- I am Dracula.
- [Narrator] There was never a better vampire
than Bela Lugosi.
His Dracula continues to fascinate and horrify.
But who was this creature of the night?
- [Koren] As far as vampires go,
he was the best vampire.
My name is Koren Shadmi, and I wrote
"Lugosi: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood's Dracula."
Bela Lugosi is a Hungarian-born actor.
He started his way in Europe
and eventually made his way to the U.S., to New York,
where he was a theater actor in local plays.
And he was actually the first person in the United States
to play the role of Count Dracula in the theater.
And then that led to the legendary role
in the Todd Browning movie from 1931.
- Listen to them.
Children of the night.
What music they make.
- He has this fantastic Hungarian accent.
- The spider spinning his web for the unwary fly.
- We think about the way Count Dracula is portrayed today
and even if you go to the Muppets, you know,
the Count, they all have that accent.
- Oh! Greetings!
It is I, the Count!
- He had this European feeling to him
and he brought that to the character,
this European gentlemen.
- I bid you welcome.
- [Narrator] Lugosi brought some refinement
to the character.
- That was one of the more innovative things
about the depiction of Dracula.
He's a vampire who's actually a gentleman.
He's not just a ghoul or a monster,
he's this charming, educated man that, you know,
is kind of beneath the surface,
you have this hidden monster.
- As I have lived.
- I think there's something timeless about the movie
set in another period.
It has this kind of slow-moving hypnotic pace.
There's something kind of powerful about the first depiction
of this really seminal figure in horror.
- [Narrator] But playing Dracula was both a blessing
and a curse for Lugosi.
- [Koren] Dracula was the height of his career.
He was in many other great movies,
but he never reached that same level of fame.
- Bela Lugosi, of course, always appears
in vampire pictures, Dracula, and so forth.
- [Narrator] The actor was typecast
as a horror movie villain.
He appeared in 99 films over his career.
- [Koren] Well, one of my favorites is "The Black Cat."
One of his first collaborations with Boris Karloff.
- What do you mean?!
It's just an amazing art deco, creepy, eerie movie
that you wouldn't see today.
- Did you ever hear of Satanism,
the worship of the devil?
- [Koren] I'd also recommend watching "White Zombie,"
which is really fun.
One of the, I think, first depiction of zombies in film.
He was also in the Ed Wood movies,
which are considered some of the worst movies of all time.
- Beware of the big green dragon that sits on your doorstep.
He eats little boys.
- [Narrator] Martin Landau won an Oscar
for his depiction of Lugosi in 1994's "Ed Wood."
- Gee, Mr. Lugosi, I've never had any complaints.
- This is the most uncomfortable coffin I've ever been in.
- [Narrator] Bela Lugosi died in 1956 at the age of 73,
but his Dracula lives on.
Some might even say it's undead.
- Master of the horror film, Bela Lugosi, as Dracula.
- [Man] Doesn't Dracula ever end for you?
- No, no. Dracula will never end.
I don't know whether I should call it
a fortune or a curse, but it never ends.
- [Koren] There's something very demonic
about his performances
and he really convinces you that there is
an evil side to him.
- Come
here.
- [Koren] I think that's his power.
He really makes the audience believe
that there is a very dark side to him.
and there was a dark side to him.
I wouldn't say, you know, definitely not evil,
but he definitely was struggling with,
with demons throughout his life.
And he's able to translate that to his performances.
- My blood now flows through her veins.
- [Narrator] This is Inside Edition digital.