Bela Lugosi Movies

Want to know the best Bela Lugosi movies?  How about the worst Bela Lugosi movies?  Curious about Bela Lugosi box office grosses or which Bela Lugosi movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Bela Lugosi movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well, you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

Bela Lugosi (1882-1956) was a Hungarian-American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in 1931’s Dracula.   Lugosi would appear in over 50 movies from 1931 until his passing in 1956. His IMDb page shows 117 acting credits from 1917 to 1957.   This page will rank Bela Lugosi movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts,  and movies that were not released in North American were not included in the rankings.  Sadly many of his Monogram Pictures movies were also excluded from the table due to lack of box office records.

1931’s Dracula

Bela Lugosi Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews, and awards.

Ninotchka (1939)

Bela Lugosi Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies any way you want.

  • Sort Bela Lugosi movies by his co-stars
  • Sort Bela Lugosi movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Bela Lugosi movies by yearly domestic box office rank
  • Sort Bela Lugosi movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Bela Lugosi movie received.
  • Sort Bela Lugosi movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR puts box office, reviews, and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.

Possibly Interesting Facts About Bela Lugosi

1. Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó was born in Lugos, Kingdom of Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania) in 1882.

2.  During WWI, Bela Lugosi volunteered and was commissioned as an infantry lieutenant, and was wounded three times.

3. In 1920 Bela Lugosi emigrated to the US and made a living as a character actor.

4. Bela Lugosi played Count Dracula in the  1927 Broadway stage adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel. It ran for three years, and was subsequently, and memorably, filmed by Tod Browning in 1931, establishing Lugosi as one of the screen’s greatest personifications of pure evil.

5. His performance in Dracula (1931) created such a sensation that he reportedly received more fan mail from females than even Clark Gable.

6.  Bela Lugosi was one of the charter members of the Screen Actors Guild.

7. Bela Lugosi appeared with Boris Karloff in eight films: The Black Cat (1934), The Raven (1935), The Invisible Ray (1936), Son of Frankenstein (1939), You’ll Find Out (1940), Black Friday (1940) The Body Snatcher (1945) and Gift of Gab (1934).

8.  Contrary to popular belief, Bela Lugosi only played Count Dracula in two films: Dracula (1931) and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). He played vampires in many other films, but none of them–besides the aforementioned two–were Count Dracula.

9.  Bela Lugosi was buried in a Dracula costume, including a cape, but not the ones used in the 1931 film, contrary to popular–but unfounded–rumors.

10. Martin Landau won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar® for playing Bela Lugosi in 1994’s Ed Wood.

1994’s Ed Wood

Check out Bela Lugosi‘s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

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13 thoughts on “Bela Lugosi Movies”

  1. Bob, I’m falling behind on new UMR pages again, drat! But does Bruce even know we’ve been commenting on the last 50 or so pages? [Bob shrugs] He’s too busy? Okay. 😉

    Bela Lugosi! ooh a horror movie legend. “I am…. Draakoola” Nice choice, a bit overdue.

    I’ve seen 50 of the 49 films on the chart… let me Count again.. I’ve seen 21 of the 49 films, less than I thought. Favorites include – Dracula, The Black Cat, The Raven, Son of Frankenstein, Ghost of Frankenstein, The Invisible Ray, Island of Lost Souls, White Zombie, The Wolf Man, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and Ninotchka.

    Dracula beaten to the top of the critics and UMR chart by Greta Garbo, tsk tsk but Dracula does win at the box office.

    It’s strange seeing those adjusted grosses for the horror classics, I’m so used to seeing $1m or maybe $2m in film books and old Variety magazine box office reports.

    Nice work Bruce. Vote Up!

    Reply

    1. STEVE: As I’ve said before I could refer you to about 20 posts of mine in the past while that have attracted no feedback whatsoever. Maybe I am writing too much and should do for a while a Lensman or a WH: take a break – when are YOU back in full harness again?

      I am aware that people could still be reading my posts without commenting and that I could have as big a secret fan-club on this site as even Joel Hirschhorn or Thins. Now that would be something wouldn’t it!

      However it is not the same as getting confirmation that one is reasonably on the right track: that viewers are saying “Now that’s interesting enough,” AND/OR “Gosh that Bob fellow writes as much rubbish as the Posters Guy and that Work Horse creature!”

      Also how can I start a [friendly] argument with other viewers if they give me nothing to argue with? As they say about The Donald: “He thrives on conflict!”

      I take your point and I am in fact beginning to feel like those runners whom Forrest Gump ultimately deserted and left with empty lives. Anyway nice to hear from you and keep safe.

      Reply

      1. Bob, does that mean if we miss a few pages, he would never even notice? Not that we would ever do that of course. Unless it’s a subject we’re not interested in like say, Bulgarian musicals. 🙂

        I’m off for another week and I’ll be back with new videos next monday. Some interesting subjects, old subjects. I don’t think you and Flora have seen any of the films, well maybe. But the poster art will be worth it.

        Reply

        1. HI STEVE: Bulgarian musicals; Russian 3-hour throat singing; and screwball comedies!

          Every time one of WH’s absences occurs I think “This is it!” and I remember Robert Brown’s poem dealing with desertion and betrayal called The Lost Leader and I fear “Never glad, confident morning again!”

          Life’s night begins: let him never come back to us!
          There will be doubt, hesitation and pain,
          Forced praise on our part—the glimmer of twilight,
          Never glad confident morning again!

