The Many Faces Of Dracula
Since Dracula first stalked the screen in F W Murnau’s silent classic Nosferatu (1922) the most chilling portrayal yet, the vampire count has courted controversy.
The subject of countless films, many have tried to outdo Max Shreck’s vampire. The most famous is Bela Lugosi, the Hungarian-born star who took up the cape in Hollywood’s first Dracula, directed by Tod Browning in 1931. Lugosi’s inimitable accent and trademark stare gave him a peerless screen persona but he became inextricably linked with his alter ego, seemingly cursed by the role. He died in the midst of filming Ed Wood’s hammy Plan 9 from Outer Space in 1958.
