Lugosi: His Life in Films, on Stage, and in the Hearts of Horror Lovers »

Gary Don Rhodes, a documentary filmmaker, is a professor at the Queen's University, Belfast. He is also the author of Docufictions (2006), Horror at the Drive-In (2002) and White Zombie: Anatomy of a Horror Film (2001).

He was born Béla Ferenc Dezso Blasko on October 20, 1882, in Hungary. He joined Budapest's National Theater in 1913 and later appeared in several Hungarian films under the pseudonym Arisztid Olt. After World War I, he helped the Communist regime nationalize Hungary's film industry, but barely escaped arrest when the government was deposed, fleeing to the United States in 1920.

As he became a star in American horror films in the 1930s and 1940s, publicists and fan magazines crafted outlandish stories to create a new history for Lugosi. The cinema's Dracula was transformed into one of Hollywood's most mysterious actors. This exhaustive account of Lugosi's work in film, radio, theater, vaudeville and television provides an extensive biographical look at the actor. The enormous merchandising industry built around him is also examined.

Library Journal

Lugosi was an actor whose fame came mostly from his portrayal of Dracula, and little has been written about him-until now, probabaly owing to Martin Landau's recent OscarR-winning portrayal of Lugosi in the film Ed Wood. Two biographies have appeared in as many months, and one wonders if Lugosi's career merits this much attention. One may be even more skeptical of the need for 300 pages comprising a filmography, a bibliography, a list of reviews, quotations by and about Lugosi, and a compilation of unfinished projects. Rhodes (Univ. of Oklahoma) admits he set out to record everything Lugosi ever said or did, and comprehensive film history collections that can afford to pay $55 for such a compendium may welcome it. Larry Edwards's Bela Lugosi: Master of the Macabre (LJ 3/1/97) covers the same biographical ground, however, and smaller collections will find it a better value for those interested in Lugosi.-Rosellen Brewer, Monterey Bay Area Cooperative Lib. System, Cal.