bela lugosi net worth at death

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. Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask. 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. Bela Lugosi Death: and Cause of Death. It's enough to make one turn over in one's grave. He was tortured by the idea that, after his star-turn in the Dracula movie in 1931, no one saw would see him as a complicated human being or a talented, sensitive artist. Bela's income mostly comes from and basic source was being a successful Hungarian actor (1882-1956). In 1955, he checked himself into the psych ward of Los Angeles General Hospital. October 20, 2016, 132nd birthday - Bela Lugosi Jr. was boarded at the Elsinore Naval and Military School in Lake Elsinore, and also lived with Lillian's parents while she and Bela were touring. Back in 1950 however, Lugosi had appeared on a one-hour TV program called Murder and Bela Lugosi (which WPIX-TV broadcast on Sept. 18, 1950) in which Lugosi was interviewed and provided commentary about a number of his old horror films while clips from the films were being shown; historian Gary Rhodes thinks some of this Lugosi TV production found its way into the 1959 British film, which would finally explain the mystery. Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers. His earliest known performances are from provincial theatres in the 190304 season, playing small roles in several plays and operettas. Bela Lugosi became known as an actor the studios could get on the cheap. 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. [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. [18] Three more parts came in 192526, including a five-month run in the comedy-fantasy The Devil in the Cheese. Following the blockbuster release of Dracula in 1931, the striving and serious actor from Transylvania would find himself typecast again and again by Hollywood, passed over for more meaty roles and given, almost without fail, the part of the cheesy villain. Despite playing one of the world's most blood-thirsty villains, Lugosi was a lover, not a fighter. In 1986, the court's decision was, in effect, overturned with the ruling in the California Celebrity Rights Act stipulating that children and spouses of celebrities have jurisdiction over the use of their loved one's likeness up to 70 years after the celebrity's death. The film would be Bela Lugosi's last "A" movie. Following his treatment, Lugosi made one final film, in late 1955, The Black Sleep, for Bel-Air Pictures, which was released in the summer of 1956 through United Artists with a promotional campaign that included several personal appearances. On 26 June 1931, Lugosi became a naturalized United States citizen. He wasn't Universal Pictures' first choice, though. He went first to Vienna before settling in Berlin (in the Langestrasse), where he continued acting. Regardless, it seems safe to say that, when it came to philanthropy, Sinatra did it his way. Bela Lugosi was an actor who was best known for his role as Count Dracula in a 1931 movie. 's girlfriend? He'd hoped, like his contemporary, Boris Karloff, to win the hearts and minds of not just fans but critics, too. This recording, "The Thirsty Death," is a considerable mystery unto itself. He was 73. The iconic portrayal of Count Dracula marked Lugosi's career and gave him widespread recognition. [19] In 1925, he played an Arab Sheik in Arabesque which premiered in Buffalo, New York at the Teck Theatre before moving to Broadway. Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack August 16, 1956. [b], The cape Lugosi wore in Dracula (1931) was in the possession of his son until it was put up for auction in 2011. People are becoming more and more interested in Bela Lugosi because of how much money he makes. His first marriage, to Ilona Smzik, ended in divorce in 1920, reportedly because his lefty politics upset his Smzik's parents. Bela Lugosi (born October 20, 1882) is famous for being movie actor. Lugosi was third-billed with his name above the title alongside Basil Rathbone as Dr. Frankenstein's son and Boris Karloff reprising his role as Frankenstein's monster. 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). 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. ISBN 0977379817 (hardcover), Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers. became famous? 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). Also in 1931, he became a U.S. citizen. It was an inescapable legacy. [59][60] Hope died in Hawaii in 1997, at age 78, having never remarried. Sinatra would recall Lugosi's amazement at his visit, since the two men had never met before.[40]. Continue to the next page to see Bela Lugosi net worth, estimated salary and earnings. In 1925, he appeared as an Arab Sheik in Arabesque which premiered in Buffalo, New York at the Teck Theatre before moving to Broadway. In the same interview he expressed a desire to play more comedy, as he had in the Mother Riley farce. Bela George Lugosi net worth is $9 Million Bela George Lugosi Wiki: Salary, Married, Wedding, Spouse, Family Bela Lugosi Jr. was born on January 5, 1938 in Los Angeles, California, USA as Bela George Lugosi. [22], Lugosi was approached in the summer of 1927 to star in a Broadway theatre production of Dracula, which had been adapted by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel. Though at first he was treated with benign pain remedies such as asparagus juice, doctors increased the medication to opiates. Blask (20 October 1882 16 August 1956), better known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian-American actor, famous for portraying Count Dracula in the original 1931 film and for his roles in various other horror films. He also continued to lobby for his prized role in the film version of Dracula. The couple divorced in 1920, reputedly over political differences with her parents. [29] He played the elegant, somewhat hot-tempered General Nicholas Strenovsky-Petronovich in International House (1933). 