I love this! You can just see the love and respect that Bela JR had for his father in the way he talked about him. And I loved seeing how happy Bela SR looked coming out of the hospital and shaking hands with all the nurses. He truly was a wonderful actor and human being.
Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, some of the greats of classic cinema, and it's wonderful to see movies like "The Artist" returning to that style. Bring back the old ways! :)
umm actually what he said is actually the complete opposite of the truth. if anything people only know about dracula, and frankenstein and white zombie. but only fans know about his late years, and his decent into alcoholism.now i may be judging, but i don't think he knew that much about his father. i mean he was raised by his mother was'nt he? i may be wrong but, can't we forget about the craziness in his life? and focus on happier moments. like dracula, white zombie, and even the ed wood films
There is only one Bela Lugosi and I'm glad to have seen his work. Christopher Lee was the Dracula of my time and he was fantastic but he never had the charm of Bela's character. I think Langella got closer with that aspect but was too good looking to pull off the terror part. Bela had both. To me he will always be the ultimate Dracula. You certainly wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley in full makeup and costume.
BLJR was a lawyer who took on copyright infringement and abuses, esp. when it came to his father's image. BLSR was doing what he could to get by and a lot of people were exploiting his Dracula image. He might not have had to stoop so low to do Ed Wood's movies. Keep up the important work, BLJR.
You do have a lot to be proud of Mr. Lugosi Jr.. I watched your father's movies as a child and never knew anything about his problems with addiction until today. I always thought he was a wonderful actor and after watching his interview upon his discharge, I have even more respect for him. He left you a wonderful legacy. good looks, eloquency of speech and the right to be proud to carry his name. Thank you this interview!
..., and Bela Lugosi (appropriate spelling is 'Béla') was Hungarian...
Not only the atomic bomb, or the pen (in some countries has still been called as 'biro' after its inventor called 'Bíró'), or the colour television, or the electronic trains, ect were invented by the Hungarians, but they gave good actors for the world as well!
He looks a lot like his father. Bela Lugosi is not my favourite Dracula, but he is one of my favourite actors. It is sickening how bad Hollywood treated him.
yeah, people like to focus on the downfall of celebrities-like a train wreck.. they need to watch it crash and burn. and then, like now, all celebrities have ups and downs in their careers. arguably, what makes them can break them too.
I love Bela Lugosi! I had never even heard of him until i watched dracula for the first time about a year ago. I have now watched every movie he has been in. i think. and many more than once. i have also watched Boris Karloff and Lon chaney jr. i should have lived back during that time. :)
Bela JR is a sinister looking dude. They are always making corny remixes of movies that came out ten years ago- how about a Dracula Revamp? and how about Bela Jr Bears the cape!
If you listen closely, there are moments here where Bela Jr.'s voice really sounds like his old man's. The accent makes it hard to tell, but when he hesitates and says "uh", you can hear it.
I don't know much more than the story told from burton's 'Ed Wood', but my question is: where was Lugosi's son during his father's later days? I know Burton's movie wasn't meant to be strictly biographical, but according to it Lugosi was totally alone, without any help but Wood's (which couldn't really help him).
@dexterWES I've read in wikipedia that Frank Sinatra paid for medical expenses and visited him at the hospital, even though Lugosi never even heard of Sinatra up until that point. And he did marry after he got out of the hospital, so I don't think he was completely alone. His son was 17 at the time, so I imagine he was living with his mother; he became an attorney years later. I don't know how absent the son and the ex-wife were, but they were the ones who chose to bury Lugosi in his cloak.
His son is a good looking guy and intelligent. That reporter who interviewed Bela in 1955 was a dick. The guy didn't even take his hat off and kept asking him derogatory questions in a prosecutorial style.
Definitely looks like him. You know, if you put a horror movie together with Bela Jr. with Victoria Price, Sarah karloff and Lon chaney, jr. jr. you'd have the Next Generation of horror film stars!!
Haunts us as Dracula but as he would have said if he were here I may be a Lugosi but at heart I am Dracula as long as my films play in all homes I am still alive "
the music at the end is kinda of sad. ik that he did win the battle with his addiction, but he died shortly after. not because of the morphine, but because of another illness.
@HobbitSKaFromOsadne No i live in Budapest, Hungary :D But at the time when Bela is born.Lugoj was part of Hungary.It's too bad that the world war 2 happend :(
@HattieLovesCattie Sorry but the bit about his father owning a certain "Bank of Janos" simply doesn't make sense. "János" is a "first name" in the Hungarian language, just like Béla. By the way, as far as I know, he got his last name after the town he was born in, which was Lugos in Transylvania (now Romania). I'm Hungarian as-well, and I'm really proud that we gave the world this great man.
@AkelA984 Are you all proud of the famous gymnastic couch Bella Karolyi too?My hubby's grandfather was born in Iasi,Romania and emigrated to NYC in 1900 as a small child.
Bela Lugosi was (what was called back then) a gentleman. I don't think many exist anymore. His father was a banker, and Bela was a captain in the Austro-Hungarian army in WWI. He fought on the Russia front and was injured. He later fled his homeland for being in a union, and wound up in America in 1920.
lugosi was equally talented as karloff but he was always getting the shitty end of the stick. i know karloff had this commanding presence but lugosi had that demented face and his eyes .... when you look at them even know you feal like you are hypnotized.
Bela Lugosi developed a character, Count Dracula, which has become an enduring fixture in our popular culture. How many other actors have done that with a role?-- not many.
give this guy some acting lessons, dye his hair black and put a cape on him. that would be an awesome Dracula remake! the seed of Bela Lugosi returns!
