I enjoyed reading this graphic biography of Bela Lugosi. The art and the storyline were both good. It presents a balanced look of his career, the ups and downs. It is a quick read. Enjoy

Could not get into this. I have been interested in Bela Lugosi since I ws 8 years old and that was in the 60s. And he's still interesting now, maybe even more so because we're old enough to look beyond Dracula.
But there's no forewarning on this book. It's a cartoon. There's no literature here. It's all captioned cartoon storyboards with talk baloons. Are you kidding me? Not my cup of tea.

A very telling and engaging story about an actor whose character grew to eclipse him.
https://www.noflyingnotights.com/blog/2021/12/13/lugosi-the-rise-and-fall-of-hollywoods-dracula/

Bela Lugosi is an iconic Hollywood actor who had the bad luck of being know for one role. Lugosi also had the bad luck of being a typical Hollywood actor who lived beyond his means and paying the price. Koren Shadmi provides a very visual take on his life and work. He does not try to analysis the movies, but rather show the flow of Lugosi's life through flashbacks, and current scenes, and a final epilogue. If you only have a shallow knowledge of Lugosi, this volume will provide a needed correction that would allow you to start exploring his films in context. Shadmi also provides an interesting bibliography of sources to exploit. A very enjoyable biography.

Koren Shadmi put out another great read. Review for Monster Librarian forthcoming. I recommend this for classic horror and biography readers.

Five Stars. While I love vampire literature and movies, especially Bela Lugosi's Dracula films. but I didn't know much about the actor himself, such as his life in Hungary and Hollywood, his struggles with being typecast as Dracula, his struggles with addiction and his relationships with his contemporaries. "Lugosi: The Rise And Fall of Hollywood's Dracula" tells all this and more through flashbacks as an older Lugosi lies in hospital.

The art is very well done, and the style is perfect for the subject matter. It's obviously not a complete and perfect biography of Lugosi, but it is a very good place to start learning about him.

I am very grateful to Humanoids Inc/Life Drawn and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Lugosi: The Rise And Fall of Hollywood's Dracula.

Despite not knowing much about Bela Lugosi, I knew him well enough from his portrayal of Dracula in the classic movie. Oddly enough, I also know his name from the song named after him by Bauhaus. I encourage readers to listen to their preferred soundtracks of Halloween when reading this story of his life. I promise it will be as interesting and nostalgic as you expect.

3.5 stars. I knew of Bela Lugosi from Dracula (and Bauhaus) but didn't really know his personal story, so this was interesting (apparently he was a self-aggrandizing, attention-whoring creep; who knew?). I liked the artwork, and the timeline was easy to follow. I do wish there was a bit more about Lugosi's height of stardom (how and why people reacted to Dracula and Bela so much) to contrast all of the bad luck and bad decisions that came later. And...how does it end?!

A Life in Pictures… A graphic novel tells the true story of the Hungarian-American actor who played Dracula, Bela Lugosi.

In his book, Lugosi: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood’s Dracula, author and artist Koren Shadmi remembers Bela Lugosi in an original way. Lugosi’s life is told in a biographical graphic novel. It is a visual treat, with cartoon drawings and text outlining Lugosi’s life from 1893 to just before his death. Bela Lugosi’s defining role was Dracula and he played this role both on stage and in the acclaimed 1931 film.

Shadmi’s book starts with a foreword from prolific author, Joe R Lonsdale. Lonsdale gives a short introduction to this actor and gives a hearty endorsement for this book. Following Shadmi’s detailed biography, Shadmi adds some of his initial sketches for this book. The book then concludes with references and a detailed bibliography with lists of Lugosi’s films, documentaries and interviews used in writing this book.

Lonsdale adds that Shadmi tells about Lugosi life in a “whole biographical banquet” as it covers

“the triumphs, the misfortunes, the oddities as well as the wonders and high points of Lugosi’s life”.

Shadmi begins Lugosi’s biography in 1955 and he depicts this time in sepia colour themed pictures. As he recounts Lugosi’s life before this date, drawings are then coloured in black and white. However, as I write about his biography – as recounted by Shadmi – I will write it in a linear way to prevent confusion.

This biography starts in 1893, in Lugos, Hungary. It tells of Lugosi’s childhood dream at 10 years old and tells that he was then obsessed with becoming an actor. His family were unsupportive and uncaring, and he ran away after he was blamed for his father’s death. In 1917, he was an active and passionate leader of the actors union in Budapest. After the Hungarian Soviet Republic was dissolved, he was expelled from the Hungarian National Theatre and blacklisted. He fled for his life with his first wife Ilona Szmick for Vienna, where this marriage soon ended.

