Bela Lugosi Wallpapers, Biography, Filmography, Photos

Béla Lugosi was the stage name of actor Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956). He was born in Lugos, Hungary, at the time part of Austria-Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania), the youngest of four children of a baker. The blue-eyed actor is best known for his portrayal of Dracula in the American Broadway stage production, and subsequent film, of Bram Stoker's classic vampire story.
Lugosi started his acting career on the stage in Hungary in several Shakespearean plays and other major roles, and also appeared in several silent films of the Cinema of Hungary under the stage name Arisztid Olt. During World War I, he served as an infantry lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian army.

Lugosi's first film appearance was in the 1917 movie Ezredes, Az (known in English as The Colonel). Lugosi would make twelve films in Hungary between 1917 and 1918 before leaving for Germany.

Lugosi left his native Hungary for Germany in 1919. Following the collapse of Béla Kun's Hungarian Soviet Republic, left-wingers and trade unionists were persecuted, including Lugosi, who was persecuted following his participation in the formation of an actor's union. In exile, he began appearing in a small number of well received films in German cinema. One of his earliest appearances for the German film industry was in the 1920 adaptations of the Karl May penned novels Auf den Trümmern des Paradieses ("In the Rubble of Paradise") and Die Todeskarawane ("The Death Caravan") opposite the ill-fated Jewish actress Dora Gerson. Lugosi emigrated to the United States in 1921 and on June 26, 1931 became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Dracula

On arrival in America, the 1.85 m (6'1"), 82 kg (180 lb) Lugosi worked for some time as a laborer, then returned to the theater within the Hungarian-American community. He was spotted there and approached to star in a play adapted by John L. Balderston from Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. The production was very successful. Despite his excellent notices in the title role, Lugosi had to campaign vigorously for the chance to repeat his stage success in Tod Browning's movie version of Dracula (1931), produced by Universal Pictures.

A persistent rumor asserts that silent-film actor Lon Chaney, Sr. was originally scheduled for this film role, and that Lugosi was chosen only due to Chaney's death. Chaney, however, was under long-term contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and his home studio refused to release him to Universal for this project. Further, although Chaney and Browning had worked together on several projects, Browning was only a last-minute choice to direct the movie version of Dracula: this film was not a long-time pet project of Tod Browning, despite some claims to the contrary.
Following the success of Dracula (1931), Lugosi received a studio contract with Universal.


Bela Lugosi Filmography

* A Regiseggyujto (1917)
* The Wedding Song (1917)
* Leoni Leo (1917)
* The Colonel (1917)
* Spring Tempest (1918)
* Lulu (1918)
* The Leopard (1918)
* Casanova (1918)
* Masked Ball (1918)
* Lili (1918)
* The Picture of Dorian Gray (1918)
* 99 (1918)
* The Devil Worshippers (1920)
* The Woman in the Dolphin (1920)
* The Curse of the Man (1920)
* Hypnosis (1920)
* Dance on the Volcano (1920)
* Nat Pinkerton in the Fight (1920)
* The Two-Faced Man (1920)
* The Deerslayer and the Chingachgook (1920)
* In the Ecstasy of Billions (1920)
* On the Brink of Paradise (1920)
* Last of the Mohicans (1920)
* Caravan of Death (1920)
* John Hopkins the Third (1920)
* Ihre Hoheit die Tänzerin (1922)
* The Silent Command (1923)
* The Rejected Woman (1924)
* He Who Gets Slapped (1924) (uncredited)
* The Midnight Girl (1925)
* Daughters Who Pay (1925)
* Punchinello (1926)
* How to Handle Women (1928)
* The Veiled Woman (1929)
* Prisoners (1929)
* The Thirteenth Chair (1929)
* Such Men Are Dangerous (1930)
* Wild Company (1930)
* Renegades (1930)
* Viennese Nights (1930)
* Oh, for a Man (1930)
* Dracula (1931)
* Fifty Million Frenchmen (1931)
* Women of All Nations (1931)
* The Black Camel (1931)
* Broadminded (1931)
* Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
* White Zombie (1932)
* Chandu the Magician (1932)
* The Death Kiss (1932)
* Island of Lost Souls (1933)
* The Whispering Shadow (1933)
* Night of Terror (1933)
* International House (1933)
* The Devil's in Love (1933)
* The Return of Chandu (1934)
* The Black Cat (1934)
* Gift of Gab (1934)
* The Return of Chandu (1934)
* The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934)
* Chandu on the Magic Island (1935)
* The Best Man Wins (1935)
* Mark of the Vampire (1935)
* The Mystery of the Marie Celeste (1935)
* Murder by Television (1935)
* The Raven (1935)
* The Invisible Ray (1936)
* Postal Inspector (1936)
* Shadow of Chinatown (1936)
* S.O.S. Coast Guard (1937)
* The Phantom Creeps (1939)
* Son of Frankenstein (1939)
* The Gorilla (1939)
* Ninotchka (1939)
* The Dark Eyes of London (1940)
* The Saint's Double Trouble (1940)
* Black Friday (1940)
* The Devil Bat (1940)
* You'll Find Out (1940)
* The Invisible Ghost (1941)
* The Black Cat (1941)
* Spooks Run Wild (1941)
* The Wolf Man (1941)
* Black Dragons (1942)
* The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
* S.O.S. Coast Guard (1942)
* The Corpse Vanishes (1942)
* Night Monster (1942)
* Bowery at Midnight (1942)
* Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
* The Ape Man (1943)
* Ghosts on the Loose
* The Return of the Vampire (1944)
* One Body Too Many (1944)
* Voodoo Man (1944)
* Return of the Ape Man (1944)
* Zombies on Broadway (1945)
* The Body Snatcher (1945)
* Genius at Work (1946)
* Scared to Death (1947)
* Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
* Mother Riley Meets the Vampire (1952)
* Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952)
* Glen or Glenda (1953)
* Bride of the Monster (1955)
* The Black Sleep (1956)
* Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) (Appearance in this movie was not intended originally as the footage wth Bela Lugosi in it was intended for a never released vampire movie.)
* Terror in the Tropics (2006) (archive footage)