Bela Lugosi Net Worth 2023 [8] His earliest known performances are from provincial theatres in the 190304 season, playing small roles in several plays and operettas. It was not immediately successful, though. 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. Contrary to popular belief, Lugosi never requested to be buried in his cloak; Bela G. Lugosi confirmed on numerous occasions that he and his mother, Lillian, made the decision but believed that it is what his father would have wanted.[58]. No Traveler Returns: The Lost Years of Bela Lugosi by Bill Kaffenberger and Gary D. Rhodes (2012). He didn't know a word of English at the time, but that didn't stop him from auditioning, and, two years after his arrival in the States, he was cast in the play, The Red Poppy. Continue to the next page to see Bela Lugosi net worth, estimated salary and earnings. With fellow expatriate Hungarian actors he formed a small stock company that toured Eastern cities, playing for immigrant audiences. All About Martin Landau: Death, Net Worth, Wife, Family, Brother 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 began acting on the Hungarian stage in 1902. [50] They remained married for 20 years and they had a child, Bela G. Lugosi, in 1938. He'd developed the addictions over time, and, as this article in Open Culture shows, he'd grown so sick he could no longer live on his own. What terrible revenge has Lugosi's character concocted for his revenge? Lugosi was quite effective in this small but prestigious character part and he even received top billing among the film's supporting cast, all of whom had significantly larger roles. It was thought to be evidence that Lugosi appeared in the film, but historians all agree that is very unlikely, since Lugosi was in both Chicago (appearing in a play called The Werewolf) and New York at the time that film was being made in Hollywood. In the same interview he expressed a desire to play more comedy, as he had in the Mother Riley farce. He was buried in a Dracula costume, including a cape, but not the ones used in the 1931 film, contrary to popular--but unfounded--rumors. [3], Lugosi married five times and had one son, Bela G. Lugosi (with his fourth wife, Lillian). It's Dracula's curse.". Whether or not the two men actually disliked each other is a matter of lively debate. Landau won an Oscar for his turn as the Hungarian heartthrob who'd fallen on hard times. Bela Lugosi. Sheffield said years later "Lugosi had probably spent it all on alcohol." Arthur Lennig, The Immortal Count, University Press of Kentucky, 2003, p. 21; Rhodes, Gary (1997). At Universal, he often received star billing for what amounted to a supporting part. [29] He played the elegant, somewhat hot-tempered General Nicholas Strenovsky-Petronovich in International House (1933). Bela Lugosi Discusses His Drug Habit as He Leaves the Hospital in 1955 While its relatively simple to predict his income, its harder to know how much Bela has spent over the years. [20], His first American film role was in the silent melodrama The Silent Command (1923) which was filmed in New York. 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. According to Classic Monsters, his third bride was the wealthy widow, Beatrice Weeks, who grew so enraged over his flirtation with "It Girl" Clara Bow that she dissolved the union after only three months. [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. [4] Returning to civilian life, Lugosi became an actor in Hungarian silent films, appearing in many of them under the stage name "Arisztid Olt". He also appeared in the film Prisoners (also 1929), believed lost, which was released in both a silent and partial talkie version. 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. 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! He is the father of Bela Lugosi Jr. (1938). When this proved not to be the case, according to Karloff, Lugosi settled down and they worked together amicably (though some have further commented that the English Karloff's on-set demand to break from filming for mid-afternoon tea annoyed Lugosi). [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. Bela had four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Net Worth 2020, Salary. pg. Bela Lugosi, Romania Actor. They had a child, Bela G. Lugosi, in 1938. 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. 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. 61. He even took top billing on films in which Lugosi was the star. [16] He only declared his intention to become a US citizen in 1928; on June 26, 1931, he was naturalized. Bela Lugosi Net Worth. In some ways, this visit would echo the year his son, Bela Lugosi Jr., was born. [a] Different prominent actors, such as Paul Muni, Chester Morris, Ian Keith, John Wray, Joseph Schildkraut, Arthur Edmund Carewe, William Courtenay, John Carradine, and Conrad Veidt were considered. Bela Lugosi (born October 20, 1882) is famous for being movie actor. 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 1979, the Lugosi v. Universal Pictures decision by the California Supreme Court held that Lugosi's personality rights could not pass to his heirs, as a copyright would have. Bela Lugosi grew up in a solidly middle class family in Hungary, the son of a baker-turned-banker. Pg. His real name is Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask. Sadly, his reputation rapidly declined, mainly because he had been blacklisted by the main studios and had no choice but to accept any part (and script) handed to him, and ended up playing parodies of his greatest role, in low-grade poverty row films. Some of the sources for his net worth are his salary, movies, and other earnings. In fact, he often told reporters that sex was the most important thing in the universe. It was around this time, on January 31, 1933, that Lugosi married 21 year old Lillian Arch, and despite the almost 30 year age gap and Lugosi's previous marriage record, the pair would remain . 