I think he was a very classy actor, and that he helped really bring a "neo classic" story about a vampire to life on the big screen. This is basically just a theatre thing, but we all love a good story and he did a really nice job as the movie villain...I mean, come on, they/we FINALLY had talking movies.
I beleive now all these years later Bela Lugosi is remembered for his stunning portrayal of Dracula and being one of the original Masters of Horror. Almost nobody talks about his morphine addiction anymore. Bela Lugosi will live forever through his films and is remembered fondly by generations of fans.
If I met his son, I might tell him that most people today just remember Bela Lugosi for his movies. I guess that I was too young to know about some of his problems when he had them. Thank you for posting this interview.
I wonder if Bela Lugosi Jr has either the test reel or the photos of his father's Frankenstein monster design when Robert Florey was considering him for the part.
Edward Van Sloan reportedly said that his head appeared larger, with a broad wig and a polished clay-like skin.
Then of course the movie was reassigned to James Whale, who casted another expatriate Britisher, Boris Karloff, because of a fascination with his forehead.
Florey and Lugosi were assigned The Murders of the Rue Morgue.
@denniswilsonfan I'd say Bela is the best, but Gary is one of the BEST actors out there. I really do think that at the least Bela did set the stage, or at least the basics, on how Dracula should be portrayed, but that's my opinion. But Gary did make an excellent Dracula and I think he's a brilliant actor too.
Actually I've been noticing an increasing decline in the quality of those performing Dracula starting with Frank Langella, continuing through Gary Oldman and culminating as the worst (so far) Mark Warren.
I always wondered what would've been the result of Timothy Dalton assumed the role. I always thought there was something Dracula about him in the otherwise forgettable movie The Beautician and the Beast.
@ysbaddaden2003 I can't agree with you there. I think Langella and Oldman were both great. Langella perfectly embodied the seductive aspects of Dracula, and while lots of things did not work in Coppola's film, Oldman was its one aspect that worked wonderfully.
The version with Gerald Butler was crap, though, and Marc Warren was horribly miscast.
@nightandday For me Oldman tried to humanize Dracula far too much trying to turn him into an Anne Riceish vampire who anguishes over himself and weeping about turning Mina into a vampire which is completely the opposite of Stoker's predatory count who looks on humans as nothing more than a food source and basically rapes Mina.
@nightandday As for Langella well Dracula had no seductive aspects in Stoker's original story, the film version that probably comes closest to depicting Dracula as a walking plague carrier as he was in the original Stoker story would have to be the 1922 Nosferatu. Not that I'm putting down the 1931 Dracula in anyway.
Nosferatu in my opinion came very close to creating an alternate vampire tale. And along with Night of the Living Dead seem more like the vampires of legend.
But if I had a preference it would be Bela Lugosi followed by Francis Lederer in The Return of Dracula. The version most like the book would be 1977 BBC version, but it looked too much like a filmed stage play, and Louis Jourdan was underplaying to the point of boredom, and was too much the lounge lizard.
@ysbaddaden2003 Interesting choices, I can see what you mean about Nosferatu being an "alternate vampire tale" though, for instance Nosferatu first introduced the widely accepted idea which became a Hollywood staple that sunlight would destroy a vampire on contact, however in Stoker's novel Dracula is out in the daylight at several times in the story.
Nosferatu Eine Symphonie des Grauens did introduce the deadly sunlight, while I remember one scene in the book where Dracula was walking around Piccadilly in broad daylight, later being corned by the good guys, and smashing through a window to leap down to the ground and escape.
I've often suspected that Friedrich Wilhelm Murneau got his inspiration for the ending of his movie from Gottfried August Bürger's poem Lenore, who was with a particular class of vampire called the Lidérc.
if only good actors like this man still existed today (excluding comedy actors, daniel day lewis, christopher lee, and paul dano. they are a few of today's greats). dwight fry is also an acting hero of mine.
Maybe some people focus on that, but any intelligent person will know the history of a subject-especially the accomplishments and contributions a person has made in their lifetime-before making any comments that will be deemed worthy.
I had read that Bela performed in a Passion play in his native Hungary as The Christos and supposedly was so convincing that many in the audience wept at his tender portrayal. What a dynamic for an actor to play such characters polars apart! I wonder if the portrait of him as Christ is still in existence?..love to see that pub shot!
His words are very touching. People usually concentrate their attention on bad aspects of life in pursuit for gossip. Bela was one of THE greatest actors of all time and he should by no means be treated like our modern-time bullshit 'stars' and their drug addictions.
I liek what he's saying, but I don't understand what he means by us looking at the negative aspects of Lugosi's life. I mena yeah we know it, but I think we admire his biggest success in the Universal films at the time even more. We feel bad for what happened to him in the later years, but I think he's more remembered for the terror he gave us and the power he had on screen than for pity. Great man and great actor. It's cool to see his son talking about him though.
You can tell how dedicated his son is to his father, in all of his comments. Bela Lugosi showed far more honesty and bravery in going into rehab to recover from addiction than most of Hollywood; he talked about his addiction frankly at a time that wasn't done.
Hollywood had forgotten him, and then despised & criticized him for exposing the town's dirty little secret; drug addiction. Lugosi was a better man than his hypocritical critics were....
Its important to remember that wounded veterans (of WWI and before) became addicted to pain killers like Morphine. Bela Lugosi's story is not unique. I remember Vietnam Veterans returning home addicted to Heroine. Its a tragedy of war and not a character fault.
But don't forget. These where the only roles he could get at the time! Bela JR. Needed money for food! And obviously he could not get roles in anything else so Ed just helped him out.
I am a great admirer of your father. I know the geographic region and the people there have this inner quality that is enviable in a word. I loved his era and he was such an icon of that era. I don't think the motion picture industry will ever know another quite like Bela Lugosi................
