Dracula in popular culture Balderston (see below); it starred Bela Lugosi as Dracula and Edward Van Sloan as Van Helsing, both of whom had originated their respective roles on the stage in the aforementioned play, along with Helen Chandler as Mina and Dwight Frye as Renfield. Directed by Tod Browning, it is one of the most famous versions of the story and is widely credited with initiating the Universal horror film series of the 1930s and ‘40s. The 1931 Dracula film was an inductee of the 2000 National Film Registry list. The films had music only during the opening (the famous main theme from
Dracula A.D. 1972 and the sixth to star Christopher Lee in the title role. It also marked the return of Peter Cushing as Van Helsing for the first time since "The Brides of Dracula" (1960), and was the first to feature both Lee and Cushing in their respective roles since "Dracula" (1958). It was followed by the last film in Hammer's Dracula series to star Christopher Lee, "The Satanic Rites of Dracula", which similarly utilized a modern setting and featured most of the same central characters. In 1872, Count Dracula (Christopher Lee) and his nemesis Lawrence Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) battle on the