After he immigrated to New York, he worked with his Hungarian speaking theatre company. He then won a number of English speaking roles in film and on stage. Lugosi performed in the play in the titular role of Dracula in the West End, Broadway and beyond. During this time, Lugosi was married and divorced twice and it’s reported that he had a fling with the actress, Clara Bow.

After he was dismissed from the lead film role as Frankenstein, he was replaced by Boris Karloff. In 1932, his career was “upended”, and Lugosi declared bankruptcy and lost everything he owned. He starred with Karloff in their first of eight film collaborations and in many minor roles. After MGM took over the Dracula franchise, Lugosi reprised his Dracula role.

1935 was seen as his most prolific acting year, and then his career went into a sharp decline. By 1937, Lugosi was in dire financial straits and he declared bankruptcy. His then fourth wife Lillian was expecting a baby. After Dracula and Frankenstein were re-released, Lugosi made a comeback and this led to more supporting roles. During this time he was diagnosed with sciatica and took morphine for the pain and he gets addicted to this drug.

He collapsed on a movie set in 1942, and then his run ended at Universal Pictures. He took on less memorable roles. He worried about Lillian having an affair with the actor, Brian Donlevy after she started an assistant job with this actor. In 1952, Lugosi is offered a role in a film with Ed Wood. After he and Lillian divorce, he started to retake the addictive drug. After Lillian leaves, he felt alone and forgotten and became suicidal. He asked Wood to join him, and tells him that he is missing his wife, Wood convinces him to live.

The sepia pictures tell of events in 1955 and 1956. This story starts as 73 years old Lugosi admitted himself voluntarily to the Motion Picture and Country House Hospital. He was in severe pain but keen to be treated for his then drug dependency. After he was given an injection to stop his pain he was seen to have a high fever and hallucinations.

The visual and auditory hallucinations are of Dracula and his nemesis Karloff and they taunt the actor about his accent and that he is a forgotten Hollywood actor. Later Lugosi is devastated when the Screen Actors Guild refused to pay for his stay in hospital and that he will have to leave.

After a court appearance, he is committed to the Metropolitan State Hospital for 3 months and given treatment for two years. During this time, he was visited by Ed Wood, who offered him a role in his new film. After he was discharged after three months, Lugosi felt like a new man and was about to take a new role with Wood. He also had an ardent admirer, in Hope Louise Lininger, who wrote to him while he was in the hospital.

In the epilogue, Shadmi tells that Lugosi married Lininger and he then filmed a number of improvised scenes for a new film with Wood. It ends with Lugosi being appreciative of Wood allowing him to act once more.

This book brings this actor to life in a wonderfully unique way. Shadmi easily met the challenge of telling of a life in words and pictures. In 160 pages, I got a full picture of this actor from his life as an actor in Hungary through to his friendship and film collaborations with Ed Wood. Where the film, Ed Wood (1994) had at times diverged from the truth, Shadmi made no mentions of these particular topics and this made it a respectful biography for both his fans and family.

I loved how Lugosi’s present-day of 1955 and his past were differentiated by colour. This gave an old Hollywood film feel to the telling of Lugosi’s life. This touch made his story easy to follow and it showed how Lugosi’s past concerns shaped his fears in his later life.

Accurate and detailed pictures both illustrated and conveyed the relevant historical times and key places during this actors lifetime. These drawings were supported by short succinct and accurate descriptions. These provided the context for the subsequent scenes and were shown in wonderfully intricate historically based representations of buildings, key figures and historical symbols.

These included pictures of key places such as Budapest in 1917 and then flags. In the later parts of the story, the Hollywood sign appropriately changes from Hollywoodland to Hollywood, dependant on the date of the then storyline. Shadmi has clearly researched the then appearance of the buildings at this time.

These are seen in his credible illustrations of the Motion Picture and Country House Hospital and the site of his marriage to his first wife, Church Of St Anne Budapest. All pertinent buildings are majestically recreated and signs on those illustrated buildings are written in the Hungarian or English language as appropriate to the time and place.

Lugosi’s Hungarian accent was also honoured in his dialogue bubbles. A little text also indicates when Lugosi speaks languages other than English. These attributes all added up to a warm and affectionate telling of Lugosi’s life story. Touches like these added to the history and storytelling in subtle but strong and effective ways.