Whats junior talking about ? Most of the public knows only Bela's immortal role as Dracula ...which by the way is just as powerful today as it was in its day. All this twilight crap is inferior cheap-grade tweenie elementary school shit
Bela "WAS" Dracula for me, Christopher Lee was great but too english, and Gary Oldman was just pale( as was coppola's dracula) If Lugosi had, had the big production values of today it would have been wonderful : )
Hey guys, I agree that Robert Pattinson couldn't hold a candle to the great vampire performances of the past like Lugosi, Gary Oldman, Tom Cruise, Chris Sarandon, Brad Pitt, Keifer Sutherland, Christopher Lee, and many more. BUT, the guy's name is Robert Pattinson, not Edward Cullen. Just like Bela was not Dracula, Oldman was not Dracula, Cruise was not Lestat, etc. It's role guys. Can we at least call these actors by their names? With that said, Bela Lugosi was a MILLION times better actor.
@VitaminDofExecutus Agreed. Dracula is a real vampire movie. Think about it. In seventy years time, will people still remember Twilight? I don't think so. Also, Bela Lugosi had more talent in a single hair than Robert Pattinson ever will.
Bela was a great man. He was and STILL is the greatest man to ever portray a vampire on the big screen. Those little idiotic Twilight fangirls can continue to think their faggoty ass Edward Cullen is the greatest vampire ever, but NOBODY will EVER top Bela. Bela is a legend!!
If you can even call Cullen an actor. Tell me, doesn't being an actor mean you actually have to be able to act? Don't tell me you actually enjoy "Twilight." That's pathetic.
They can't act and Stephanie is a hack. The entire series is so laughably obnoxious that it makes me want to vomit with pure unbridled shame.
If Cullen were beside Lugosi right now, and Cullen tried to act, he would soil himself and cry until his sparkly head exploded from the sheer awesomeness of Lugosi's presence.
true......Edward is a good little puppet vampre eye candy for the sales amongst pop magazines...... but he cant TOUCH Dracula (Béla Lugosi). plain and simple... Dracula (Béla Lugosi) is sick..... purly badass.
@TheInstantClassic1 you are damn right pal! If only Bela could come back from the dead to make another Dracula movie so it could show that stupid Twilight shit how a real vampire movie is made
We have nothing but love & respect for Bela. Back then Dr's did not tell you medication was even addictive. I can imagine realizing he was for himself was quite a challenge then. Bela will always be an icon & his legacy will always live on.
There will only ever be one Bela Lugosi. Is it true the cape he was buried in was found by his wife in the closet at home after his death?
@1devo6587 Oh OK - I've never seen the movie. But if you go to Find A Grave and search for Hope Lugosi, you can see her headstone. As for Lillian Arch Lugosi Donlevy, who was Bela Lugosi Jr.'s mother, I got her year of death from reading an online biography, and cannot remember the source at the moment - sorry.
Its because of poeple like him that the Szekelys are still forgotten - as long as Bucharest has schmucks like him and his cohorts, they can feel free to ignore human rights in Transylvania - these people are the best propaganda tools there are. He sold out his father's home country for a few dollars.
Bela Jr. is a dirtbag lawyer who would do anything for a buck. He got in bed with the same Bucharest gov't that actively persecuted (and continues) to persecute Hungarians in Transylvania to this day - his father's people. He wouldn't give a rat's a** about his father's legacy if it didn't make him money. He's just like any other ambulance chaser out there - except he got a name. He's a total schmuck. Those of you swooning all over him, you have no clue what the hell you are talking about
It was nice to see his son stick up for him. I feel that actors still had integrity and self worth back then not now they are all over paid and untalented with no morals. Bela,was a classic and a very honorable man.
Bela is the King! He was best in the 30's and 40's! Remember Bela made Ed Wood. Without Bela's name Ed would have not gotten anywhere. Then again Bela needed Ed too. He was good with Ed Wood films but before Ed he was Great!
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
On the film "Ed Wood": It's disgusting, disturbing, unforgivable & shameful that the mummer Martin Landau would agree to portray the gentlemanly Bela Lugosi as a lout who spews obscenities.
Bela took a lot of heat for that & no one from todays 'celebrities' would have conducted an interview right out the door like he did & so honestly with some really frank questions from the interviewer.
I love this! You can just see the love and respect that Bela JR had for his father in the way he talked about him. And I loved seeing how happy Bela SR looked coming out of the hospital and shaking hands with all the nurses. He truly was a wonderful actor and human being.
Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, some of the greats of classic cinema, and it's wonderful to see movies like "The Artist" returning to that style. Bring back the old ways! :)
TheaterRaven 1 week ago
he is so handsome !
tousamis1 3 weeks ago
Its amazing how much he looks like his father
Dancing88Mike 3 weeks ago
umm actually what he said is actually the complete opposite of the truth. if anything people only know about dracula, and frankenstein and white zombie. but only fans know about his late years, and his decent into alcoholism.now i may be judging, but i don't think he knew that much about his father. i mean he was raised by his mother was'nt he? i may be wrong but, can't we forget about the craziness in his life? and focus on happier moments. like dracula, white zombie, and even the ed wood films
MrSamster911 1 month ago
@
maybe his mother told him, just think about it !
tousamis1 3 weeks ago
There is only one Bela Lugosi and I'm glad to have seen his work. Christopher Lee was the Dracula of my time and he was fantastic but he never had the charm of Bela's character. I think Langella got closer with that aspect but was too good looking to pull off the terror part. Bela had both. To me he will always be the ultimate Dracula. You certainly wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley in full makeup and costume.
