Dracula: The Universal and Hammer Spectacular!
Both Universal and Hammer gave us two incredible visions of Dracula. Both roles were played by extraordinary gentlemen with immeasurable talent.
In the dark legacy of Dracula, one performance stands out above all the rest. His name is a household name thanks to Universal Studios and one Hungarian-born actor.
Dracula (1931)
This is the film nearly everyone thinks of when they think of Dracula. That primarily being because of one single performance in the whole film – Bela Lugosi. The man is a genius! He puts on the cape and becomes the vampire. Fun side note – I was able to stand near one of his capes a few years back while meeting his son, Bela Lugosi Jr., a wonderful and charming man in his own right.
What most people may not know though is Bela Lugosi was not Universal’s first choice to star in the iconic role. Shocking for all, I know. But according to Film Historian, Darryl Jones, Lugosi was not even the second choice.
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Already having made a name for himself – the Man of A Thousand Faces – Lon Chaney was originally cast for the role. It would have been the role of a lifetime for the original American Monster too. He had already shocked audiences by playing Quasimodo as well as stepping behind the mask as the Paris Opera House’s Phantom, but Dracula would have been Chaney’s first ‘talky’ film. Meaning that he was about to walk out of the silent era and chill the world with his voice as the Prince of Darkness.
Sadly though, our beloved Chaney succumbed to throat cancer and the chance was lost. Executives then turned to Conrad Veidt who scared audiences with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and The Man Who Laughs (a movie which inspired DC’s most iconic villain, The Joker). Film historians agree that Veidt would have been a better choice for Dracula, but Veidt turned the movie down because of language barriers.
For many it would be nearly blasphemous to suggest anyone other than Lugosi to wear the iconic cape, but it’s interesting to wonder what kind of Dracula we almost had.
image via blumhouse
As mentioned in my last article, Dracula had been turned into a stage play, and Bela Lugosi had enjoyed great success on Broadway as the titular character. He fought for the cinematic opportunnity, and sadly the role basically only fell to him because he already knew the part from his time in the theatre.
Now it’s hard to imagine a world without Lugosi as Dracula. To this day people imitate his accent when they do the ‘Dracula voice.’ That accent wasn’t him acting though. He truly did struggle with the English language and with professional certainty trained himself to enunciate each word as perfectly as he could.
image via Fangoria
To say the least Bela Lugosi left a mark – two perfect bite marks in the neck – of our culture. He might not have been the studio’s first choice, but he dominated the part. Lugosi became Dracula. No matter what scene he’s in, every eye can’t help but fall on him, and every heart is bewitched by those sly eyes of his.