20 Times Actors Bet Against Hollywood (And WON)

8. Bela Lugosi - Dracula

For many, Bela Lugosi is Dracula. That's just how iconic the Hungarian-born actor's take on the character is. He only time he actually played the character on-screen was in 1931's Dracula (unless you count his turn as Dracula in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein) but he was mesmerizing in the role and every other actor who's ever played Dracula has been measured against him. 

Nonetheless, it was a close call. He really had to fight for the part. Even though he'd played Dracula on stage prior to this, Universal weren't especially keen to cast him and considered many other, more prominent actors. It was, however, Lugosi's dream to play the character on screen and he lobbied hard to be cast in the role. Thankfully, he did eventually win the studio executives over and also accepted a meagre salary for the shoot, finally landing his dream part. The rest, as they say, is history. 

Even if it did lead to Lugosi being typecast in horror villain roles, it's still a magnificent achievement for an actor to have such a seminal role in their filmography, especially when they proved all the naysayers wrong in the process.