Talk:Béla Lugosi

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[edit] comments

For reference purposes re Lugosi's claims he was fleeing the Nazis in a 1940s interview:

sjc I might be wrong about the fact that Bela Lugosi left AS the Naxis were invading, but I know he did fear the Nazi presence in Europe. He spoke of this in an interview he gave in the 1940s. He mentioned this as one of the reasons he wanted to leave Europe, before things got worse. My husband owns all of his movies and is so into Bela it is scary! (Scarier than Bela's movies I'm afraid, LOL!) I will check my facts again since it has been a while since I viewed the interview. (Yes, we own this too!) Luckymama
I read this interview too. I always discounted the "scared of the Nazis" premise on a number of grounds, mainly that he was a bit of a careerist. I would take 99% of what Lugosi says with more than an ample pinch of salt. He had settled and appeared in his first American film in 1923, long before even the first Munich putsch. user:sjc
Truth. Bela was a actor through and through and very much the showman. I will conceed this one. I always wondered about this statement because the dates didn't make much sense. I know that some in the European intellectual community (ie: scientists, university personel, the artistic communities) seemed to get wind of what was happening in Germany with the Nazi movement long before they posed a real threat to the whole of Europe, and left. I guess I just took Bela's statements on the subject as one of those who saw it coming and fled before it really started. You are probably correct in your assessment of Bela's bravado, though. He did do these interviews during WWII so I can see him wanting to enhance his stature by claiming he saw it coming too.Luckymama

A little historical perspective might be helpful here. First, bear in mind that the fascist takeover in Italy took place in the early twenties and during WWII there was no real distinction drawn between Nazism and Fascism generally. Second, Bela had to flee Hungary following the collapse of the Hungarian Soviet under Bela Kun because his union activities typed him as a leftist in the politics of that time. Third, left wing political thought at the time lumped all counter revolutionary political and military movements together with Fascism as part of a general reactionary upsurge.

Assuming that Bela's political outlook hadn't fundamentally changed, it's entirely likely that he saw no distinction to be made between the Nazis, Fascists and the political forces that proscribed him in Hungary. Bela's remarks might be better understood as saying that the forces that drove him from Hungary were socially and politically identical to those in power in Nazi Germany. This interpretation is buttressed by the fact that the Hungarian regime was the ally of Nazi Germany during WWII. WB Reeves —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.90.229.177 (talk) 17:29, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Romanian actor?

Category:Romanian actors?

I corrected it.

Well, if Austria-Hungary makes someone Romanian then probably the Dalai Lama is Romanian as well. :) I mean, um, he was Hungarian when he was born and while he was alive. I don't think someone changes nationality because the birthplace got annected to another country.

Annected!! What a great new word. Thanks. JackofOz 12:49, 5 April 2006 (UTC)
He means 'annexed', of course. CFLeon 21:36, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

(I fear the moment when someone conjures that he was really called Bel Lugescu or something.) --grin ✎ 12:09, 2004 Jun 29 (UTC)

Actually his family name was "Blasko". (derived from Slavic Vlasko=Vlach)  :-) Bogdan | Talk 14:02, 29 Jun 2004 (UTC)
Heh, I had a similar problem with an an article on an economist (I forget who now). He was described as an "Austrian economist" although he was a Jew born in what's now Lithuania and who moved to the United States as an adolescent—presumably because the area was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire when he was born (or maybe it was just that somebody figured he was an economist from Europe, therefore he must be Austrian). —Chowbok ☠ 23:33, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What are the inaccuracies in the film Ed Wood?

The article states that: "The pseudo-biographical film Ed Wood, by Tim Burton, depicted Wood's relationship with Lugosi inaccurately." A quick summary of these inaccuracies would be helpful here, as it's impossible to tell from this article.  :)

[edit] Face not visible

This doesn't sound right: The "double" can easily be spotted by the fact that he looks nothing like Lugosi and covers his face with his cape in every shot.

If the actor's face was covered in every scene, how can we tell whether it's Lugosi or not? was it his shape or height that gave the game away? JackofOz 12:49, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

He's about twice as tall as Lugosi. Really, you can tell. The Singing Badger 15:22, 5 April 2006 (UTC)
Lugosi was tall himself, over 6 feet. He was typically the tallest player in any scene. — Walloon 16:10, 5 April 2006 (UTC)
So ... the double was about 12 feet tall? JackofOz 09:20, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wolfman

Didn't Bela do a cameo in the Wolfman, as the original cursed creature who Bites the main character. (The name slips my mind.) I believe he was the husband of the gypsy woman. That's not in here, and I know he's in it cuz i work at a video store and the cover of the dvd says "WITH BELA LUGOSI!"

Correct, although he's called her son (more appropriate with the apparent ages). The character is named 'Bela' in the credits. CFLeon 21:36, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Honors

While watching an episode of Sledge Hammer, I discovered that one of the episodes was made about an ageing actor who resented being typecase as a vampire. At the end, there was a title card that said "In the memory of Mr. Blaskó". Mushrom 01:19, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Roma Ancestry?

Is there any evidence that he had any?

[edit] Couldn't speak English?

I've tagged that sentence as "dubious", mainly because I just read this paragraph in our own article about the 1931 film of Dracula:

The eerie speech pattern of Lugosi's "Dracula" was said to have resulted from the fact that Lugosi did not speak English, and therefore had to learn and speak his lines phonetically. This is a bit of an urban legend. While it is true that Lugosi did not speak English at the time of his first English-language play in 1919, and he had learned his lines to that play in this manner. By the time of his filming this role, Lugosi spoke English as well as he ever would.

Something needs to be cleared up here, either he spoke English or he didn't...K. Lásztocska 16:25, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "the 8 movies to pair Karloff & Lugosi"

Apparently there were 8 movies to star both Messrs Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. This was mentioned in the The Black Cat (1934 film) article. Can someone list these 8 movies, if they are indeed 8? --h_a 23:36, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Where is he?

I think I wanna know what happened to all the actors in B rated films.(TougHHead 19:05, 29 October 2007 (UTC)) Um, he's dead. For a long time. Tithonfury (talk) 02:33, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Typecasting

In the section of his typecasting, there is a sentence that discusses an "erroneous" belief that he turned down appearing in Frankenstein. Yet in the following paragraphs, it presents several possibilities of why he decided not to do the movie. Regardless of reason, he still declined the movie. This section is unclear and I don't know enough about it to change it, but I really think it would help its clarity. Tithonfury (talk) 02:35, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] WP:WikiProject Actors and Filmmakers priority assessment

Per debate and discussion re: assessment of the approximate 100 top priority articles of the project, this article has been included as a top priority article. Wildhartlivie (talk) 06:50, 1 March 2008 (UTC)