...Click here for Part One

...Click here for Part Two

By the beginning of the 1950s, Bela, and his career, were in a terrible state. He had become a drug user, addicted to morphine, and has his career nose-dived, his habit intensified. He was also becoming more eccentirc, often appearing in public in his Dracula cape.



His 18 year marrage to Lillian Arch ended in 1951, and Bela life was left in tatters. A year later, Bela gratefully excepted his first film role in 4 years. Bela returned to England, hoping to revive the flagging fortunes of both his own career and that of the once popular cross-dressing act, Old Mother Riley (aka Arthur Lucan).

'Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire', known in the US as 'My Son, the Vampire', was released to a shocked audience in '63 (when it was 11 years old!). Although the Brits were well aware of Lucan's old lady impression (he'd been doing it since '37), Americans were amazed to see the former Hollywood star degrading himself as the stooge to a man in drag (for those of you that have never had the pleasure, he looks like Lon Chaney in 'The Unholy Three')! The plot concerns a (fake) vampire (Bela) and his cheap-looking robot who are actually no more than crooks, eventually foiled by Riley.

Returning to the US, Bela was offer yet another role as a sinister stooge for a comedy act. 'Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla' at least sees our man getting his name in the title (as Karloff did in 'Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff'), but it's weak fare. The comedy act, Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo are no more than Lewis and Martin imitations, so close to the real thing that Jerry Lewis sued and the duo disappeared.

Bela was unhappy with these comedy roles, and felt disappointed that nobody else took an interest in him. one man, however, was extremely interested in Bela. Ed Wood Jr. was a huge fan of Lugosi's, and after a chance encounter, decided to offer him a star role. Trouble was, Wood had never made a film before, but was desperate to helm his own picture. Wood managed to get the reigns for a (real) low budget picture entitled 'I Changed My Sex' and quickly added Bela to his cast. Unfortunately, Wood struggled to find a suitable role for his new star in what was essentially a very personal film about transvestites trying to fit into society.

Wood created the role of a narrator, and gave him some quickly churned out, pseudo-philosophical lines, which are now bad movie lore. Who can forget: "Beware! Beware! Of big green dragons that sit on your doorstep and eat little boys!" and "Pull the String! Pull the String!".



Wood convinced the studios to rename the film, as nobaby does actually change their sex at any point, so the more apt title of 'Glen or Glenda' is used. However, not even that could hide the fact that Wood's first film is one of THE worst and most confusing movies ever made, with endless amounts of stock footage, bad acting (including by Wood himself) and incredibly bad writing.

The lack of quality here didn't bother Lugosi too much, as he excepted an offer from Wood the following year to appear in 'Bride of the Monster'. This role was clearly written with Bela in mind, a thing which didn't escape Bela, who was deeply grateful to Wood for his help in these last desperate days. 'Bride of the Monster' (aka 'Bride of the Atom') features Lugosi as a mad scientist whose experiments produce horrific mutations, including big Tor Johnson, who he makes his slave. Lugosi was only paid $1000 for the role, which turned out to be his last speaking part. Bela's declining health is all too obvious, and the ailing actor understandably doesn't have his heart in this cheap and tacky horror.



Bela was offered a suprising studio movie role by United Artists in early '56. In the 'Black Sleep', Bela is little more than a face in an all-star horror which also features Basil Rathbone, Akim Tamiroff, John Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr., and Tor Johnson. He plays a mute and (very) elderly butler who only appears in a handful of scenes. Ironically, Bela isn't the only wasted talent here in a film which manages to do little with it's impressive cast.



73 year-old Bela Lugosi was apparently planning to work for Ed Wood one last time in a movie titled 'The Final Curtain', which would be his final role. However, after the shooting of only one scene, Bela died of a heart attack on August 16th, 1956. Bela was buried in his Dracula cape, in a funeral aledgedly attended by the likes of Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and of course Ed Wood, and was supposedly paid for by Frank Sinatra, the latter illustrates the dire poverty in which Bela died.

Wood, never to let a thing like Lugosi's death to stand in the way of a money-making opportunity, used the brief footage he and Lugosi shot to make the opening scene for what eventually became 'Plan 9 from Outer Space' and was eventually released in 1959. The rest of the film featured a substitute covering his face with a cape to conceal the fact that Bela didn't appear in the rest of the movie. Naturally, Wood released 'Plan 9' under the billing of 'The Last Film of Bela Lugosi'.



In 1994, eccentric director Tim Burton decided to make a biopic of Ed Wood's life, however the film became as much a tribute to Bela in his last days as a chronical of the life of the 'worst director of all time'. It even lead to Martin Landau winning an Oscar for Suppporting Actor do to his touching and uncannily acurate portrayal of Lugosi.

Of all the big names in horror, Bela was one of the only men never to show contempt for the genre, and rarely verred away from it. His roles in 'The Black Cat', 'The Raven' and 'Island of Lost Souls' have made him a cult star, whilst his portrayal of 'Dracula' ensured his immortality in screen history. Has he once said, to the amusment of many, "I am Count Dracula!". Today he is recognised, more than anyone else, as the embodiment of Bram Stoker's creation. I guess no-one is laughing now.