![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stallonezone.com\/zone\/2016\/z082316belalugosi_trivia.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Mark Mancini<\/strong>\u00a0and Mental_Floss<\/strong><\/a> present 12 Surprising Facts About Bela Lugosi<\/b><\/a>. \u00a0Here are three of my favorites…<\/p>\n 4. UNIVERSAL DIDN\u2019T WANT TO CAST HIM AS COUNT DRACULA. Impressed by its box office prowess, Universal decided to adapt the show into a major motion picture in 1930. Horror fans might be surprised to learn that when the studio began the process of casting this movie\u2019s vampiric villain, Lugosi was not their first choice. At the time, Lugosi was still a relative unknown, which made director Tod Browning more than a little hesitant to offer him the job. A number of established actors were all considered before the man who\u2019d played Dracula on Broadway was tapped to immortalize his biting performance on film.<\/p>\n 6. HE TURNED DOWN THE ROLE OF FRANKENSTEIN\u2019S MONSTER.<\/span><\/strong> Moviegoers eventually did get to see Lugosi play the bolt-necked corpse in the 1943 cult classic Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man<\/em>. <\/i>According to some sources, he strongly detested the guttural scream that the script forced him to emit at regular intervals. \u201cThat yell is the worst thing about the part. You feel like a big jerk every time you do it!\u201d Lugosi allegedly\u00a0complained.<\/p>\n 10. LUGOSI ALMOST DIDN\u2019T APPEAR IN ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN\u2014BECAUSE THE STUDIO THOUGHT HE WAS DEAD. Mark Mancini\u00a0and Mental_Floss present 12 Surprising Facts About Bela Lugosi. \u00a0Here are three of my favorites… 4. UNIVERSAL DIDN\u2019T WANT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":912,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,53,54,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-celebs","category-horror","category-movies","category-trivia","comments-off"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/912"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16162"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16165,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16162\/revisions\/16165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong><\/span>The year 1927 saw Bela Lugosi sink his teeth into the role of a lifetime. A play based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker had opened in London in 1924. Sensing its potential, Horace Liveright, an American producer, decided to create an U.S. version of the show. Over the summer of 1927, Lugosi was cast as the blood-sucking Count Dracula. For him, the part represented a real challenge. In Lugosi\u2019s own words, \u201cIt was a complete change from the usual romantic characters I was playing, but it was a success.\u201d It certainly was. Enhanced by his presence, the American Dracula remained on Broadway for a full year, then spent two years touring the country.<\/p>\n
\nReleased in 1931, Dracula<\/em> quickly became one of the year’s biggest hits for Universal (some film historians even argue that the movie single-handedly rescued the ailing studio from bankruptcy). Furthermore, its astronomical success transformed Lugosi into a household name for the first time in his career. Regrettably for him, though, he\u2019d soon miss the chance to star in another smash. Pleased by Dracula<\/em>\u2019s box office showing, Universal green-lit a new cinematic adaptation of Mary Shelley\u2019s Frankenstein<\/em>. Lugosi seemed like the natural choice to play the monster, but because the poor brute had few lines and would be caked in layers of thick makeup, the actor rejected the job offer. As far as Lugosi was concerned, the character was better suited for some \u201chalf-wit extra\u201d than a serious actor. Once the superstar tossed\u00a0Frankenstein<\/em> aside, the part was given to a little-known actor named Boris Karloff.<\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/strong>The role of Count Dracula in this 1948 blockbuster was nearly given to Ian Keith\u2014who was considered for the same role in the 1931 Dracula movie. Being a good sport, Lugosi helped promote the horror-comedy by making a special guest appearance on The Abbott and Costello Show. While playing himself in one memorable sketch, the famed actor claimed to eat rattlesnake burgers for dinner and \u201cshrouded wheat\u201d for breakfast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"