‘Dracula’ Star Bela Lugosi ‘Deliberately Exaggerated’ His Drug Addiction

DRACULA, Bela Lugosi, 1931
Everett Collection

Lynne Lugosi Sparks, granddaughter of beloved horror movie icon Bela Lugosi, teamed up with author Robert Cremer, who has known the family for decades, for a book about Lugosi’s life called Bela Lugosi: The Man Behind the Cape. Lugosi was best known for playing Dracula, but he also had quite a tumultuous personal life. He opened up to reporters over the years about a drug problem, but Cremer uncovered that Lugosi lied about the addiction in hopes of winning back his wife.

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, Bela Lugosi, 1948

Everett Collection

Cremer explained, “What he said was that he had been dependent on drugs for 20 years, in some cases 25 years. But he greatly exaggerated the story. … And this exaggeration of his dependency on drugs was aimed, in part, at [his fourth wife] in the hope that she would feel guilty, would reconcile with him and come back to him. He wanted to win back his wife and his son.”

11th April 1951: Horror film actor Bela Lugosi (Bela Blasko) (Ariztid Olt) (1882 - 1956) with his wife Lilian Arch.

Bela Lugosi and his wife Lillian. Harold Clements/Express/Getty Images

During his climb to fame as Dracula, Lugosi turned to morphine to help with pain management from injuries he suffered during World War I. His fourth wife, Lillian, has said that he was not dependent on the drug and only used it when necessary to take care of the pain. After the two divorced, Lugosi exaggerated his dependency on the drug in hopes of getting her attention. She talked to Cremer before she died to set the record straight.

Hungarian-American actor Bela Lugosi (1882 - 1956) and his wife Lillian leave Waterloo Station in London on the 'Queen Elizabeth' boat train, bound for the United States, 5th December 1951. She is wearing a brooch on her hat in the shape of a bat.

Ron Case/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The book not only details interesting facts about his life but also includes over 700 family photos, historical documents and artifacts, many of which have never been seen by fans before. It also features interviews with those who knew Lugosi, giving a well-rounded look into his life and career.

Preorder the book on Amazon. It comes out on Dec. 17, 2024.

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