Lugosi Family History & Genealogy

Bela Lugosi Born October 20, 1882 in Lugos, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary [now Lugoj, Timis County, Romania] Died August 16, 1956 in Los Angeles, California, USA (heart attack) Birth Name Béla Ferenc Dezsõ Blaskó Nicknames Count Dracula The Master of Horror Height 6' 1" (1.85 m) Bela Lugosi was born Béla Ferenc Dezsö Blaskó on October 20, 1882, Lugos, Hungary, Austria-Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania), to Paula de Vojnich and István Blaskó, a banker. He was the youngest of four children. A distinguished stage actor in his native Hungary, Austria-Hungary, he began his stage career in 1901 and started appearing in films during World War I, fleeing to Germany in 1919 as a result of his left-wing political activity (he organized an actors' union). In 1920 he emigrated to the US and made a living as a character actor, shooting to fame when he played Count Dracula in the legendary 1927 Broadway stage adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel. It ran for three years, and was subsequently, and memorably, filmed by Tod Browning in 1931, establishing Lugosi as one of the screen's greatest personifications of pure evil. Also in 1931, he became a U.S. citizen. Lugosi was married to Ilona Szmik (1917 - 1920), Ilona von Montagh and Lillian Arch (1933 - 1951). He is the father of Bela Lugosi Jr. (1938). Lugosi helped organize the Screen Actors Guild in the mid-'30s, joining as member number 28. Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack August 16, 1956. He was buried in a Dracula costume, including a cape, but not the ones used in the 1931 film, contrary to popular--but unfounded--rumors. Spouse (5) Hope Lininger (25 August 1955 - 16 August 1956) ( his death) Lillian Arch (31 January 1933 - 17 July 1953) ( divorced) ( 1 child) Beatrice Weeks (29 September 1929 - 2 October 1929) ( divorced) Ilona von Montagh (7 September 1921 - 1924) ( divorced) Ilona Szmik (25 June 1917 - 1920) ( divorced) His son, Bela Lugosi Jr., practices law in Los Angeles, California (1995). Following his death, he was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. Pictured on one of a set of five 32¢ US commemorative postage stamps, issued 30 September 1997, celebrating "Famous Movie Monsters". He is shown as the title character in Dracula (1931). Other actors honored in this set of stamps, and the classic monsters they portray, are Lon Chaney as The Phantom of the Opera (1925); Lon Chaney Jr. as The Wolf Man (1941); and Boris Karloff on two stamps as The Mummy (1932) and the monster in Frankenstein (1931). His ex-wife Lilian and son had him buried in one of his many capes, but not the one from his role as the title character of Dracula (1931). He did not wear fangs when playing the title character in Dracula (1931). The same was true of Frank Langella in Dracula (1979). He has two roles in common with Christopher Lee: (1) Lugosi played Count Dracula in Dracula (1931) and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) while Lee played him in ten films from Horror of Dracula (1958) to Dracula and Son (1976) and (2) Lugosi played Frankenstein's Monster in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) while Lee played him in The Curse of Frankenstein (1957). He appeared with Boris Karloff in eight films: The Black Cat (1934), The Raven (1935), The Invisible Ray (1936), Son of Frankenstein (1939), You'll Find Out (1940), Black Friday (1940) The Body Snatcher (1945) and Gift of Gab (1934). Wore a tuxedo in nearly every film he ever made, except for the ones where he played beasts or monsters, such as Island of Lost Souls (1932), Son of Frankenstein (1939) and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943). Bela Lugosi was a philatelist. As such, he would have been thrilled to know that he, himself, ended up gracing two U.S. stamps. Is the model for the Disney demon Chernabog, in Fantasia (1940)'s "Night on Bald Mountain" spooky sequence. Bela Lugosi was photographed in miscellaneous evil, demon-like poses for the animators to draw the demon character based upon his modeling. The end result on-screen unmistakably shows typical Lugosi traits, expressions, and mannerisms in Chernabog. Owned a large, framed, self-portrait painting he had commissioned of himself, in the 1930's. He is depicted as standing in a gray suit, one hand upon his hip, the other holding his coat and hat. This painting hung in his home until the day he died. It is now owned by Metallica's lead guitarist, Kirk Hammett, a hard-core horror movie fan and horror memorabilia collector. White Zombie (1932) was a personal favorite of his films, for which he stepped in and did some of the directing, according to his son, Bela Lugosi Jr.. Though famous for his role as Dracula, even in his native country of Hungary the movie itself was surprisingly unknown there, along with most American pictures he had appeared in. Dracula (1931) was released in Hungary shortly after its American debut in 1931, but many critics and viewers slammed it. The movie fell into obscurity shortly afterwards, and very few American niche genre movies (such as horror and monster films) reached the country during most of the 20th century, mainly due to the strict Communist censorship. It was only through the advent of home video and the internet that most Hungarians finally saw the performances that had made Lugosi a star in the West. To this day only a couple of