While Boris Karloff was playing the role of Jonathan Brewster in the Broadway production of Arsenic and Old Lace, Lugosi was playing the same role in the traveling road company of the play.
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According to Bela, Jr., his father's favourite actor of the 1950's time period was Marlon Brando.
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Bela frequently rented out his house for film companies to use when he was short on cash (which was rather often).
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Sadly, there are no monuments whatsoever to Bela today in his hometown of Lugoj, Romania. The reason is that Lugosi was Hungarian and the Romanian government many years ago forcibly moved all the ethnic Hungarians out of the region and re-settled the area with Romanians.
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Bela's son, Bela Jr., bears an astounding resemblance to the University of North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams.
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One of the few films in which Bela played a genuinely nice guy was the 1932 comedy: Broadminded - in which he co-starred with Joe E. Brown and Thelma Todd.
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Bela's fourth wife, Lillian Arch, was only 20 years old when the two married in 1932. Bela was nearing 50 if the 1882 birthdate for him is correct.
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Bela's favourite food dish was reportedly Hungarian goulash.
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Bela wanted to play the role of the scientist in Frankenstein (1931), and would have accepted that role had it been offered - but Colin Clive was cast instead.
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The first film in which Bela and Boris Karloff appeared together was 1934's The Black Cat. The film concludes with Lugosi strapping Karloff to a rack and flaying him alive.
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Bela once claimed that he was paid only $500.00 for appearing in the 1932 film White Zombie.
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Forrest J. Ackerman the editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland once claimed that he prevented a depressed Bela from committing suicide in 1954.
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Bela frequently claimed to have left home at the age of 12 to make his way in the world.
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Bela played the role of the sinister, broken necked shepherd "Ygor" in two movies: Son of Frankenstein (1939), and Ghost of Frankenstein (1942).
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Bela and actor Charles Laughton did not get along when they appeared together in the 1932 film Island of the Lost Souls. Lugosi reportedly said of Laughton, "I thought I was an arrogant guy until I met him."
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Bela and fellow Hungarian Peter Lorre appeared in only one film together: the 1940 horror spoof You'll Find Out.
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Bela played a vampire character named "Count Mora" in the 1934 film Mark of the Vampire, but the role only called for Bela to speak at the very end of the film.
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Bela played his most famous role of "Count Dracula" on-screen twice: the first time in the classic 1931 film; the second time for laughs in 1948's Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
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After turning down the role a dozen years before, Bela finally played the "Frankenstein Monster" in 1943's Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man.
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Bela's fourth wife, Lillian, would get re-married to actor Brian Donlevy after divorcing Lugosi.
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Bela appeared in two horror films entitled The Black Cat. The first was with Boris Karloff in 1934, and the second with Broderick Crawford, Basil Rathbone, and Alan Ladd in 1941.
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Actor Basil Rathbone once recounted that Bela was drinking heavily on the set of his last true film appearance: The Big Sleep (1956).
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Bela disliked Lon Chaney, Jr. immensely. The roots of their "feud" began in 1941 when Lugosi was replaced by Chaney as the star of The Wolf Man (1941).
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Bela declined an offer to appear as "The Monster" in Frankenstein (1931) because the role had no dialogue and would have concealed Lugosi beneath heavy makeup. The role was taken by the man who became Lugosi's principal rival in horror films, Boris K
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As Bela's career began to wither away, he became increasingly eccentric, often appearing in public clad in his Dracula costume.
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Bela was also intensely active in politics in his former homeland. He went so far as to organize an actors' union following the 1918 collapse of the Hungarian monarchy.
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Bela was buried wearing one of the many capes from the Dracula stageplay, as per the request of his fifth wife and son. While it was stated that Lugosi made no requests regarding his burial, either verbally or through his will, this is a urban myth.
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During the late 1940's when the acting jobs dried up, Bela became seriously addicted to morphine. It was originally prescribed to him for severe back pain earlier on in that decade.
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On June 26, 1931 - Bela became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
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Bela's earliest appearance for the German film industry was in the 1920 adaptation of the Karl May novel Die Todeskarawane (The Death Caravan) opposite the ill-fated Jewish actress Dora Gerson.
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During World War I, Bela served as an infantry lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian army
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Bela appeared in several silent films released by the Cinema of Hungary under the stage name Arisztid Olt.
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Bela was a noted Shakespearean actor.
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Bela's natural eye colour was blue.
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Bela worked extensively to help immigrant Hungarian actors adapt to America, and find acting jobs.
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Bela's Star on the Walk of Fame for his contributions to the Motion Picture industry is located at 6340 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA.
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Bela had an extensive classical career in Hungary including roles in Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Taming of the Shrew and Richard III.
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Bela was further immortalized in the song "Bela Lugosi's Dead" by the Bauhaus, which was featured in The Hunger (1983).
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Bela's name had become such as asset that various studios would give him prominent billing even when he was playing such supporting roles as butlers as he did in Columbia's Night of Terror (1933), Fox's The Gorilla (1939), etc..
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In Bela's collaborations with Boris Karloff at Universal, it was Karloff who always got top billing. When these same films were released as part of a DVD box set in 2005, Universal chose to market them as "The Bela Lugosi Collection."
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Bela was portrayed by Martin Landau in the film Ed Wood (1994).
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Bela's performance in Tod Browning's Dracula (1931/I) created such a sensation that he reportedly received more fan mail from females than even Clark Gable.
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Bela's Los Angeles home was purchased by Johnny Depp, the actor who portrayed his friend Edward D. Wood Jr. in the film Ed Wood (1994).
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Bela performed in live-action reference footage for the Night on Bald Mountain sequence of Walt Disney's Fantasia (1940). He was, of course, the demon.
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Bela's first American major motion picture part was as the villainous "Hisston" in The Silent Command (1923).
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Bela's first stage role in the US was in The Red Poppy. Unable to speak English, he was forced to learn the role by rote. He was rewarded with excellent reviews and it earned him his first US film role.
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Bela is pictured on one of a set of five 32ยข US commemorative postage stamps, issued September 30, 1997, celebrating "Famous Movie Monsters." He is pictured as his most famous role - Dracula (1931/I).
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On the set, Bela camouflaged his drug addiction by sipping burgundy.
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Were it not for his death, Lon Chaney, rather than Bela, would have been the director Tod Browning's choice for the starring role in Dracula (1931/I).
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Bela is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, USA. Specific Interment Location: Grotto, L120, 1.
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Bela's son, Bela Lugosi Jr., practices law in Los Angeles, California.
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Bela's nickname was "Adelbert" which also was his Confirmation name.
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Bela was one of the charter members of the Screen Actors Guild. He was SAG member # 23.
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In 1929, Bela married a wealthy San Francisco widow, Beatrice Weeks; the marriage lasted only 3 days. In the divorce papers, Weeks named Clara Bow as the "other woman" -- it was a media sensation.
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At the time of his death, Bela was in such poor financial condition that Frank Sinatra quietly paid for his funeral.
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Legend has it that Final Curtain was the script Bela was reading when he died. When they found Bela dead on the couch, he was clutching this script, written by his good friend Ed Wood.
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In Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), Bela played Dr. Lajos. In real life, Lajos was the name of Bela's older brother.
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Bela Lugosi: I guess I'm pretty much of a lone wolf. I don't say I don't like people at all but, to tell you the truth I only like it then if I have a chance to look deep into their hearts and their minds.
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