Vampire Over London Bela Lugosi in Britain by Frank J. Dello Stritto and Andi Brooks $29.95 + $3 shipping & handling anywhere in the U.S. Note: International customers - Email fdellostritto@hotmail.com for shipping options and rates. ( Cult Movies Press, 2001, 364 pages )

Table of Contents Click here to view the Table of Contents Preface Bela Lugosi, renowned for his stage and film portrayal of the vampire Count Dracula and for his long career in horror movies, is a legendary figure from Hollywood of the 1930s and 1940s. On starring in the classic 1931 film Dracula, he became forever chained to his one great role. Today, among film historians, Lugosi is almost as famous for his relentless, ultimately unsuccessful battle against his stereotyping as a movie monster and mad doctor. So memorable was Lugosi’s portrayal of Dracula that he could never quite convince producers or his public that he could play anything else. His star followed the fortunes of gothic horror movies. As the great films of the 1930s degenerated into the escapist fare of the 1940s, his career inevitably declined. In 1951, near the end of his life and with horror films out of fashion, Lugosi spent eight months in Britain unsuccessfully attempting one last comeback. The original intent of this book was to set the record straight on Lugosi’s lengthy visit to Britain, a record of interest only to those few historians and enthusiasts who document his career in minute detail. In gathering the surviving records of the actor’s time in Britain, a grander purpose emerged. 1951 was very much Bela Lugosi’s last hurrah—an aging star’s last grasp at greatness, a last chance to rekindle the legend that both consumed and sustained him. | Read More |