Of all the major horror actors to grace the screen in Hollywood's Golden Age, my least favorite is Bela Lugosi. Simply put, he had the least range, and its not because of his Hungarian accent, but because the man was simply a limited actor.
Rumor is that Lugosi always resented the other people who got famous in the horror genre, from Lon Chaney to Boris Karloff. And, while these rumors have been denied in some quarters, they do seem plausible, given that Karloff was always top billed over Lugosi during their run of Universal features: The Black Cat, The Raven, The Invisible Ray, Son Of Frankenstein, and Black Friday.
But, even more damning was the fact that the man could never overcome his typecasting as....
This then led the man to his final career home, as leading man for Ed Wood. Check this bit of hamminess from Bride Of The Monster:
Now, don't get me wrong. I love Ed Wood. He was, unintentionally, one of the great comedy film directors of all time. (Ok, I hyperbolize, but damn, that shit was funny!) But, Lugosi never really had the acting ability of a Vincent Price to fall back on. And Price is a useful comparison. Price simply made every bit of banal and shit-laden reel of film he was in something better. Maybe not something great, nor even good, but always interesting to watch. Can anyone really say the same about the above clip? Or this Wood classic?
In a sense, the thing that killed Lugosi's career was Dracula. Not the play. but the film. Had he stuck to a stage career, he, and his made for stage dramatics, may have prospered. But, on the intimacy of the big screen, he was just more laughable than not, which is why, even in Dracula, he's simply not scary. Having said all that, I do have a soft spot for all actors who do their best, especially in B films, and Lugosi is no exception. But, he is one of those film stars whose life would likely have been better off without the medium.
