Béla Lugosi: The best Dracula of all time and the tragic end of his life

Béla Lugosi is one of those Hungarians whose name sounds familiar to people all around the world. To this day, he is the most authentic, best-known cinematic Dracula of all time, the star of the first horror films. He even has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But did you know that his death was caused by morphine?

His life

Béla Blaskó was born in 1882 in the western part of Transylvania, in the town of Lugos. He later chose the name Béla Lugosi (literally Béla from Lugos), which became known throughout the world. Already in primary school, he was interested in drama, Blikk writes. At the age of twelve, he escaped from home. He played in Szabadka, Timișoara, Szeged and then in the National Theatre in Budapest. There, he was cast as Jesus Christ in a play.

He fought in the Hungarian Army during WWI and was wounded several times. Already at this time, his physical and mental pain was relieved by strong medication. This later sealed his fate. He emigrated to the US in the late 1920s. He had difficulty with English, so he first played in Hungarian for the other emigrants. His first English roles were written phonetically on paper: he didn’t even know what he was saying. He was extremely enthusiastic though, so he got noticed.

Dracula and morphine: His rise and fall

Béla Lugosi in 1912. Source: Wikipedia.

After Lon Chaney, who had played the Phantom of the Opera and the Hunchback of Notre Dame, died in an accident, Lugosi was immediately signed on to star in the new Dracula film in 1931. His famous monologue (“I never drink… wine”) became a catchphrase around the world, and his authentic subtlety was taught in the film schools of the US.

By 1949, his injuries from WWI were so painful that he injected himself with three doses of morphine a day, first on doctor’s orders and later on his own idea. He did not intend to hide it. He was the first one out of all the Hollywood stars to confess his addiction on a live show in America.

His friends made him play in films that were doomed to fail from the start, but even this could not help his financial problems: he even had to sell his villa. (It was later home to Johnny Depp for a time, further reinforcing the curse of the drug-addled villa, Blikk notes.)

His death

Béla Lugosi’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Source: Wikimedia Commons/JGKlein

He considered himself a true Hungarian all along. He was preparing to come home, but he did not live to see the 1956 revolution. He died of a heart attack at the age of 73. He was laid to rest in one of his cinematic Dracula cloaks by his friends in a cemetery in a small town in California.