Who was Bela Lugosi?

Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian-American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 film, Ygor in Son of Frankenstein (1939) and his roles in many other horror films from 1931 through 1956.

He was often paired in films with Boris Karloff, who was able to demand top billing. To his frustration, Lugosi, a charter member of the American Screen Actors Guild, was increasingly restricted to minor parts because of his inability to speak the English language more clearly. He was kept employed by the studio principally so that they could put his name on the posters. Among his teamings with Karloff, he performed major roles only in "The Black Cat" (1934), "The Raven" (1935), and "Son of Frankenstein" (1939); even in "The Raven", Karloff received top billing despite Lugosi performing the lead role. By this time, Lugosi had been receiving regular medication for sciatic neuritis, and he became addicted to doctor-prescribed morphine and methadone. This drug dependence (and his gradually worsening alcoholism) was becoming apparent to producers, and after 1948, the offers eventually dwindled to a few parts in low-budget films directed by Ed Wood, including a brief (posthumous) appearance in Wood's "Plan 9 from Outer Space" (1957).