Shadmi also wonderfully recreated this actor’s physical presence as he looked at different ages in his life and in his roles in many of his movies. These are seen in wonderful true to life illustrations. Other familiar Hollywood and historical names such as Ed Wood, Clara Bow, Boris Karloff and Lenin as they appeared in his life story were tributed in the same credible manner. These characters donned both appropriate clothes and spoke appropriate dialogue.

The content must be praised for its detailed recreations of his films. These are included his character alongside his scenes and dialogue. In one (favourite) picture, Shami wonderfully recreated Lugosi in character in a number of his films. I believe this picture would be a delight to his fans. Shadmi provided a tribute to this actor’s character’s physical presence in a wide range of films.

The dialogue bubbles used within the story were easy to follow and set the scene telling of this actor’s life and times, his career and many marriages. The book also appears to have taken note of the criticisms from his family, in response to the Ed Wood biopic. At the same time, this book appeared to be paying homage to this film with his and Wood’s dress and appearance reminding me of this biopic movie.

I would love to see this well researched and captivating book made into an animated cartoon. Perhaps, as a tribute made in time for the 140th anniversary of Lugosi’s birth, which is next year. I concur with Lonsdale, that the love for Lugosi in his definitive role of Dracula continues as;

“there’s always a place in our hearts for the man who introduced us to vampires and creeping terror”.

So, I would wholeheartedly recommend getting your teeth into this graphic novel biography on the Dracula actor who was haunted by his most immortal role.

3 stars

An informative, engagingly told biography of a classic film legend. You get to know Bela Lugosi as a persona, as a deeply flawed person, & as a dedicated actor who craved the spotlight.

[What I liked:]

•The framing device was interesting & added to the story. Lugosi is detoxing from opiates in a state-run mental hospital, lonely, broke, & old. His withdrawal symptoms include hallucinations which take us into flashbacks that tell his life story. His character is also developed through his bragging to the hospital staff & his few visitors. I think it was well done.

•The art had a nice noir, gothic feel that suits the telling of Lugosi’s life story. It is definitely dramatic in a way Lugosi probably would approve of.

•While the author has a clear admiration for Lugosi, they don’t shy away from honestly addressing his weaknesses. He was a jerk in his personal/family life, though generous & supportive to struggling actors & fellow Hungarian exiles. He suffered chronic pain & abused morphine, but tried to get clean. He was a talented actor, but let his ego & recklessness derail his career.

•The novel is informative about Lugosi’s background, career, personal life, & the film industry of the times (specifically the development of the modern horror genre). I knew about Lugosi’s rivalry with Boris Karloff, & his career at Universal (if you haven’t seen any Universal 1930’s horror classics, I highly recommend them!), but it was interesting learning about his start as a Shakespeare stage actor, his involvement in the labor Union movement & Hungarian reform politics before he had to flee an oppressive regime, & his later career that helped revive horror & gothic pop culture in the 1950’s.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•Lugosi, despite his talent, is not a very nice person. He cheats, lies, manipulates, takes frequent ego trips, abuses drugs, & whines a lot. Sure that may be realistic, but he started to grate on my nerves after awhile. This is the main reason I gave this book 3 stars instead of 4.

•The text uses frequent brackets & asterisks to denote when the characters are supposed to be speaking Hungarian. I found this unnecessary. When they are in Hungary I can just assume they are speaking Hungarian, without the intrusive punctuation.

•It was also a little hokey how Lugosi’s English dialogue is written with an exaggerated “accent”, e.g., “Vell, you know vhat I mean!” The spelling deviations also weren’t always consistent.

CW: substance abuse, spousal abuse, sexism, infidelity

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

As a monster lover in general, and Dracula lover in particular, this book was a fascinating, if sad, glimpse behind the cape. Beautifully illustrated, this graphic novel will intrigue monster and Hollywood fans alike.

3.5/5 stars

I’m a big Old Hollywood fan and I remember reading up a bit on Bela Lugosi’s life after seeing the movie Ed Wood years ago, so I was instantly interested in checking this out when it popped up on NetGalley.

The author clearly did their research and I appreciate that they didn’t try to glamorize Lugosi’s life and ignore the darker parts. He was a very flawed human and the author portrays that honestly. I also really liked the realistic art style.

The storyline was kind of all over the place and there were large parts of Lugosi’s life that I felt could’ve used more exploring to make the story more coherent but were just mentioned in passing. However, if you’re a fan of Dracula or Old Hollywood in general, I think this is an interesting read to check out.

Thanks to NetGalley and Life Drawn for the advanced copy.

An extremely captivating read on one of the most fascinating figures in Hollywood's history.

