- Born
- Birth nameFrank A. Langella Jr.
- Height6′ 4″ (1.93 m)
- Frank Langella was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, to Angelina and Frank A. Langella, a business executive. He is of Italian descent.
A stage and screen actor of extreme versatility, Frank Langella won acclaim on the New York stage in "Seascape" and followed it up with the title role in the Edward Gorey production of "Dracula". He repeated the role for the screen in Dracula (1979) and became an international star. Over the years, he has done occasional films but prefers to concentrate on his first love, the legitimate theatre. His stage performance ranged from Strindberg drama ("The Father") to Noël Coward comedy ("Present Laughter"). He also appeared in several productions for the New York Shakespeare festival.- IMDb mini biography by: peacham@excite.com
- SpouseRuth Weil(November 6, 1977 - November 7, 1995) (divorced, 2 children)
- ChildrenFrank IIISara
- ParentsFrank A. LangellaAngelina Langella
- Rich yet flawless voice
- Frequently plays leaders and authority figures
- Frequently plays imposing, menacing villains
- Has nystagmus, a condition which causes a person's eyes to move involuntarily.
- Considers Masters of the Universe (1987) one of his favorite movies. He accepted the role of "Skeletor" as a gift to his children - particularly his son, Frank A. Langella III - who were avid fans of the He-Man franchise. Despite an uncomfortable costume and make-up which left him barely recognizable, Langella found said character great fun to play.
- He did not wear fangs when playing the title character in Dracula (1979). The same was true of Bela Lugosi in Dracula (1931).
- Along with Christopher Lee and Richard Roxburgh, he is one of the few actors to play both Dracula and Sherlock Holmes.
- Frank Langella has won the Tony Award four times: Best Featured Actor in a Play, "Seascape," 1975; Best Featured Actor in a Play, "Fortune's Fool," 2002; Best Actor in a Play, "Frost/Nixon," 2007; and Best Actor in a Play, "The Father," 2016. He was nominated for "Dracula," 1978; "Match," 2004; and "Man and Boy," 2012.
- Almost every man I've ever met says to me, "Boy, did my wife make love to me that night, when she saw 'Dracula'.".
- There are certain animals in the jungle that you watch, and I like to be one of those. There are other animals about whom you say: "Oh, was he in the play? I didn't notice." I want to be one of the animals you watch. Once I walk out there [on stage], it only matters that I viscerally and emotionally move you. That's my game. My job is to take you right to the edge of every emotion that is required by whatever the character has to do.
- As you get older, you learn what you can endure. And I know that I just can't endure living in a trailer in Burbank anymore and saying things like "And what did forensics tell you?".
- [on aging as an actor, and having] ...the horrible and frightening revelation that in order to be good at what you do, you have to go deeper and deeper with each part and have to eviscerate yourself in a way that the man in the audience would never dream of doing. It may be that I keep doing it because I'm afraid to die. It may be that simple fact. The idea of saying, "I did this, I won that, I didn't win that, and now I'll just stop." - that isn't me. I'm a worker. If I don't pit myself against things that are larger than myself, I'm lost.
- [on his portrayal of Count Dracula on Broadway] I don't play him as a hair-raising ghoul. He is a nobleman, an elegant man with a difficult problem... a man with a unique and distinctive social problem: he has to have blood to live and he is immortal.
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