his works have been dubbed into his own language, and the DVD releases have been out of print since the early 2000s. Was President of the Hungarian Council for Democracy, to which many leading Americans of Hungarian descent were active. His parents names were Stephen Blasko and Paula Von Vojnics. Studio hype claimed in the press that Bela's father was a Count, but he was actually a bank president. His brothers' and sister's names were Vilma, Hajos & Laszlo. In spite of his cinematic association with the dark side and portraying miscellaneous evil-doing characters, Lugosi was a Catholic and, as such, was buried at the Holy Cross, a Catholic cemetery in Culver City, California. His favorite food was stuffed cabbage, a popular Hungarian dish. His favorite sport to watch was soccer and his favorite one to play was golf. His favorite screen role was Dracula (1931). Legally changed his name to Bela Lugosi from Blasko. He added an "i" to the end of the name of Lugos, the town he was born. In a form requesting biographical information for Cameo Pictures Corporation, next to the question "earliest childhood ambition", facetious Bela wrote "highway bandit". In answer to "present ambition", he wrote "dude ranch". In response to "favorite screen players", he wrote "none", then crossed that out and wrote "Mickey Mouse". His patience must have been tested when seeing the privacy invasive question requesting "highlights of your life", with three blank lines to fill out for 1 to 30 years, in 10 year increments. To cut through the aggravating nosiness, Bela used a curly bracket through all three lines and cheekily wrote: "it is no one's business". In spite of wearing a tuxedo in nearly every film where he didn't portray a hairy beast, he said he preferred sportswear to formal, his favorite material was flannel, and he favored bright colors. In the 2004 Hungarian DVD release of the Universal Horror movies, his voice was dubbed by János Papp, who is known also for dubbing many of John Goodman's and Morgan Freeman's film roles, and is the modern Hungarian voice actor for Fred Flintstone. But Lugosi's most iconic film, Dracula (1931), was only released in his home country with subtitles. He was likely the basis for the Marvel Comics villain Belasco, whose name is a shortened version of his birth name. As heard in White Zombie (1932), Bela Lugosi pronounced French flawlessly, like a French native and, curiously enough, without a trace of his trademark Hungarian accent. It is unclear whether Bela was fluent in the language. The reason why is unclear, considering that Lugosi dropped out of school when he was 12 years old, and he is not known to have lived in France. It is equally unclear whether he also spoke any German(Lugosi lived and acted in movies in Germany for a few years). Boris Karloff often followed in Bela Lugosi's footsteps, copying his films & career. It all eerily started before they even met: both actors appeared in their own silent version of The Last of The Mohicans in fall 1920. However, whereas Lugosi starred in the German film Lederstrumpf, 1. Teil: Der Wildtöter und Chingachgook (1920) which came out first, in September 1920, with a sequel promptly following on November 10, 1920, Lederstrumpf, 2. Teil: Der Letzte der Mohikaner (1920), Karloff was merely an extra in the American version, The Last of the Mohicans (1920) which came out on November 21, 1920, a mere 11 days after Lugosi's second film (the sequel). Lugosi's birthplace of Lugoj is currently part of Timis County, Romania. The county seat is Timisoara. Most of the county was annexed by the Kingdom of Romania in 1919, part of the border changes at the end of World War I. Following World War I, Lugosi was an activist for an actors' union in Hungary. In 1919, there was a coup d'état in Hungary and a right-wing military dictatorship rose to power. Union members were persecuted as "leftists", and Lugosi fled into self-exile. He spend some time as an expatriate actor n Austria and Weimar Republic Germany. Lugosi's parents were István Blaskó and Paula de Vojnich. Blaskó was a Hungarian banker, and de Vojnich was Serbian. Bela Lugosi grew disappointed and frustrated with Hollywood not offering him a chance of playing leading roles in non-horror productions. His early days of stardom in the likes of "Dracula" and "The Black Cat" had rendered the actor typecast.

Julianna Lugosi of Hallandale, Broward County, Florida was born on June 10, 1900, and died at age 87 years old in August 1987.

Zolton Lugosi of West Bloomfield, Oakland County, MI was born on August 2, 1909, and died at age 89 years old on June 15, 1999.

Joseph Lugosi was born on July 27, 1912, and died at age 76 years old in May 1989. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Joseph Lugosi.

Borbala Lugosi of West Bloomfield, Oakland County, MI was born on September 3, 1913, and died at age 92 years old on May 15, 2006.

Vera J Lugosi of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA was born on September 2, 1920, and died at age 82 years old on February 28, 2003.

Alexander Lugosi of Dolton, Cook County, Illinois was born on November 11, 1921, and died at age 62 years old in March 1984.

Laszlo G Lugosi of Claremont, Los Angeles County, CA was born on January 24, 1925, and died at age 82 years old on March 26, 2007.

Paul Lugosi was born on June 7, 1942, and died at age 49 years old on November 23, 1991. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Paul Lugosi.