 All About Art
On Stage: Bela Lugosi
published: October 2006
By Tamar Burris, Contributing Writer
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Bela Lugosi was a Hollywood actor who is remembered for his legendary role as one of the world's classic monsters, the vampire Count Dracula. Born Bela Ferenc Dezso Blasko on October 20, 1882, in Hungary, Lugosi was the youngest of four children. His family lived close to the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania, which was the setting for the
fictional Dracula story. More interested in acting than in schoolwork, he took his stage name from his hometown of Lugos and left home to pursue his career when he was just 12 years old. However, to make up for his lack of education, Lugosi was an avid reader who was said to have read every day of his life. After becoming an established actor in Hungary, he entered the military and served as a Ski Patrol captain during World War I. Wounded in battle, Lugosi was awarded the Hungarian equivalent of a Purple Heart medal for his service.
 Lugosi came to the United States in 1921, where he worked with a community theater group and gained a reputation as a versatile stage and film actor. In 1927, Lugosi got his big break when he was offered the role of Count Dracula in a theater production adapted from Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula. He was later chosen to play the Count in Universal Studios' 1931 movie version of Dracula. His heavy Hungarian accent and small, dark features made him the perfect movie monster, so Lugosi no longer received many roles outside of horror films following Dracula.
Although Dracula was hugely successful, Lugosi's acting career faded in the years following the film. He was asked to reprise his role as Dracula one last time in a 1948 film and throughout his later career accepted many public engagements in which he dressed as Dracula. When he died in 1956, Lugosi was buried in one of his signature Dracula capes.
Written by Tamar Burris, a former elementary school teacher who now works as a freelance writer and curriculum developer for PBS, the Discovery Channel, and other education-related companies. Sources: The Official Bela Lugosi Website, www.belalugosi.com; Wikipedia Bla Lugosi. Photo courtesy of Timothy Lugosi and Lugosi Enterprises.
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