I would recommend to any fan of horror and cinema, this book was detailed and presented so many interesting facts.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have never heard of Lugosi before and am not a fan of classic cinema, however as a graphic novel lover I thought I would give this one a go and I was not disappointed. I thought it gave a really in-depth and well thought out account of Lugosi's life without sugar-coating or going in to too much detail that it got confusing. The mixture of dialogue and narration helped to push along the "story" well, and gave a really good sense of Lugosi's personality. As someone completely new to his story and classic cinema, I found it very accessible and well explained. The reason I didn't give this book five stars is that I felt that the art style needed a little more refining. At times it could be very difficult to distinguish between characters as they all ended up looking the same as they were so simplified.

I’ve always loved Bella Lugosi, watching his movies with my mother as I grew up. This was an interesting biographic, graphic novel that makes a nonfiction topic more digestible for people that may have a difficult time reading nonfiction or biographies. I tend to struggle with history, despite that being a big part of what I specialized in in college, due to dry writing styles. I like that this added depth and story. I’d also like to read it in a text format, but I enjoyed the art. I am intrigued and want to delve more into his life. I’ll definitely be getting my mom to sit down with me to watch his Dracula films for this October!

Was so happy to read this! I've been a fan of classic monsters & cinema for a long time, this book is wonderfully illustrated look into Lugosi's life. I would definitely recommend for fans of classic Hollywood cinema and graphic novels.

This is a great book for lovers of old Hollywood. Lugosi is the penultimate old Hollywood horror star, and most recognize him as Dracula. The panels vary as Lugosi remembers his life, changing from greyscale to sepia, and to movie film. The reader is able to follow the images and graphic clues as the author leads us along Lugosi's life, creating an interesting biography option for reluctant readers who may be more drawn to the graphic novel format. The immortal actor's legacy remains true, and he is as immortal here as he ever was on the screen.

A nice follow up to their last book that delved into the origins and backstory of Rod Serling, this new book explores the darkness and history of the famous Bela Lugosi.

Shadmi does an excellent job of capturing each section of his life with a poignant snippet and weaving them together in a timeline connected to his drug-induced madness in a state hospital. I like the comparisons to Karloff here as well. Their works were often compared, but this drew further comparison on their public lives. Fans of Universal's monsters know that Karloff the Uncanny (not as relatively unknown as stated here) had a much happier and fuller life with his family, especially when compared with Bela Lugosi.

There is some tragedy present and a connection to the immigrant story so often seen in the Eastern block. What I like about this book is that it does not romanticize a moderately villainous guy just because he was popular and famous. He was notably selfish and pretty terrible father/husband. Still, there is this feeling at the start of the movie that he was this hopeful young actor who wanted to make something of himself in the Hungarian circles. I like that image of Bela as a proud man of his long gone country. It adds depth to his speech, mannerisms, and eventual coping mechanisms that make him feel like a fuller character --rather than the washed up actor we see in the Ed Wood 1994 film. Speaking of that film, those last pages and the back matter leave it off, but it would have been nice to include why Wood was taking those generic, quick shoots of Lugosi.

I'm a huge fan of biographical graphic novels. It's an excellent medium for telling the story of a person's life.

I wasn't terribly familiar with Lugosi's personal life outside of a basic understanding that he struggled to break free of his horror persona and ended up in financial difficulties as so many any film actors of this age of Hollywood experienced.

As it turns out, I'm not impressed with Bela as a person. He was more often than not the creator of most of his struggles and seemed to refuse to take any responsibility for his role in them. I got the impression that he never grew out of the attitude that he was being wronged by others when in reality he was often the one causing harm to those around him and to himself. I found myself being quite exasperated by him throughout.

With that said, I still found it to be very interesting (especially learning about the different women in his life), and that the story had lots of detail that gave a nice well rounded view of Lugosi's life. The drawings were very well done and I would definitely check out more from Koren Shadmi.

This is a very good biographical graphic novel. Reading it felt like I was watching a black-and-white biopic about one of the most interesting "character" actors of all time. Bela Lugosi's life had many ups and downs and the book captures them really well; it follows Lugosi through his childhood, the historical events that shaped him, his rivalry with Boris Karloff, and his "artistic" partnership with infamous director Ed Wood. The book never tries to paint him as a nice person when he does questionable things, but still makes you sympathise with him; shadmi leaves it open for us readers to infer whether Lugosi's fall from grace was due to Hollywood's prejudice (he couldn't speak English fluently) or his bad decisions. I read this book in one sitting.