10 Actors Who Ruined Their Careers By Starring In Horror Movies
2. Bela Lugosi
Everybody recognizes Bela Lugosi as the face of Dracula. His portrayal of the literary monster in 1931 defined what a ‘vampire’ should be: hypnotic, strange and eccentric. Whenever anybody imitates Dracula, they are most certainly imitating Bela Lugosi.
No other actor could play the part of the great vampire so well, and that was the main problem with Lugosi’s career. He started in Hungary in the late 1910s but a Broadway performance of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1927 helped him move up in the world of cinema, leading to his role in Tod Browning’s adaptation. Lugosi’s Hungarian accent and eccentric acting style made the character come alive, but it unfortunately lead to typecasting which limited the roles he was called upon to play. Whilst his fellow monster actor Boris Karloff was receiving big parts at the time, Lugosi had to settle for small roles just to keep his head above water.
A drug addiction in the 1940s stemming from sciatic neuritis didn’t help his chances in the film industry, and by the end he could only find work by starring in Ed Wood’s infamously terrible movies. Lugosi died in 1956 and, in a tribute to the only role that he respected and was respected for, he was buried in his famous Dracula costume.