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,
Dracula in popular culture Dracula on film for the second and final time.) The Universal Studios films in which Dracula (or a relative) appeared (and the actor portraying the character) were: In 1958, Hammer Films produced "Dracula", a newer, more cinematic Gothic version of the story, starring Christopher Lee as Count Dracula and Peter Cushing as Doctor Van Helsing. In 2004 it was named by "Total Film" magazine as the 30th-greatest British film of all time. Although it takes many liberties with the novel's plot, the creepy atmosphere and charismatic performances of Lee and Cushing make it memorable. It was released in the United