Wild Facts About the Bronx Zoo. On October 2. 0, 1. In his heyday, Bela Lugosi was hailed as the undisputed king of horror. Eighty- five years after he first donned a vampire’s cape, Lugosi's take on Count Dracula is still widely hailed as the definitive portrayal of the legendary fiend. But who was the man behind the monster?

HE WORKED WITH THE NATIONAL THEATER OF HUNGARY. To the chagrin of his biographers, the details concerning Bela Lugosi’s youth have been clouded in mystery. In a 1. 92. 9 interview, he straight- up admitted “for purposes of simplification, I have always thought it better to tell [lies] about the early years of my life.”) That said, we do know that he was born as Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó on October 2.

Lugoj, Hungary (now part of Romania). We also know that his professional stage debut came at some point in either 1.

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By 1. 90. 3, Lugosi had begun to find steady work with traveling theater companies, through which he took part in operas, operettas, and stage plays. In 1. 91. 3, Lugosi caught a major break when the most prestigious performing arts venue in his native country—the Budapest- based National Theater of Hungary—cast him in no less than 3.

Most of the characters that he played there were small Shakespearean roles such as Rosencrantz in Hamlet and Sir Walter Herbert in Richard III. HE FOUGHT IN WORLD WAR I. The so- called war to end all wars put Lugosi’s dramatic aspirations on hold. Although being a member of the National Theater exempted him from military service, he voluntarily enlisted in the Austro- Hungarian Army in 1. Over the next year and a half, he fought against Russian forces as a lieutenant with the 4. Royal Hungarian Infantry. While serving in the Carpathian mountains, Lugosi was wounded on three separate occasions.

Upon healing from his injuries, he left the armed forces in 1. National Theater. WHEN HE MADE HIS BROADWAY DEBUT, LUGOSI BARELY KNEW ANY ENGLISH. In December 1. 92.

Lugosi boarded a cargo boat and emigrated to the United States. Two years later, audiences on the Great White Way got their first look at this charismatic stage veteran. Lugosi was cast as Fernando—a suave, Latin lover—in the 1. Broadway stage play The Red Poppy. At the time, his grasp of the English language was practically nonexistent. Undaunted, Lugosi went over all of his lines with a tutor.

Although he couldn’t comprehend their meaning, the actor managed to memorize and phonetically reproduce every single syllable that he was supposed to deliver on stage. UNIVERSAL DIDN’T WANT TO CAST HIM AS COUNT DRACULA.

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The year 1. 92. 7 saw Bela Lugosi sink his teeth into the role of a lifetime. A play based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker had opened in London in 1.

Sensing its potential, Horace Liveright, an American producer, decided to create an U. S. version of the show. Over the summer of 1. Lugosi was cast as the blood- sucking Count Dracula.

For him, the part represented a real challenge. In Lugosi’s own words, “It was a complete change from the usual romantic characters I was playing, but it was a success.” It certainly was. Enhanced by his presence, the American Dracula remained on Broadway for a full year, then spent two years touring the country. Impressed by its box office prowess, Universal decided to adapt the show into a major motion picture in 1.

Horror fans might be surprised to learn that when the studio began the process of casting this movie’s vampiric villain, Lugosi was not their first choice. At the time, Lugosi was still a relative unknown, which made director Tod Browning more than a little hesitant to offer him the job.

A number of established actors were all considered before the man who’d played Dracula on Broadway was tapped to immortalize his biting performance on film. MOST OF HIS DRACULA- RELATED FAN MAIL CAME FROM WOMEN. Watch Scarface Online Freeform on this page.

The recent Twilight phenomenon is not without historical precedent. Lugosi estimated that, while he was playing the Count on Broadway, more than 9. A 1. 93. 2 Universal press book quotes him as saying, “When I was on the stage in Dracula, my audiences were composed mostly of women.” Moreover, Lugosi contended that most of the men who’d attended his show had merely been dragged there by female companions. HE TURNED DOWN THE ROLE OF FRANKENSTEIN’S MONSTER. Released in 1. 93. Dracula quickly became one of the year's biggest hits for Universal (some film historians even argue that the movie single- handedly rescued the ailing studio from bankruptcy).

Furthermore, its astronomical success transformed Lugosi into a household name for the first time in his career. Regrettably for him, though, he’d soon miss the chance to star in another smash. Pleased by Dracula’s box office showing, Universal green- lit a new cinematic adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Lugosi seemed like the natural choice to play the monster, but because the poor brute had few lines and would be caked in layers of thick makeup, the actor rejected the job offer.

As far as Lugosi was concerned, the character was better suited for some “half- wit extra” than a serious actor. Once the superstar tossed Frankenstein aside, the part was given to a little- known actor named Boris Karloff.

Moviegoers eventually did get to see Lugosi play the bolt- necked corpse in the 1. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. Watch Unfaithful Online Flashx there.

According to some sources, he strongly detested the guttural scream that the script forced him to emit at regular intervals. That yell is the worst thing about the part.

You feel like a big jerk every time you do it!” Lugosi allegedly complained. LUGOSI’S RELATIONSHIP WITH BORIS KARLOFF WAS MORE CORDIAL THAN IT’S USUALLY MADE OUT TO BE. It’s often reported that the two horror icons were embittered rivals. In reality, however, Karloff and Lugosi seemed to have harbored some mutual respect—and perhaps even affection for one another.

The dynamic duo co- starred in five films together, the first of which was 1. The Black Cat; Karloff claimed that, on set, Lugosi was “Suspicious of tricks, fearful of what he regarded as scene stealing. Later on, when he realized I didn’t go in for such nonsense, we became friends.” During one of their later collaborations, Lugosi told the press “we laughed over my sad mistake and his good fortune as Frankenstein is concerned.”That being said, Lugosi probably didn’t appreciate the fact that in every single film which featured both actors, Karloff got top billing. Also, he once privately remarked, “If it hadn’t been for Boris Karloff, I could have had a corner on the horror market.”8.