Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula (1997)

Documentary on the life and career of Bela Lugosi.

Director:

Gary Don Rhodes

Writer:

Gary Don Rhodes

Stars:

Robert Clarke, Louise Currie, Frank J. Dello Stritto

Cast

Credited cast:
Robert Clarke	...	Himself (Narrator / Interviewee)
Louise Currie	...	Herself
Frank J. Dello Stritto	...	Himself
Dwight David Frye	...	Himself
Richard Gordon	...	Himself
Loretta King	...	Herself
Howard W. Koch	...	Himself
Joseph H. Lewis	...	Himself
Bela Lugosi Jr.	...	Himself
Bela Lugosi	...	(archive footage)
Hope Lugosi	...	Herself
Lucille Lund	...	Herself
Rue McClanahan	...	Herself
Sammy Petrillo	...	Himself
Helen Richman	...	Herself

Storyline

Bela Lugosi and Dracula are inseparable images from the heyday of Hollywood. More than any other actor in film history, Lugosi is the master of the macabre, the king of the vampires, and the cult hero of horror movies. And yet he was also a man who fought in wars and revolutions, who married five times, and who mastered stagecraft and film arts in Hungary, Germany, and the United States. He remained an enigma in Hollywood even as his career dwindled into the weird worlds of drug abuse and filmmaker Ed Wood. Lugosi's fusion with the famed vampire became more permanent than ever when he was buried in his Dracula cape in 1956. LUGOSI: HOLLYWOOD'S DRACULA unravels the truth behind the legendary star by interweaving rare film footage from 1918-1956, home movies, and previously-unseen photographs with narration by Lugosi costar Robert Clarke and Lugosi fan Rue McClanahan. Numerous on-camera interviews span family members like his son and widow, Academy Award-winning director Robert Wise, ...

---

Plot Keywords:

dracula | hollywood | vampire | film history | actor | 

---

Taglines:

The story of the life and career of Bela Lugosi, the legendary actor who forever changed the face of horror.

---

Genres:

Documentary | Biography

---

Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 June 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bela Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

55 min

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Features Spooks Run Wild (1941)

---

Soundtracks

"Variation on Hungarian Rhapsody Number 1"
Written by F. Liszt
Orchestrated by Art Greenhaw

User Reviews

Good Doc

Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula (1997)

*** (out of 4)

Documentary taking a look at the life and career of Bela Lugosi who would become a huge star with Dracula but pretty much fall from grace right after that. I've watched this documentary countless times and while it's very entertaining, I don't think there's any doubt that the thing is quite biased towards the actor. There's some nice interviews with those who knew Lugosi towards the end of his life including his final wife who you have to see to believe. Most of her offensive talk comes with the deleted scenes but she's certainly a rather strange woman. The one thing that didn't work for me was all the rather dirty talk regarding Lugosi. I can't remember how many times we get to hear that Lugosi was good looking and that women loved him. We know this so why this point gets beaten to death is beyond me. We hear how Lugosi had to fight eleven (or twelve) duels for sleeping with married women, we hear about his affair with Clara Bow and so on. Even with that said, this is a rather nice look at the man that I'm sure new fans will enjoy.