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. He'd hoped, like his contemporary, Boris Karloff, to win the hearts and minds of not just fans but critics, too. Tor Johnson said in interviews that Lugosi kept screaming that he wanted to die the night they shared a hotel room together. Bela Lugosi - Turner Classic Movies 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. Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein(1948). Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers. When his son, Bela Jr., was born in 1938, Lugosi couldn't afford to pay the hospital bill. . )[55], Lugosi married Hope Lininger, his fifth wife, in 1955; she was 37 years his junior. Lugosi died of a heart attack prior to filming. He went first to Vienna before settling in Berlin (in the Langestrasse), where he continued acting. "I was dead, and he brought me back to life." Lugosi made 12 films in Hungary between 1917 and 1918 before leaving for Germany. Bela Lugosi Net Worth 2022: Money, Salary, Bio - CelebsMoney Wood hired Tom Mason, his wife's chiropractor, to double for Lugosi in additional shots. [6] He was raised in a Roman Catholic family. [4] His father died during his absence. At the time of his death, Lugosi was in such poor financial straits that Frank Sinatra was rumored to have paid for his funeral. This footage ended up posthumously in Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957[41]), which was filmed in 1956 soon after Lugosi died. 's salary? Lugosi was born Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask on October 20, 1882, in Lugos . Bela Lugosi is American by birth. [79], According to Paru Itagaki, the creator of the Japanese manga/anime Beastars, the main character Legoshi was inspired by Bela Lugosi (regarding the similar-sounding names). Lugosi was proscribed from acting due to his participation in the formation of an actors' union. During WWI, he volunteered and was commissioned as an infantry lieutenant, and was wounded three times. Thursday, Lugosi's partnership with Wood began in 1953 with the cross-dressing cult classic, Glen or Glenda, written and directed by Wood, a known transvestite. Nearly 20 years later, Lugosi found himself the beneficiary of an unlikely guardian angel. It was, perhaps, simply the result of admiration and compassion. Due to his activism in the actors' union in Hungary during the revolution of 1919 and his active participation in the Hungarian Soviet Republic,[11] he was forced to flee his homeland when the government changed hands, initially accompanied by his first wife Ilona Szmik. As this biography notes, he was fired from gigs roughly 20 times over the next two decades for incompetence. California Supreme Court decision on personality rights. These horror, comedy and mystery B-films were mostly released by Monogram Pictures. Then Cheney died, and Lugosi replaced him on the bill. 's girlfriend? [64] In 2019, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announced acquisition of the cape via partial donation from the Lugosi family. From 1947 to 1950, he performed in summer stock, often in productions of Dracula or Arsenic and Old Lace, and during the rest of the year, made personal appearances in a touring "spook show", and on early commercial television. How rich is Bela Lugosi For the remainder of his life he appeared less and less frequently in obscure, low-budget features.Bela Lugosi died on August 16, 1956 of a coronary occlusion at the age of 73. This footage ended up in Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), which was mostly filmed after Lugosi died. 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."[31]. Among them, English architect Christopher Wren (in 1632), French poet Arthur Rimbaud (in 1854), Kenyan strongman Jomo Kenyatta(in 1891), Sen. Wayne Morse (in in 1900), pundit Will Rogers Jr. (in 1911), columnist Art Buchwald (in 1925), baseball Hall-of-Famer trends.embed.renderExploreWidget("TIMESERIES", {"comparisonItem":[{"keyword":"Bela Lugosi","geo":"","time":"today 12-m"}],"category":0,"property":""}, {"exploreQuery":"q=Bela Lugosi&date=today 12-m","guestPath":"https://trends.google.com:443/trends/embed/"}); His Hungarian accent led to him being typecasted as a horror villain in many films. He was born in Lugos, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary in 1882 and died in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1956. In the same interview he expressed a desire to play more comedy, as he had in the Mother Riley farce. 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. He began his acting career in 1901 or 1902. In 1955, recently divorced from his fourth wife, he checked himself into the Los Angeles General Hospital Psychopathic Ward, hoping to kick his methadone and morphine habits. Lugosi did attempt to break type by auditioning for other roles. It was expected to sell for up to $2 million,[63] but has since been listed again by Bonhams in 2018. After moving to Budapest in 1911, he played dozens of roles with the National Theatre of Hungary between 191319. 134th birthday - She had been a fan, writing letters to him when he was in the hospital recovering from his drug addiction. Lugosi plays a character named The Scientist who narrates the hackneyed and often embarrassing but also hilarious exploration of sex and gender identity. [2] When appearing in Hungarian silent films, he mostly used the stage name Arisztid Olt. 