Tonithenightowl 1 month ago
Wow, he's handsome
goblin6670 1 month ago
BLJR was a lawyer who took on copyright infringement and abuses, esp. when it came to his father's image. BLSR was doing what he could to get by and a lot of people were exploiting his Dracula image. He might not have had to stoop so low to do Ed Wood's movies. Keep up the important work, BLJR.
TheJameslehr 1 month ago
You do have a lot to be proud of Mr. Lugosi Jr.. I watched your father's movies as a child and never knew anything about his problems with addiction until today. I always thought he was a wonderful actor and after watching his interview upon his discharge, I have even more respect for him. He left you a wonderful legacy. good looks, eloquency of speech and the right to be proud to carry his name. Thank you this interview!
franksherry 2 months ago
God he looks too much like his father...
guisao999 2 months ago 3
Talk about strong genes of facial features @_@
yayoineko 2 months ago
How old is Bela Lugosi Jr?
MDthornton83 2 months ago
I never knew that, all I knew was he was the best Dracula ever and I loved him!
tutukathy 2 months ago
..., and Bela Lugosi (appropriate spelling is 'Béla') was Hungarian...
Not only the atomic bomb, or the pen (in some countries has still been called as 'biro' after its inventor called 'Bíró'), or the colour television, or the electronic trains, ect were invented by the Hungarians, but they gave good actors for the world as well!
meszoly 2 months ago
He looks a lot like his father. Bela Lugosi is not my favourite Dracula, but he is one of my favourite actors. It is sickening how bad Hollywood treated him.
kingbilgames 2 months ago
Bela, Sr. was a great man. With many diverse interests.
His son seems to be the same.
Thank Mssrs. Lugosi.
OL55CADDY 3 months ago
Bela, Jr is a very attractive and well spoken man.
VValkyrie 3 months ago
Aww. I love the way he talks about his father. F*ck the media.
GothicVictorian1 3 months ago 3
i love Bela lugosi soo much !
parvezjakson 3 months ago 6
I'm gonna see every movie Bela has ever done. He is one of the greatest actors in history!
hankheavy 3 months ago 3
Comment removed
farrarjr3 3 months ago
This man should definitely play Dracula !
MrDaviebamaikata 3 months ago
Who else thinks he should play as Dracula in a new film?
sarevor 4 months ago 20
@sarevor me.
garganrose 3 months ago
Handsome Man :)xxxxxxx
bawbaw222 4 months ago 2
you look like your dad
BlytheWorld1972 4 months ago 2
What a nice tribute to his father. I wonder if he's married himself? I know he's an attorney in California someplace.
Tassle101 5 months ago
Bela Lugosi will always be remembered!
GENEFGMK 5 months ago
yeah, people like to focus on the downfall of celebrities-like a train wreck.. they need to watch it crash and burn. and then, like now, all celebrities have ups and downs in their careers. arguably, what makes them can break them too.
VolatileDisposition 5 months ago
@VolatileDisposition if you lived during that time, you'd be dead now.
bob5star 5 months ago
I love Bela Lugosi! I had never even heard of him until i watched dracula for the first time about a year ago. I have now watched every movie he has been in. i think. and many more than once. i have also watched Boris Karloff and Lon chaney jr. i should have lived back during that time. :)
ericxhi 6 months ago 3
he's cute
Shanniquitie 7 months ago
Bela JR is a sinister looking dude. They are always making corny remixes of movies that came out ten years ago- how about a Dracula Revamp? and how about Bela Jr Bears the cape!
FutureLaugh 7 months ago
@FutureLaugh
propably not! He is a lawyer! :D
HobbitSKaFromOsadne 7 months ago in playlist Bela Lugosi
If you listen closely, there are moments here where Bela Jr.'s voice really sounds like his old man's. The accent makes it hard to tell, but when he hesitates and says "uh", you can hear it.
CZeke 7 months ago 2
HERE! HERE!
shagam461 8 months ago
Bela was awesome! 1:15 , he's casting vampire spells on those vulnerable nurses
MetrazolElectricity 8 months ago
I don't know much more than the story told from burton's 'Ed Wood', but my question is: where was Lugosi's son during his father's later days? I know Burton's movie wasn't meant to be strictly biographical, but according to it Lugosi was totally alone, without any help but Wood's (which couldn't really help him).
dexterWES 8 months ago
@dexterWES I've read in wikipedia that Frank Sinatra paid for medical expenses and visited him at the hospital, even though Lugosi never even heard of Sinatra up until that point. And he did marry after he got out of the hospital, so I don't think he was completely alone. His son was 17 at the time, so I imagine he was living with his mother; he became an attorney years later. I don't know how absent the son and the ex-wife were, but they were the ones who chose to bury Lugosi in his cloak.
hadlespink 8 months ago
whoa, he looks like Patrick Stewart
swinebread 8 months ago
His son is a good looking guy and intelligent. That reporter who interviewed Bela in 1955 was a dick. The guy didn't even take his hat off and kept asking him derogatory questions in a prosecutorial style.
AxeNewkill 10 months ago 3
He was Classy!!
binkydonna 10 months ago
dracula bela lugosi . ce pas par hasar si pour certains il etait dracula de paris bonne soir isabel.
grau4813 10 months ago
bela lugosi was addicted to morphine, but he never drank..... wine.
