Bela Lugosi Jr. recalls growing up with ‘Dracula’ in his blood

Active in the political revolution of his native Hungary 100 years ago, Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó fled to Germany in 1919. A veteran of more than 170 stage plays and several silent films in his homeland, where he was known under the stage name Arisztid Olt, the 6-foot-1 actor with piercing blue eyes re-branded himself after his hometown of Lugos and went on to appear in a dozen German films billed as Bela Lugosi before moving to the United States in 1920.

A decade later and approaching 50 after playing the role in American theaters for three years, his name would soon become forever etched in Hollywood history as the mesmerizing, bloodsucking Count Dracula in Universal’s 1931 horror masterpiece, “Dracula.”

Married five times, his only son — also named Bela Lugosi — may have inherited Lugosi genes, but not the craving to act.

“I actually took my dad's good advice and stayed away from the camera because he thought actors were too dependent on producers and agents,” said Lugosi, now in his early 80s, from Los Angeles. “He hoped I would follow some other career path, so I went to law school and worked in the area of celebrity rights.”

Lugosi senior died in 1956 at the age of 73 and never lived to see the decade-long legal battle between his son and Universal Studios, which the younger Lugosi won, then lost on appeal, only to be vindicated by legislation in 2007.

“It all started in law school in 1963 when someone brought to my attention that all this movie merchandise was coming onto the market with dad's name and likeness on the products,” Lugosi recalled. “I had never authorized Universal to use his name and likeness, so when they refused to stop using it, I filed a lawsuit claiming that the right to the commercial use and likeness survives the death of a celebrity. That ultimately went to the California legislature and the Celebrity Rights Act became law.”

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Instantly recognized throughout life by his famous name, Lugosi said he tried to minimize the attention for a while growing up.

“Up until I started law school, I went by Bill instead of Bela,” he said. “But it didn’t really work and wouldn’t deflect the recognition. So I’ve gone by Bela G. Lugosi or Bela Lugosi Jr. most of my life and am proud of it, of course. Hardly a day has gone by that someone hasn’t recognized the name. But people are very nice, although some even still think I’m actually my father!”   

Young Bela Jr. spent much of his early life at military school, but the memories of his dad remain vivid.

“He was a very caring father, but also an authority figure,” he explained. And when mischief was afoot, his father only had to conjure up the menacing stare of his most famous character.

“Oh yeah, that look was all it took!” he said, laughing. “And no, he didn’t dress up as Dracula for Halloween, which I don’t really even remember because I was away at boarding school a lot. But he did like to hold parties for his friends from Hungary, not the Hollywood crowd. And he enjoyed fine wine and good cigars.”

Remarkably, Bela Lugosi only appeared twice as Dracula in feature films, the second being 1948’s “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.”

“I visited him during the production,” Lugosi said. “I remember they hired a comedian to come on set and keep everyone’s spirit up and make everyone laugh and relax. I also remember everyone treating my dad with so much respect.”

Despite working for two more decades after the original “Dracula” (see Belalugosi.com), Lugosi said his father could never escape the role he famously created.

“He was such a versatile actor before that movie and it typecast him, but he was proud to have made the character his own,” he said. “I’m sure he’d be totally amazed to know his popularity today and how fondly he’s still remembered.”

Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery and has written features, columns, and interviews for over 750 newspapers and magazines. See www.getnickt.org