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! Hope later moved to Hawaii, where she worked for many years as a caregiver in a leper colony. [25], 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. Weeks subsequently filed for divorce on November 4, 1929, accusing Lugosi of infidelity, citing actress Clara Bow as the "other woman", and claimed Lugosi tried to take her checkbook and the key to her safe deposit box away from her. Universal changed management in 1936 and, because of a British ban on horror films, dropped them from their production schedule; Lugosi found himself consigned to Universal's non-horror B-film unit, at times in small roles where he was obviously used for "name value" only. (Bela eventually had four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, although he did not live long enough to meet any of them.)[51]. This footage ended up in Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), which was mostly filmed after Lugosi died. $4 Million. 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. As this piece in American Ghost Stories, points out, Lugosi wasn't always truthful about his past he was prone to exaggeration, claiming in one 1941 interview to have stolen 700 hats as a young boy but his childhood was undeniably cut short by his father's death, propelling him into menial labor jobs that tested his mettle. Lugosi: His Life in Films, on Stage, and in the Hearts of Horror Lovers. When is Bela Lugosi The one that had been on the night before was Dracula [1931]. 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. In September 1921, he married Hungarian actress Ilona von Montagh in New York City, and she filed for divorce on November 11, 1924, charging him with adultery and complaining that he wanted her to abandon her acting career to keep house for him. 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. It was expected to sell for up to $2 million,[63] but has since been listed again by Bonhams in 2018. 70. He also appeared in the film Prisoners (also 1929), believed lost, which was released in both silent and talkie versions. In 1921, he married Ilona von Montagh, and divorced in 1924. A copy sold for $798,000 at Christie's in May 2000. 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. She would sign her letters "A dash of Hope". [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. According to the biography, The Immortal Count: The Life and Films of Bela Lugosi, Lugosi's father, Itsvan, was a prosperous man who left the baking profession in 1883 to set up, with the help of a few partners, a small savings bank in the town of Lugos. Having spent a year acting in silent films in Germany's Weimar Republic, Lugosi traveled to America on a merchant ship in 1920, landing in New Orleans before heading north to New York City. Lugosi eventually grew very bitter over the fact that the general public took him for Dracula. The same can be said for Plan 9 FromOuter Space, whichSmithsonian Magazine describes as Wood's "magnum opus of sci-fi schlock." 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. The problem first manifested itself in 1937, when Lugosi was forced to withdraw from a leading role in a serial production, The Secret of Treasure Island, due to constant back pain. Appeared with Lon Chaney Jr. in five films: The Wolf Man (1941), The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man . She filed for divorce four months later, citing actress Clara Bow as the "other woman". His earliest. Financial difficulties forced him into taking roles that were beneath both his talent and pay grade. ? Whether or not the two men actually disliked each other is a matter of lively debate. Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). 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." He was buried in a Dracula costume, including a cape, but not the ones used in the 1931 film . Once in a full moon, an actor portrays a villain with such flare that fans have a hard time separating the man from the character. [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. 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. Pg 61. 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. 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. 58. [46], In 1933, the 51-year-old Lugosi married 22-year-old Lillian Arch (19111981), the daughter of Hungarian immigrants living in Hollywood. Lugosi was never a contender for such an award. Instead, he was relegated to the horror genre, written off as a B-movie hack. Pg. The Hungarian actor Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask, better known as Bela Lugosi, became known to many as the face of Dracula after his iconic appearance as the famous vampire in the 1931 film adaptation of Bram Stoker's classic novel. 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. His legal actions in Lugosi v. Universal Pictures led to the creation of the California Celebrities Rights Act. His real name is Bla Ferenc Dezs? He later allowed himself to be photographed drinking a glass of milk at a Red Cross booth there. 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. Lugosi was approached in the summer of 1927 to star in a Broadway theatre production of Dracula, which had been adapted by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel. "[69], An episode of Sledge Hammer! During WWI, he volunteered and was commissioned as an infantry lieutenant, and was wounded three times.A distinguished stage actor in his native Hungary, Austria-Hungary, he began his stage career in 1901 and started appearing in films during World War I, fleeing to Germany in 1919 as a result of his left-wing political activity (he organized an actors' union). He made his way to New York and was inspected by immigration officers at Ellis Island in March 1921. He co-starred in a number of films with Boris Karloff, who was able to demand top billing. 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. She had been a fan, writing letters to him when he was in the hospital recovering from his drug addiction. 2022. Bela Lugosi was born on October 20, 1882 in Lugoj, Romania (73 years old). His first American film role was in the melodrama The Silent Command (1923). Lugosi memorized the script for the skit, but became confused on the air when Berle began to ad lib. Lugosi complained of her excessive drinking and dancing with other men at social gatherings. 