CHAOSin8bits 10 months ago 3
i agree with bela junior. bela senior was the greatest actor of the horror genre. he was a courageous man who over came his problems.
johnrunion 10 months ago
il resemble a son pere mon dieu . il ne nous a pas quite pour au tan.de paris bonjour
grau4813 10 months ago
lol there is a resemblence
ar2014 10 months ago
He looks just like his dad, only bigger.
logik316 11 months ago
Definitely looks like him. You know, if you put a horror movie together with Bela Jr. with Victoria Price, Sarah karloff and Lon chaney, jr. jr. you'd have the Next Generation of horror film stars!!
windstorm1000 11 months ago
Lugosi is simply the only count that still
Haunts us as Dracula but as he would have said if he were here I may be a Lugosi but at heart I am Dracula as long as my films play in all homes I am still alive "
But as a fan I would say is bela lugosi
Will live as we remember him in our hearts"
From rob Olson
LittleLyndsay79 11 months ago
he was such a handsome man, and a terrific actor, even in films like "one body too many" where you can see his sense of humor.
momcat1953 1 year ago
handsome like his daddy
warhola1 1 year ago
the music at the end is kinda of sad. ik that he did win the battle with his addiction, but he died shortly after. not because of the morphine, but because of another illness.
emoviebuff87 1 year ago
Listen ...to the Children of the Night...what music there makes
SaschaTheSlasher 1 year ago
i think that he should have been called "alucard" (bela lugosi jr)
kallemick 1 year ago
Bela real name was: Blaskó Béla Ferenc Dezső
And he is from hungary
Man i love my home! Bela lugosi(Lugosi Béla) is from my home!
vajksziget7a 1 year ago 2
@vajksziget7a
Do you live in Lugoj? :D
HobbitSKaFromOsadne 7 months ago
@HobbitSKaFromOsadne No i live in Budapest, Hungary :D But at the time when Bela is born.Lugoj was part of Hungary.It's too bad that the world war 2 happend :(
vajksziget7a 7 months ago
@vajksziget7a
Aha, it is hungarian patriotism. :)
It is pity for all wars happened and still are happening...
I am a Rusyn patriot, but I like Béla Lugosi very much. And two weeks long I am begining to like hungarian language too. :D
HobbitSKaFromOsadne 7 months ago
@HobbitSKaFromOsadne If you want i can teach you The Hungarian Language. :D In private message. :D
vajksziget7a 7 months ago
@vajksziget7a
Could it be possible to learn a language trough messages? I doubt it... :D
HobbitSKaFromOsadne 7 months ago
I read that Bela's real last name was Janos and his Dad owned the Bank of Janos.I think Lugosi was his mother's maiden name.
HattieLovesCattie 1 year ago
@HattieLovesCattie Sorry but the bit about his father owning a certain "Bank of Janos" simply doesn't make sense. "János" is a "first name" in the Hungarian language, just like Béla. By the way, as far as I know, he got his last name after the town he was born in, which was Lugos in Transylvania (now Romania). I'm Hungarian as-well, and I'm really proud that we gave the world this great man.
AkelA984 1 year ago
@AkelA984 Are you all proud of the famous gymnastic couch Bella Karolyi too?My hubby's grandfather was born in Iasi,Romania and emigrated to NYC in 1900 as a small child.
HattieLovesCattie 1 year ago
Bela Lugosi was (what was called back then) a gentleman. I don't think many exist anymore. His father was a banker, and Bela was a captain in the Austro-Hungarian army in WWI. He fought on the Russia front and was injured. He later fled his homeland for being in a union, and wound up in America in 1920.
frank47hammer 1 year ago
lugosi was equally talented as karloff but he was always getting the shitty end of the stick. i know karloff had this commanding presence but lugosi had that demented face and his eyes .... when you look at them even know you feal like you are hypnotized.
romas1995 1 year ago
Bela Lugosi developed a character, Count Dracula, which has become an enduring fixture in our popular culture. How many other actors have done that with a role?-- not many.
joshron99 1 year ago
Apart from being a fabulous actor, Bela Lugosi Sr seems to have been a really kindly man.
MzRevQ 1 year ago 2
hE lookS LiKe RiChArD GeRe!
Zinefilika 1 year ago
give this guy some acting lessons, dye his hair black and put a cape on him. that would be an awesome Dracula remake! the seed of Bela Lugosi returns!
doogrisa 1 year ago
I think he was a very classy actor, and that he helped really bring a "neo classic" story about a vampire to life on the big screen. This is basically just a theatre thing, but we all love a good story and he did a really nice job as the movie villain...I mean, come on, they/we FINALLY had talking movies.
MiriamSPia 1 year ago
I beleive now all these years later Bela Lugosi is remembered for his stunning portrayal of Dracula and being one of the original Masters of Horror. Almost nobody talks about his morphine addiction anymore. Bela Lugosi will live forever through his films and is remembered fondly by generations of fans.
pnroyal 1 year ago
If I met his son, I might tell him that most people today just remember Bela Lugosi for his movies. I guess that I was too young to know about some of his problems when he had them. Thank you for posting this interview.
-----------Ellen
Shabannie 1 year ago
Lugosi as Dracula was and still is a masterpiece !
thebrookboy 1 year ago
Man, he looks like him! DRACULA LIVES!!! XD
h2jazz5 1 year ago 4
I wonder if Bela Lugosi Jr has either the test reel or the photos of his father's Frankenstein monster design when Robert Florey was considering him for the part.
Edward Van Sloan reportedly said that his head appeared larger, with a broad wig and a polished clay-like skin.
Then of course the movie was reassigned to James Whale, who casted another expatriate Britisher, Boris Karloff, because of a fascination with his forehead.
Florey and Lugosi were assigned The Murders of the Rue Morgue.
ysbaddaden2003 1 year ago
I absolutely adore Bela (Jr,)..He is a lovely gentleman..HUGS Bela...
krravenmoonflower 1 year ago
thee Dracula....no one else even close...!
