Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó, better known by the stage name Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian–American actor. He was best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the horror film classic Dracula (1931), Ygor in Son of Frankenstein (1939) and his roles in many other horror films from 1931 through 1956.
Lugosi began acting on the Hungarian stage in 1902, appearing in more than 170 productions. Beginning in 1917, he performed in Hungarian silent films. During World War I, he served as an infantry officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army from 1914 to 1916. After the failed Hungarian Communist Revolution of 1919, Lugosi was forced to immigrate to Germany due to his Socialist party activities. He acted in several films in Weimar Germany, before arriving in New Orleans as a seaman on a merchant ship, then making his way north to New York City and Ellis Island.
In 1927, he starred as Dracula in a Broadway adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, moving with the play to the West Coast in 1928 and settling down in Hollywood. He later starred in the 1931 film version of Dracula directed by Tod Browning and produced by Universal Pictures.