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. There are contradictory reports of Lugosi's attitude toward Karloff, some claiming that he was openly resentful of Karloff's long-term success and ability to gain good roles beyond the horror arena, while others suggested the two actors were for a time, at least amicable. Bela Lugosis source of wealth comes from being a movie actor. Hungarian actor who was immortalized as Dracula in 1931. Bela Lugosi Net Worth - Valued Plan As far as we know, he has never risen from it. Bela Lugosi will celebrate 141st birthday on a Friday 20th of October 2023. Following the collapse of Bla Kun's Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919, leftists and trade unionists became vulnerable. His immortal role as the count led him to play roles in 1934's The Black Cat and 1935's The Raven. [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. Lots of famous people were born over the years on Oct. 20. On 16 August 1956, Bela Lugosi died of non-communicable . When Lugosi's Black Friday premiered in 1940 on a double bill with the Vincent Price film The House of the Seven Gables, Lugosi and Price both appeared in person at the Chicago theatre where it opened on Feb. 29, 1940 and remained for four performances. [65] In 2019 it was announced that the cape would be on display the following year. Then there was the fact that Universal Studios didn't pay him a living wage for the seven weeks he spent pouring his heart and soul into his portrayal of the bloodsucking count from Transylvania. In 1955, he checked himself into the psych ward of Los Angeles General Hospital. Bela Lugosi - Age, Bio, Birthday, Family, Net Worth | National Today [42] Mason was noticeably taller and thinner than Lugosi, and had the lower half of his face covered with his cape in every shot, as Lugosi sometimes did in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. The underpayment was due in part to racism as a non-native English speaker, Lugosi was often undervalued and taken advantage of and Lugosi's unwillingness to engage in the age-old art of self-promotion. 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. After moving to Budapest in 1911, he played dozens of roles with the National Theatre of Hungary between 1913 and 1919. Throughout the 1930s, Lugosi, experiencing a severe career decline despite popularity with audiences (Universal executives always preferred his rival Karloff), accepted many leading roles from independent producers like Nat Levine, Sol Lesser, and Sam Katzman. . Lugosi, who got his start acting in Shakespearean dramas in his native Hungary, was an ambitious and stately performer. You get the point. So, how much was Bela Lugosi networth at the age of years old? Sinatra would recall Lugosi's amazement at his visit, since the two men had never met before.[40]. 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. Biography. Education: Dropped out of school at age 12. Not only did the role take over his life; it subsumed his very identity. Bela Lugosi was a working actor when World War I broke out in Europe. Through his association with Dracula (in which he appeared with minimal makeup, using his natural, heavily accented voice), Lugosi found himself typecast as a horror villain in films such as Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), The Black Cat (1934) and The Raven (1935) for Universal, and the independent White Zombie (1932). By this time, Lugosi had been receiving regular medication for sciatic neuritis, and he became addicted to doctor-prescribed morphine and methadone. Lugosi acted in several Hungarian language plays before starring in his first English Broadway play, The Red Poppy in 1922. 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. He lost even more. However Bela and Hope were actually discussing getting divorced around the time he passed away. Following the collapse of Bla Kun's Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919, leftists and trade unionists became vulnerable, some being imprisoned or executed in public. 1979)", "Bela Lugosi's 'Dracula' Cape To Be Auctioned Off", "Bonhams: Bela Lugosi's Count Dracula cape from Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein", "Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Announces Acquisition of Bela Lugosi's Cape from Dracula", "Bela Lugosi's Screen-Worn 'Dracula' Cape Will Be on Display at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures", Andy Warhol (19281987): The Kiss (Bela Lugosi), "Bauhaus on 'Bela Lugosi's Dead': "It was the 'Stairway To Heaven' of the 1980s", "Die Bela Lugosi Story Mller, Pter / Theobalt , Gerold / Schmidtke, Wolfgang", "Hartmut Zech Steinmetz- und Steinbildhauermeister", "A Bla Lugosi Bust Was Snuck Onto the Facade of This Budapest Castle", "Visiting the Ellis Island Immigration Museum", "Review: Can carnivore instinct be overcome in BEASTARS? Bla Ferenc Dezs? 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. Lugosi kept busy during the 1940s as a screen menace. She would sign her letters "A dash of Hope". His earliest known performances are from provincial theatres in the 190304 season, playing small roles in several plays and operettas. [75], On July 19, 2003, German artist Hartmut Zech erected a bust of Lugosi on one of the corners of Vajdahunyad Castle in Budapest. Lillian and Bla divorced in 1953, at least partially because of Bla's jealousy over Lillian taking a full-time job as an assistant to Brian Donlevy on the sets and studios for Donlevy's radio and television series Dangerous Assignment Lillian eventually did marry Donlevy in 1966. In 1917, Lugosi married Ilona Szmik (1898-1991). In 1998, he played Mike McDermott in John Dahl's Rounders. [56], Lugosi died of a heart attack on August 16, 1956, in the bedroom of his Los Angeles apartment while taking a nap. The division's mission was to launch an attack against Russian troops in Poland. . The role went to Karloff instead, and soon the hollow-cheeked leading man began beating Lugosi out for roles. Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask. Lugosi was born Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask on 20 October 1882, in Lugos, Kingdom of Hungary (modern Lugoj . Due to his activism in the actors' union in Hungary during the revolution of 1919, he was forced to flee his homeland. In 1927, he got his big break. p. 203. His immortal role as the count led him to play roles in 1934's The Black Cat and 1935's The Raven. The king of horror was buried in his iconic Count Dracula cape He was learning to act by trial and error, or, as he put it, his will "was forged to whiter and whiter heat." Gone were Lugosi's middle class parents, his teenage struggles to make ends meet in the mines and rail yards of turn-of-the-century Hungary. Historian John McElwee reports, in his 2013 book Showmen, Sell It Hot!, that Bela Lugosi's popularity received a much-needed boost in August 1938, when California theater owner Emil Umann revived Dracula and Frankenstein as a special double feature. Died: August 16, 1956 in Los Angeles, California, USA. Bela Lugosi's film career was all but dead when the B-movie (D-movie?) At the age of 12, Lugosi dropped out of school. 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. Universal cast Lugosi in Son of Frankenstein (1939), appearing in the character role of Ygor, a mad blacksmith with a broken neck, in heavy makeup and beard. They only lived together for a few weeks, but their divorce took until October 1925 to be finalized. Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers. Bela's fifth wife was a fan who continuously wrote to him while he was recovering from drugs in a hospital. . Lugosi's final resting place is Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack August 16, 1956. Lugosi married Hope Lininger, his fifth wife, in 1955; they remained married until his death. Bela Lugosi was born on October 20, 1882 in Lugoj, Romania. His first marriage, to Ilona Smzik, ended in divorce in 1920, reportedly because his lefty politics upset his Smzik's parents. At the age of 12, Lugosi dropped out of school. Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers. pg. According to this look at Lugosi's itinerant LA lifestyle, he had to borrow money from the Motion Picture Relief Fund to cover the medical costs. [46], In 1933, the 51-year-old Lugosi married 22-year-old Lillian Arch (19111981), the daughter of Hungarian immigrants living in Hollywood. Through the 1930s, he occupied an important niche in horror films, but his notoriety as "Dracula" and ominous thick Hungarian accent greatly limited the roles offered to him, and he unsuccessfully tried for years to avoid the typecasting. Different prominent actors were considered before Browning cast Lugosi for the role, but the film was a hit. The young Bela was born just the year before. List of Bela Lugosi Actor: Dracula. Following a role as a mute in "The Black Sheep" (1956), Lugosi died on Aug. 16, 1956 of a heart attack while lying on his couch in Los Angeles. In 1921, he met and married his second wife, Ilona von Montagh, a young Hungarian emigree and stage actress whom he had worked with years before in Europe. Bela George Lugosi (born January 5, 1938) is an American attorney and the son of actor Bla Lugosi. It appeared on their 1972 album Everybody's in Show-Biz. With Lugosi in his Dracula cape, Wood shot impromptu test footage, with no storyline in mind, in front of Tor Johnson's home, a suburban graveyard, and in front of Lugosi's apartment building on Carlton Way. During an impromptu interview upon his release from the treatment center in 1955, Lugosi stated that he was about to begin work on a new Ed Wood film called The Ghoul Goes West. 1941. He also made plenty of personal live appearances to promote his horror image or an accompanying film. [b], The cape Lugosi wore in Dracula (1931) was in the possession of his son until it was put up for auction in 2011. Bela's fourth wife Lillian paid for the cemetery plot and stone (which was inscribed "Beloved Father"), while Hope Lugosi paid for the coffin and the funeral service. Birth Day: October 20, 1882: Birth Place: Lugoj, Romania: Bela Lugosi age: 137 YEARS OLD: Died On: Aug . The divorce became official on December 9, 1929. In 1929, Lugosi took his place in Hollywood society and scandal when he married wealthy San Francisco resident Beatrice Weeks (1897-1931), widow of architect Charles Peter Weeks. Bela Lugosi is an Actor, zodiac sign: Libra. Universal took notice of the tremendous business and launched its own national re-release of the same two horror favorites. Lugosi later told reporters that he had no choice but to leave his home to find a job, walking 300 miles to an industrial center where he worked as a miner. Wood added what footage he had of the star and used and (unconvincing) body double. His immortal role as the count led him to play roles in 1934s The Black Cat and 1935s The Raven. [72] In the Hungarian production, directed by Istvn Szab, Lugosi was played by Ivan Darvas. In their place was a count's pedigree and a castle in the mountains of Transylvania. 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.
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