JustineLaLoba 1 year ago
true Bela was a great dracula, but not the best, Gary Oldman is and always will be the best dracula.
denniswilsonfan 1 year ago
@denniswilsonfan I'd say Bela is the best, but Gary is one of the BEST actors out there. I really do think that at the least Bela did set the stage, or at least the basics, on how Dracula should be portrayed, but that's my opinion. But Gary did make an excellent Dracula and I think he's a brilliant actor too.
rockndude87 1 year ago
@denniswilsonfan
Actually I've been noticing an increasing decline in the quality of those performing Dracula starting with Frank Langella, continuing through Gary Oldman and culminating as the worst (so far) Mark Warren.
I always wondered what would've been the result of Timothy Dalton assumed the role. I always thought there was something Dracula about him in the otherwise forgettable movie The Beautician and the Beast.
ysbaddaden2003 1 year ago
@ysbaddaden2003 I can't agree with you there. I think Langella and Oldman were both great. Langella perfectly embodied the seductive aspects of Dracula, and while lots of things did not work in Coppola's film, Oldman was its one aspect that worked wonderfully.
The version with Gerald Butler was crap, though, and Marc Warren was horribly miscast.
nightandday 1 year ago
@nightandday For me Oldman tried to humanize Dracula far too much trying to turn him into an Anne Riceish vampire who anguishes over himself and weeping about turning Mina into a vampire which is completely the opposite of Stoker's predatory count who looks on humans as nothing more than a food source and basically rapes Mina.
cha5 1 year ago
@nightandday As for Langella well Dracula had no seductive aspects in Stoker's original story, the film version that probably comes closest to depicting Dracula as a walking plague carrier as he was in the original Stoker story would have to be the 1922 Nosferatu. Not that I'm putting down the 1931 Dracula in anyway.
cha5 1 year ago
@cha5
Nosferatu in my opinion came very close to creating an alternate vampire tale. And along with Night of the Living Dead seem more like the vampires of legend.
But if I had a preference it would be Bela Lugosi followed by Francis Lederer in The Return of Dracula. The version most like the book would be 1977 BBC version, but it looked too much like a filmed stage play, and Louis Jourdan was underplaying to the point of boredom, and was too much the lounge lizard.
ysbaddaden2003 1 year ago
@ysbaddaden2003 Interesting choices, I can see what you mean about Nosferatu being an "alternate vampire tale" though, for instance Nosferatu first introduced the widely accepted idea which became a Hollywood staple that sunlight would destroy a vampire on contact, however in Stoker's novel Dracula is out in the daylight at several times in the story.
My favorite screen Dracula's would probably be
1. Bela Lugosi
2. Max Schrek (technically Graf Orlock by name)
3. Christopher Lee
cha5 1 year ago
@cha5
Nosferatu Eine Symphonie des Grauens did introduce the deadly sunlight, while I remember one scene in the book where Dracula was walking around Piccadilly in broad daylight, later being corned by the good guys, and smashing through a window to leap down to the ground and escape.
I've often suspected that Friedrich Wilhelm Murneau got his inspiration for the ending of his movie from Gottfried August Bürger's poem Lenore, who was with a particular class of vampire called the Lidérc.
ysbaddaden2003 1 year ago
@denniswilsonfan 0.0
ImaginaryVoncroy 1 year ago
if only good actors like this man still existed today (excluding comedy actors, daniel day lewis, christopher lee, and paul dano. they are a few of today's greats). dwight fry is also an acting hero of mine.
Runningtail 1 year ago
Bela was one of a kind you will not come across a better actor in my opinion
pintofhappinesslabel 1 year ago 2
Maybe some people focus on that, but any intelligent person will know the history of a subject-especially the accomplishments and contributions a person has made in their lifetime-before making any comments that will be deemed worthy.
robin56 1 year ago
Does Lugosi jr. speak Hungarian?
darkhyena 1 year ago 6
I had read that Bela performed in a Passion play in his native Hungary as The Christos and supposedly was so convincing that many in the audience wept at his tender portrayal. What a dynamic for an actor to play such characters polars apart! I wonder if the portrait of him as Christ is still in existence?..love to see that pub shot!
mxylpx 1 year ago 3
His words are very touching. People usually concentrate their attention on bad aspects of life in pursuit for gossip. Bela was one of THE greatest actors of all time and he should by no means be treated like our modern-time bullshit 'stars' and their drug addictions.
Thank you Mr. Lugosi!
Mehow80 1 year ago 3
I liek what he's saying, but I don't understand what he means by us looking at the negative aspects of Lugosi's life. I mena yeah we know it, but I think we admire his biggest success in the Universal films at the time even more. We feel bad for what happened to him in the later years, but I think he's more remembered for the terror he gave us and the power he had on screen than for pity. Great man and great actor. It's cool to see his son talking about him though.
themovieguy364 1 year ago 5
Bela Lugosi= one if not THE greatest actor ever! A brave man too to go through rehab. R.I.P. Bela. Not many actors of your status today.
balrog13571 1 year ago 7
He looks alittle bit like Lon Chaney Jr.
Almost looks like both Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr.
GORIZARD4 1 year ago 2
@GORIZARD4
agreed
Darkez982 1 year ago
like father like son
Bela lugosi is the sexiest man ever lived!
Heavymetalpunker92x 1 year ago 4
You can tell how dedicated his son is to his father, in all of his comments. Bela Lugosi showed far more honesty and bravery in going into rehab to recover from addiction than most of Hollywood; he talked about his addiction frankly at a time that wasn't done.
Hollywood had forgotten him, and then despised & criticized him for exposing the town's dirty little secret; drug addiction. Lugosi was a better man than his hypocritical critics were....
OrmEmber 2 years ago 37
Its important to remember that wounded veterans (of WWI and before) became addicted to pain killers like Morphine. Bela Lugosi's story is not unique. I remember Vietnam Veterans returning home addicted to Heroine. Its a tragedy of war and not a character fault.
jleoblues 2 years ago 7
Bela is deffinatley one of the GREATEST actors in the world, and will ALWAYS be remembered!!!!
