DraculaBela Lugosi's theatrical, Hungarian-accented Count Dracula created an enduring screen persona based on (but not slavishly faithful to) Stoker's literary vampire. The role reinvigorated Lugosi's career and ushered in a golden era of Hollywood monster films, for which Universal Pictures became famous.
Tod Browning (who would go on to direct Freaks in 1932) took up directing duties, with German director of photography Karl Freund (who shot F.W. Murnau's The Last Laugh in 1924 and Fritz Lang's Metropolis in 1927) contributing atmospherically effective cinematography despite modestly-budgeted resources.
The role of Count Dracula dominated and defined Lugosi's career, in Hollywood and for the rest of his life. Indeed, Lugosi was buried in the suit, cape and medal that typecast him - a detail Tim Burton poignantly picked up on in his 1994 feature, Ed Wood, in which Martin Landau took the role of a Seniors Card-carrying Lugosi that was both unsentimental but also profoundly moving.
Imported print.
