Bela Lugosi Bela Lugosi Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (; 20 October 1882 – 16 August 1956), better known as Bela Lugosi (; ), was a Hungarian-American actor famous for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 film and for his roles in other horror films. After playing small parts on the stage in his native Hungary, Lugosi got his first role in a film in 1917. He had to leave the country after the failed Hungarian Communist Revolution of 1919. He acted in several films in Weimar Germany before arriving in the United States as a seaman on a merchant ship. In 1927,
AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role the AFI Awards). When the AFI launched the Academy in 2011, it changed the annual ceremony to the AACTA Awards, with the current award being a continuum of the AFI Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. From 1971 up until 1975, the awards for Best Actor and Best Actress were awarded in a single category for Best Performance. In 1971 the prize was given to Monica Maughan over fellow nominee Peter Cummins, who received a special mention for his performances in the films "Some Regrets", "The Hot Centre of the World" (1971 short film), "Bonjour Balwyn" and "Carson's