Vanoc93 2 years ago 7
My favorite Lugosi roles are the doctor from Bride of the Monster, the roles he played in the early poe films and not a surprise DRACULA
thedarknight307 2 years ago 2
Yes. Bela Lugosi handled it with dignity and class; thats all any man can do and he did it well. That took MONDO guts.
lonelyboy03 2 years ago 9
But don't forget. These where the only roles he could get at the time! Bela JR. Needed money for food! And obviously he could not get roles in anything else so Ed just helped him out.
SoundOfAShark 2 years ago 3
So much Dignity! Very heroic and human
Mittenbabies 2 years ago 7
I am a great admirer of your father. I know the geographic region and the people there have this inner quality that is enviable in a word. I loved his era and he was such an icon of that era. I don't think the motion picture industry will ever know another quite like Bela Lugosi................
Cattwo12 2 years ago 2
Whats junior talking about ? Most of the public knows only Bela's immortal role as Dracula ...which by the way is just as powerful today as it was in its day. All this twilight crap is inferior cheap-grade tweenie elementary school shit
NathanBForrest1776 2 years ago 8
Bela Lugosi was awesome....
Trund27 2 years ago 6
Bela "WAS" Dracula for me, Christopher Lee was great but too english, and Gary Oldman was just pale( as was coppola's dracula) If Lugosi had, had the big production values of today it would have been wonderful : )
psychodamned 2 years ago 6
Hey guys, I agree that Robert Pattinson couldn't hold a candle to the great vampire performances of the past like Lugosi, Gary Oldman, Tom Cruise, Chris Sarandon, Brad Pitt, Keifer Sutherland, Christopher Lee, and many more. BUT, the guy's name is Robert Pattinson, not Edward Cullen. Just like Bela was not Dracula, Oldman was not Dracula, Cruise was not Lestat, etc. It's role guys. Can we at least call these actors by their names? With that said, Bela Lugosi was a MILLION times better actor.
nWo24life 2 years ago 5
@nWo24life i will always know "robert pattinson" as edward, therefore he IS edward. ;p
WEAREPLAGUED 2 years ago
Uh, Twilight is fucking awful, gtfo with your glitter sparkles..
VitaminDofExecutus 1 year ago 24
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TheDigitalSovereign 1 year ago
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TheDigitalSovereign 1 year ago
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TheDigitalSovereign 1 year ago
@VitaminDofExecutus Agreed. Dracula is a real vampire movie. Think about it. In seventy years time, will people still remember Twilight? I don't think so. Also, Bela Lugosi had more talent in a single hair than Robert Pattinson ever will.
TheDigitalSovereign 1 year ago
Bela was a great man. He was and STILL is the greatest man to ever portray a vampire on the big screen. Those little idiotic Twilight fangirls can continue to think their faggoty ass Edward Cullen is the greatest vampire ever, but NOBODY will EVER top Bela. Bela is a legend!!
TheInstantClassic1 2 years ago 154
This comment has received too many negative votes show
We get that you're a Lugosi fan, but you don't have to slur actors like Cullen to make a point.
taraniso 2 years ago
If you can even call Cullen an actor. Tell me, doesn't being an actor mean you actually have to be able to act? Don't tell me you actually enjoy "Twilight." That's pathetic.
They can't act and Stephanie is a hack. The entire series is so laughably obnoxious that it makes me want to vomit with pure unbridled shame.
If Cullen were beside Lugosi right now, and Cullen tried to act, he would soil himself and cry until his sparkly head exploded from the sheer awesomeness of Lugosi's presence.
uBeR1337gUy 2 years ago 7
true......Edward is a good little puppet vampre eye candy for the sales amongst pop magazines...... but he cant TOUCH Dracula (Béla Lugosi). plain and simple... Dracula (Béla Lugosi) is sick..... purly badass.
pizzasuits 2 years ago 3
@TheInstantClassic1 - There's this shirt you can get, it says "Buffy staked Edward. The End."
ksol1460tv 1 year ago
@TheInstantClassic1 Except for maybe Christopher Lee
weebull16 1 year ago
@TheInstantClassic1 Hands down...Well said
toamatoro614 1 year ago
@TheInstantClassic1 you are damn right pal! If only Bela could come back from the dead to make another Dracula movie so it could show that stupid Twilight shit how a real vampire movie is made
IvanCrystalColor 1 year ago
@TheInstantClassic1 All those damn twilight movies are sissy-fied vampires.. Not a one of them could stand up to THE ONLY Vampire that matters. Bela!
NinerPoolGirl 1 year ago
@TheInstantClassic1 I agree with you completely. I think Gary Oldman did a great job playing Dracula in Bram Stokers Dracula as well.
ashermerkabah 11 months ago
@TheInstantClassic1 What's Patterson to Lugosi? That pasty meterosexual isn't worthy to scrub Lugosi's toilet!
AchillesShield 9 months ago
cured himself (with help) for an opate addiction? bela had balls.
mattybock 2 years ago 3
We have nothing but love & respect for Bela. Back then Dr's did not tell you medication was even addictive. I can imagine realizing he was for himself was quite a challenge then. Bela will always be an icon & his legacy will always live on.
There will only ever be one Bela Lugosi. Is it true the cape he was buried in was found by his wife in the closet at home after his death?
MistressAvalon 2 years ago 57
@MistressAvalon his wife died before he died
1devo6587 7 months ago
@1devo6587 Not true - Hope Lugosi died in 1997 in Hawaii. His 4th wife, Lillian, died in 1981.