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]. Last chapter. Lots of famous people were born over the years on Oct. 20. Occupation: Actor. [2] He later starred in the 1931 film version of Dracula directed by Tod Browning and produced by Universal Pictures. Hungarian actor who was immortalized as Dracula in 1931. Online estimates of Bela Lugosis net worth vary. Or Heath Ledger as the Joker. Lugosi developed severe, chronic sciatica, ostensibly aggravated by injuries received during his military service. [20], His first American film role was in the silent melodrama The Silent Command (1923) which was filmed in New York. In 2019 the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announced acquisition of the cape via partial donation from the Lugosi family and that the cape will be on display in 2020. April 30, 2023. He dropped out of school when he was twelve years old, and began appearing in Shakespeare plays. 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". 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. If Lugosi hoped that the success of Dracula would allow him to emerge from the gentleman vampire's ahem shadow, he was sorely mistaken. I was saying how Bela Lugosi was the quintessential Dracula, the elegant depiction of the character. . his net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. To Lugosi's disappointment, however, his role in this film was that of a mute, with no dialogue. Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask (Hungarian:[bel frnts d blko]; October 20, 1882 August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (/losi/; Hungarian:[luoi]), was a HungarianAmerican actor, best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic Dracula, Ygor in Son of Frankenstein (1939) and his roles in many other horror films from 1931 through 1956.[1]. [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. He also made plenty of personal live appearances to promote his horror image or an accompanying film. [48] The divorce became final in October, 1925. [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. 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. After moving to Budapest in 1911, he played dozens of roles with the National Theatre of Hungary between 1913 and 1919. Landau won an Oscar for his turn as the Hungarian heartthrob who'd fallen on hard times. Bela George Lugosi (born January 5, 1938) is an American attorney and the son of actor Bla Lugosi. He spent a great deal of money. Lugosi, who got his start acting in Shakespearean dramas in his native Hungary, was an ambitious and stately performer. 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. After moving to Budapest in 1911, he played dozens of roles with the National Theatre of Hungary between 191319. Lugosi acted in several Hungarian language plays before starring in his first English Broadway play, The Red Poppy in 1922. [14], He later moved to California in 1928 to tour in the Dracula stage play, and his Hollywood film career took off. He died a year into their marriage of a heart attack. Bela's fifth wife was a fan who continuously wrote to him while he was recovering from drugs in a hospital. Bela Lugosi is an Actor, zodiac sign: Libra. ? Karloff himself in interviews suggested that Lugosi was initially mistrustful of him when they acted together, believing that the Englishman would attempt to upstage him. The divorce became official on December 9, 1929. Bela Lugosi Net Worth. 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. They had a child, Bela G. Lugosi, in 1938. 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. Skinny and desperate, he begged a judge to commit him. According to Kitty Kelley's biography of Frank Sinatra, when the entertainer heard of Lugosi's problems, he visited Lugosi at the hospital and gave him a $1,000 check. According to Lost Magazine, by the time of his death of a heart attack at 73, Lugosi had played the count 1,300 times, both on stage and on screen. 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. Sheffield said years later "Lugosi had probably spent it all on alcohol." 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. California's descendibility statute for rights of publicity, Civil Code Section 990, was enacted in 1988, and Lugosi's estate now licenses the commercial use of his name and image. [8] He took the last name "Lugosi" in 1903 to honor his birthplace,[4][9] and went on to perform in Shakespeare plays. The division's mission was to launch an attack against Russian troops in Poland. He eventually became a U.S. citizen in 1931, soon after the release of his film version of Dracula.[12][4]. In 1917, Lugosi married Ilona Szmik (1898-1991). Without his knowledge, a beloved singer, actor, and fan was helping pay his way through rehab. Youtube. Following his treatment, Lugosi made one final film, in late 1955, The Black Sleep, for Bel-Air Pictures, which was released in the summer of 1956 through United Artists with a promotional campaign that included several personal appearances by Lugosi and his co-stars, as well as Maila Nurmi (TV's horror host "Vampira"). After playing in 172 different productions in his native Hungary, Lugosi moved on to appearing in Hungarian silent films in 1917. He currently resides in Lugoj, Romania. He is 140 years old and is a Libra. In 1927, he got his big break. He was awarded the Wound Medal for wounds he sustained while serving on the Russian front. 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. It might have been a turning point for the actor, but within the year he was back on Hollywood's Poverty Row, playing leads for Sam Katzman. [29][38], The Vincent Price film, House of Wax premiered in Los Angeles at the Paramount Theatre on April 16, 1953. But his victory failed to last. The article quotes Lugosi as saying, "Never has a role so influenced and dominated an actor's life as has the role of Dracula. [54](Lillian eventually did marry Brian Donlevy in 1966, by which time she had also become an alcoholic and she died in 1981. You've got your Bette Davises vs. your Joan Crawfords, your Sarah Jessica Parkers vs. your Kim Cattralls, your Marlon Brandos vs. your Frank Sinatras. Dracula (1931) $3,500 : 50 Million Frenchmen (1931) $1,000 : Chandu the Magician (1932) $2,500 : White Zombie (1932) . In September 1949, Milton Berle invited Lugosi to appear in a sketch on Texaco Star Theatre. . Interestingly enough, Vlad the Impaler, Broker's inspiration for the count, was likewise a misunderstood man. Bla Ferenc Dezs? 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.".

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