Bela Lugosi Bela Lugosi ( 1882 - 1956 ) was a Hungarian actor who become a cinematic icon through his portrayal of Dracula in the 1931 Universal film , and thereafter was largely typecast in horror movies . Lugosi began his career on stage , touring in his native land ( even performing in Transylvania , appropriately enough ) . Following a successful , lengthy stint with Budapest ' s National Theater , he moved to the United States in the 1900s , performing in New York , on and off Broadway , in the early 1920s . In 1927 , he was selected to play the lead in the Broadway play " Dracula " , with a West Coast tour following until 1929 . As Dracula , Lugosi used his own slick - backed hair , coming to a point in the center of the forehead , wore evening dress and a cape , and adopted an aristocratic manner while speaking in his thick native accent . When Lugosi reprised the role on film in 1931 , all of these elements became the quintessential image of Dracula , just as Boris Karloff ' s Frankenstein Monster ( with a square - head , bolts , and stitches ) and stage actor Arthur Wontner ' s Sherlock Holmes ( with deerstalker cap , Inverness cape , and curved pipe ) defined the characters in the public mind . In all three instances , none of these elements were present in the source text . Lugosi was offered the part of the monster in the 1931 " Frankenstein " , Universal ' s follow - up to " Dracula " , but declined , since the part involved heavy make - up and no dialogue ; the part went to Boris Karloff instead , launching a horror career that would eclipse Lugosi ' s . He instead freelanced in a variety of horror films , in a range of non - vampiric roles : the evil voodoo master Murder Legendre in " White Zombie " ( 1931 ) , the goat - like Sayer of the Law in " The Island of Lost Souls " ( 1932 ) , and teamed with rival Karloff as a desperate , tragic doctor who skins his evil nemesis alive in " The Black Cat " ( 1934 ) , interspersed between various mysteries ( the 1931 Charlie Chan vehicle " The Black Camel " ) , adventure serials ( playing first villain and then hero in three " Chandu " serials ) , and a rare comedic turn as a pompous general in W . C . Fields ' " International House " ( 1933 ) . Lugosi starred in 1935 ' s " Mark of the Vampire " , though his Count Mora is revealed to be an actor hired to ferret out the real culprit , and he gradually was reduced to working for " poverty row " studios PRC ( as a mad pharmacist in 1939 ' s " The Devil Bat " ) and Monogram , appearing in nine movies from 1940 through 1944 ( including two outings opposite the East Side Kids ) . Universal offered him occasional respites in their continuing monster franchise , with a key cameo as the tortured lycanthropic gypsy Bela in " The Wolf Man " ( 1941 ) and originating the role of the broken - necked Ygor in " Son of Frankenstein " ( 1939 ) and " Ghost of Frankenstein " ( 1941 ) , before finally playing the monster himself in " Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman " ( 1943 ) . Following more low - budget B - movie fodder , Lugosi finally returned to his most famous creation , reprising Count Dracula in the monster rally comedy " Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein " ( 1948 ) . It was to be his last movie for a major studio , as increasingly poorer work opposite no - name actors followed , in such spoofs as " Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla " and " Mother Riley Meets the Vampire " , finally culminating in work for the legendarily bad director Ed Wood . Lugosi died after filming scant footage for Wood ' s infamous " Plan Nine from Outer Space " ( replaced by a stand - in holding a cape over his face ) . He was buried in his Dracula cape .