          Anyway I look forward to your return next week and the good stuff you are promising. Until then I will sing along with a Roy Orbison recording-

          Only the lonely
          Only the lonely (dum-dum-dum-dumdy-doo-wah)
          Know the way I feel tonight (ooh-yay-yay-yay-yeah)
          Only the lonely (dum-dum-dum-dumdy-doo-wah)
          Know this feelin’ ain’t right (dum-dum-dum-dumdy-doo-wah).

          Reply

  2. I find it amazing that Bela Lugosi who died in 1956 and made mainly horror films has a few connections on the 2020 Oracle of Bacon list. These are the people on the list he appeared with.

    68 JOHN CARRADINE Return of the Ape Man (1944)
    68 JOHN CARRADINE The Black Cat (1934)
    68 JOHN CARRADINE The Black Sleep (1956)
    68 JOHN CARRADINE Voodoo Man (1944)
    207 JEFF COREY Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
    207 JEFF COREY You’ll Find Out (1940)
    313 AVA GARDNER Ghosts on the Loose (1943)
    501 RALPH BELLAMY The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
    501 RALPH BELLAMY The Wolf Man (1941)
    509 AKIM TAMIROFF The Black Sleep (1956)
    509 AKIM TAMIROFF The Devil’s in Love (1933)
    549 VINCENT PRICE Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
    597 PAUL FIX Black Friday (1940)
    628 GEORGE SANDERS The Saint’s Double Trouble (1940)
    837 BRODERICK CRAWFORD The Black Cat (1941)
    907 WALTER PIDGEON Viennese Nights (1930)

    Even more surprising he appeared with 14 Oscar winners (take that Gene Autry).

    BRODERICK CRAWFORD The Black Cat (1941)
    CHARLES LAUGHTON Island of Lost Souls (1932)
    GALE SONDERGAARD THE BLACK CAT (1941)
    GEORGE BURNS International House (1933)
    GEORGE SANDERS The Saint’s Double Trouble (1940)
    HATTIE MCDANIEL MURDER BY TELEVISION (1935)
    HATTIE MCDANIEL POSTAL INSPECTOR (1936)
    HUMPHREY BOGART Women of All Nations (1931)
    LIONEL BARRYMORE Mark of the Vampire (1935)
    LORETTA YOUNG The Devil’s in Love (1933)
    MELVYN DOUGLAS Ninotchka (1939)
    NORMA SHEARER He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
    PAUL LUKAS Gift of Gab (1934)
    VICTOR MCLAGLEN Women of All Nations (1931)
    WARNER BAXTER Renegades (1930)
    WARNER BAXTER Such Men Are Dangerous (1930)

    Reply

    1. Hey Dan. Good trivia lists on Bela Lugosi. I agree it is surprising that Bela still has this many Oracle connections. Not surprisingly they have all been gone for awhile. Your list of Oscar winners made me realize I could add another movie to the table…He Who Gets Slapped will soon be apart of this table. I had forgotten that Norma Shearer movie was in the database. Good stuff as always. FYI…I moved your comment here versus on the daily post. Here the comment will last a lot longer…those daily post still exist…but never get seen after a month or so.

      Reply

  3. I have seen 8 Bela Lugosi films as well as the bio-pic Ed Wood with Martin Landau portraying Lugosi.

    Favourite Bela Lugosi Movies:

    Ninotchka
    Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
    The Wolf Man
    Plan 9 From Outer Space – a guilty pleasure of mine

    Ed Wood starring Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi is a favourite

    Other Bela Lugosi Films I Have Seen:

    You’ll Find Out
    Mark of the Vampire
    The Black Cat
    The Thirteenth Chair

    Reply

    1. Hey Flora. Thanks for the feedback on Bela Lugosi. My tally is right behind your tally. 8 to 7. No Dracula for you? That is surprising. I have seen three of the ones you have seen. Good to know you are a Plan 9 fan as well.

      Reply

  4. Bela is undoubtedly one of the Great horror icons of Hollywood’s golden years and his horror films were going the rounds when I started watching movies as a boy.

    However I never saw many of them as they were mostly X rated which meant in those days that no youth under 16 was admitted to a cinema even if adult-accompanied. Therefore the only Lugosi flick that I can remember being able to sneak in to see is 1939’s Dark Eyes of London [aka The Human Monster] which is not covered above

    In fact I became more familiar with Bela via a documentary about Ed Wood and the Johnny Depp movie of that name than I did by watching Lugosi himself on screen.

    The documentary dealt at length with the making of the weird Plan 9 from Outer Space and the following lift from IMDB explains what was unusual about Bela’s role in that his final movie. I hope that some day Tom Mason will get credit on Cogerson for his contribution!

    “Bela Lugosi appears in footage shot just before his death. Lugosi was doubled [in the rest of the film] by Tom Mason, Wood’s wife’s chiropractor, who was significantly taller than Lugosi, and played the part with a cape covering his face.”

    Reply

    1. Hey Bob. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Bela Lugosi. Interesting that his movies were so restrictive. The glory of Tom Mason. That seems to be a Hollywood story I have known for years. Plan Nine From Outer Space got lots of attention when the book The Golden Turkeys came out and named it the worst movie of all time. I agree with you about Bela being one of the great icons of all time. Ed Wood is a great movie…Martin Landau as Lugosi is one of the great supporting roles EVER! Good stuff.

      Reply

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