CaliTrisha 7 months ago
@CaliTrisha really? i thought she died before he did, the movie Ed Wood said that she died before him
1devo6587 7 months ago
@1devo6587 Oh OK - I've never seen the movie. But if you go to Find A Grave and search for Hope Lugosi, you can see her headstone. As for Lillian Arch Lugosi Donlevy, who was Bela Lugosi Jr.'s mother, I got her year of death from reading an online biography, and cannot remember the source at the moment - sorry.
CaliTrisha 7 months ago
@CaliTrisha okay, ill look into this in the internet then, :)
1devo6587 7 months ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
strange he has an american accent
kingkongzilla34 2 years ago
If you spend your whole life(or mostof it) in one place, your voice is gonna naturally become the accent of the place you live.
darthvaderyoda 2 years ago 7
true
kingkongzilla34 2 years ago
Wow, the resemblance is uncanny. How would you like having Bela Lugosi Jr. representing you in court?
curlytoes79 2 years ago 4
I think that Bela legosi jr would possibly be perfect for a future remake of Dracula.
stevenskywalker1993 2 years ago 4
I believe they just got in "You'll Find Out" at my local library, I will definitely check it out. Thanks!
scottdavis0801 2 years ago
ALL HAIL BELA LUGOSII!!!!
guillx 2 years ago 6
lol i read that in reall life he was very squeemish and woud faint at the near sight of blood!
I love him! damn he was so kick ass!
iornfists 2 years ago
Dracula's son is a blood sucking lawyer?
Fitting I guess...
HarryPartridge 2 years ago 3
lol @ bela lugosi's dad
HowardMoon7 2 years ago
No actor ever played any role as perfectly as Bela Lugosi played Dracula.
I have always admired his total immersion into the character.
Swatantra100 2 years ago 9
Its because of poeple like him that the Szekelys are still forgotten - as long as Bucharest has schmucks like him and his cohorts, they can feel free to ignore human rights in Transylvania - these people are the best propaganda tools there are. He sold out his father's home country for a few dollars.
frizura 2 years ago
Bela Jr. is a dirtbag lawyer who would do anything for a buck. He got in bed with the same Bucharest gov't that actively persecuted (and continues) to persecute Hungarians in Transylvania to this day - his father's people. He wouldn't give a rat's a** about his father's legacy if it didn't make him money. He's just like any other ambulance chaser out there - except he got a name. He's a total schmuck. Those of you swooning all over him, you have no clue what the hell you are talking about
frizura 2 years ago
I didn't know that.That's terrible. My Grandmother came from Hungarian Transylvania before the war. The government was bad then, too.
ForwardN2Unknown 2 years ago
So Bela was... addicted to morphine... but he was no addict?! Come on, only a lawyer can make that kind of distinction...
frizura 2 years ago
Even Sherlock Holmes took drugs.
ForwardN2Unknown 2 years ago
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Sasuk3xxx 2 years ago 5
Fuck!! Bela Jr is good looking. (drool!)
velvetmafia187 2 years ago
One of my favorites with Bela Lugosi is White Zombie. A creepy and melancholy horror film.
scottdavis0801 2 years ago 3
Nice! you ever see "YOU'LL FIND OUT"? it has bela lugosi, boris karloff, and Peter Lorrey. thats my faveorite.
iornfists 2 years ago
This brought me a smile. Thanks for posting.
Forgoat666 2 years ago
I was in love with Bela Lugosi.
qwaazga 2 years ago 5
Still am
JonathanCbush 2 years ago
Lugosi jr have the dimple like his father...nice!
Knoedelhans 2 years ago 2
Bela Lugosi jr is a lawyer in L.A.
Bela was a great Dracula...one of the best !!
...likewise Ferdy Mayne (Count v. Krolock in "dance of the Vampire")
My favorits
Knoedelhans 2 years ago 2
It was nice to see his son stick up for him. I feel that actors still had integrity and self worth back then not now they are all over paid and untalented with no morals. Bela,was a classic and a very honorable man.
lindseymccain2 2 years ago 8
They don't make them like they use to.
There will never be another Bela Lugosi,
Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr. Etc..
They are once in a many lifetimes..like The Beatles.
johnnydemo9 2 years ago 5
dont forget peter lorrey and lon chaney senior
iornfists 2 years ago
spitting image
Obelisk2290 2 years ago 4
Spent many an hour watching the old Universal Movies as a kid. Great memories of staying up late watching the scary movies.
jackoshaw 2 years ago
Bela L. looks like he was a lovely man.
luvsmovies79 2 years ago
The son looks great.
luvsmovies79 2 years ago
RIP bela :(
mooveefreak 2 years ago
Bela Jr looks so much like his father. His father would be very proud of his only son.
DraculaGal31 2 years ago 3
Bela is the King! He was best in the 30's and 40's! Remember Bela made Ed Wood. Without Bela's name Ed would have not gotten anywhere. Then again Bela needed Ed too. He was good with Ed Wood films but before Ed he was Great!
gunnertcm 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
On the film "Ed Wood": It's disgusting, disturbing, unforgivable & shameful that the mummer Martin Landau would agree to portray the gentlemanly Bela Lugosi as a lout who spews obscenities.
procommenter 2 years ago
lol its also halarious and more huan
iornfists 2 years ago
Is That Mel Brooks!?
Antitodo2889 2 years ago
@ Anti...yes...Bela jr look like Mel Brooks!...lol...
But he`s really Mr. Lugosi jr !!
Knoedelhans 2 years ago
Bela took a lot of heat for that & no one from todays 'celebrities' would have conducted an interview right out the door like he did & so honestly with some really frank questions from the interviewer.
He is to be admired for his bravery & honesty.
dapoetmaster 2 years ago 3