Bela Lugosi: Master of the MacAbre

Library Journal

Bela Lugosi's greatest triumph was also his greatest tragedy. After portraying the infamous vampire, Count Dracula, Lugosi never established himself as another character, despite appearing in over 90 films. Lugosi was born in Transylvania within sight of the real Dracula's castle. He began acting early and eventually came to America and starred on Broadway as Dracula. Film roles followed, and so did addiction to pills and alcohol. Toward the end, he was befriended by director Ed Wood, who gave him some film roles when no one else would-the last being in Plan Nine from Outer Space, a cult classic considered one of the worst films of all time. Lugosi comes across as an actor with a big ego who exaggerated and embellished his life, married many times, and was unemployable because of his addictions. Edwards (Buster, LJ 4/15/95) makes the case that Lugosi was injured by typecasting, but he fails to get inside the man. [Gary Don Rhodes's Lugosi biography from McFarland will be reviewed in a forthcoming issue of LJ.-Ed.]-Rosellen Brewer, Monterey Bay Area Cooperative Lib. Sys., Cal.