Bela Lugosi

Truth being stranger than fiction sometimes, Bela Lugosi was buried in his full Dracula costume, as per the request in his will, in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. He had been appearing in a stage production of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial at the Bucks County Playhouse at the time of his death. He was also the subject of a song by gothic rock band Bauhaus entitled "Bela Lugosi's Dead". Soon after appearing in that film, he was found dead in New Hope, Pennsylvania of a drug overdose. Instead he was listed as a guest-star, below Tor Johnson, Vampira and Kenne Duncan. Morris's career began to fade in the 1950s, and he only appeared in three films from 1948 until his final role in 1970's The Great White Hope. Contrary to Burton's Ed Wood, Lugosi did not receive top billing for Plan 9. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for 1929's Alibi, but perhaps his finest role is in the early prison film The Big House, which was a huge success and propelled his career.

Wood hired his wife's chiropractor to double for Lugosi, who is easily spotted by the fact that. Born in New York City, the son of actor William Morris, Morris is most famous for his role in the Boston Blackie detective series of the 1940s, but his film career began in 1917 in An Amateur Orphan. However, Lugosi died three years before the funding came through (from the Baptist Church of Beverly Hills, no less). John Chester Brooks Morris (February 16, 1901 - September 11, 1970) was an American actor. Wood had had great difficulty in financing the project, and was only able to shoot short, silent scenes that he planned to incorporate into the whole of the film once he had found the remainder of his funding. Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space featured footage of Lugosi interspersed with a double who looked nothing like him.

One of Lugosi's most infamous roles was in a movie that was released after he was dead. (The role was later given to Kenne Duncan, and the shots of that production made their way into Wood's Night of the Ghouls, a sequel of sorts to Wood's previous Lugosi films.). The script for Final Curtain, written by Ed Wood, was in his lap. He died of a heart attack, aged 73, in Los Angeles, California, while sitting in a chair.

Because Lugosi appeared in B-Movies, he was featured in several episodes of the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000, most notably, Bride of the Monster. The biographical film Ed Wood, by Tim Burton, portrayed Wood's relationship with Lugosi, who was played by Martin Landau. Ed Wood, a long-time fan of Lugosi's, offered him numerous roles in his films, always playing some variant of a mad scientist/vampire type, even in movies — such as Glen or Glenda — in which such a role made no sense. Late in his life, he again got to star in movies, albeit lousy ones.

Later on, the acting jobs dried up and he became addicted to morphine, though he did get to recreate the role of Dracula one last time for the film Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein in 1948. Lugosi's attitude towards Karloff is the subject of contradictory reports, some claiming he was openly resentful of Karloff's long-term success and ability to get good roles beyond the horror arena, while others suggested the two actors were - for a time at least - good friends. Several films, such as The Black Cat and the aforementioned Son of Frankenstein paired Lugosi with his chief rival in the realm of horror movies, Boris Karloff. He also had a small role in the comedy classic Ninotchka opposite Greta Garbo.

He declined an offer to appear as The Monster in Frankenstein but made an impression as the insane Ygor in two sequels, Son of Frankenstein and Ghost of Frankenstein before finally consenting to play the creature in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. The film was a success, but Lugosi was typecast as a horror heavy with such movies as White Zombie and Scared to Death. He was most famous for his title role in Tod Browning's Dracula (1931) (building on the stage role). He left from his native Hungary for Germany in 1919 after persecution following his complicity in the forming of an actor's union, and emigrated to the United States in 1921.

During World War I he served as an infantry lieutenant for the Central Powers. He however, became most notably known for his portrayal of Dracula in a stage production of Bram Stoker's classic vampire story. Lugosi started his acting career on the stage in Europe in several Shakespearean plays. He was born in Lugos, Transylvania, Austria-Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania), the youngest of four children of a banker.

Béla Lugosi was the stage name of actor Blaskó Béla Ferenc Dezső (October 20, 1882–August 16, 1956). He covers his face with his cape in every shot. He looks nothing like Lugosi.