Few people have reached the status of myth and there is no doubt that Bela Lugosi is one of them.  His name, face, smile and expression have become forever tied to his most immortal creation, Count Dracula; his stately yet fierce and tormenting image have turned him into a cinema icon, especially of the horror cinema.  On the same level as Boris Karloff, John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe, Bela Lugosi has surpassed the limits of cinematic myth making and myth mania to become a cultural reference. Similarly with his inseparable role as Dracula, Bela Lugosi has remained alive for us after his death, giving material for the dreams, nightmares and imagination of millions of his admirers.

Through an accident of fate, Bela Lugosi's origins already anticipated the path his life would take.  Born in Lugoj in the then Hungarian region of Transylvania, now belonging to Rumania, he directed his steps from a young age towards the world of entertainment and took part in various performances of the works of Shakespeare before being accepted into the National Theatre of Budapest and later becoming a promising young cinema actor and a founder of the actors union.  This participation in the political left wing led to his emigrating from his own country, firstly to Germany, where he began to specialize in sinister, macabre roles, and subsequently to the United States, with the intention of pursuing his career as a cinema and theatre actor.

Alternating theatrical roles with small cinema roles under the direction of the British Tod Browning and other pioneers of the talking cinema, he played the part of German spies or communist agents until his great opportunity arrived in the form of Dracula.

Lugosi was very familiar with the character of Dracula as he had played the part on Broadway from 1927 in a very successful adaptation for the theatre, and the role had fitted him like a glove; this was especially due to his distinct eastern European accent, although this had prevented him succeeding in Hollywood after the advent of sound in the cinema.