, somehow Lugosi became synonymous with the ‘Dracula’ character.

‘White Zombie’ (1932) is considered to be one of his most memorable films. He played the role of an evil voddoo master who transforms a woman into a zombie. The film received mixed critical reviews but was financially successful.

His movie ‘The Black Cat’ (1934) in which he plays an insane psychiatrist did well at the box office and received positive response from critics.