Bela Lugosi

In 1927 Bela Lugosi appeared as Dracula in a play adaption of Bram Stoker's Dracula. The broadway production was a huge success and ran 261 times....Thus started Lugosi as Dracula..a character he was known for and typecast as for the rest of his career.

In 1931 Bela starred in the Film Dracula..when it premiered at the Roxy in Hollywood, it was reported that viewers fainted of shock at the horrors on the screen..it became a box office sensation! :)

Day 2 Dracula

Today, it seems like Vampire and Dracula are almost synonyms...though it wasn't always so. Count Dracula is probably the vampire who over the years has gained the most notoriety. It all started with Irishman Bram Stoker's 1897 Novel: Dracula

 It was not an immediate bestseller, nevertheless received many high praises, including a recommendation from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (very famous author of Sherlock Holmes)..

 It was released in the US in 1899 and did quite well... but it was later, in the 20th century that the story of Dracula was really embraced. It was at this time that film versions started to appear. There have now been over 200 film versions  featuring Dracula and about 650 films that make reference to the famous blood sucker. 
   The very first stage adaption was written and directed by Bram Stoker, known as Dracula or The Un-dead. It was  performed only once at the Lyceum Theater in London on May 18th 1897... preceding the novels publication by 8 days. The actor was Henry Irving, who pronounced it "Dreadful!"...you could hardly blame the man..it took 15 hours to perform!