Prepare to explore the hypnotic allure of horror films with special guest Lynne Lugosi-Sparks, the granddaughter of horror film legend Béla Lugosi. Immerse yourself in the captivating narrative of Béla Lugosi's unexpected rise to stardom, his enduring influence and the history of horror films from their genesis in the 1920s to their current stature. 

Discover the psychological reasons behind our affinity for horror films as Lynne Lugosi-Sparks provides an exclusive insight into how these movies tap into our fascination with fear. Unravel the stories behind iconic classics like "Dracula," and the impact of technological advancements on horror films. Lynne also reveals riveting details about Lugosi Enterprises and offers a sneak peek into the forthcoming book, "Béla Lugosi: The Man Behind the Cape." Whether you're a horror film fan or just intrigued by the genre's intriguing history, this episode promises an enthralling journey.

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Chapter Summaries:

0:00:30 Introduction to the episode: Horror Films

0:02:27 Interview with Lynne Lugosi Sparks, Granddaughter of Béla Lugosi

0:06:51 A brief history of Béla Lugosi's life and career

0:14:00 Discussion of the role of horror films and their enduring appeal

0:17:09 Inaccuracy of Béla Lugosi in the Ed Wood film

0:25:04 Béla Lugosi's roles in various films and the sympathetic elements of classic monsters

0:30:32 Discussion about Béla Lugosi's legacy and contribution to the acting profession

0:34:43 Wrapping up the discussion 

0:36:36 Closing remarks and call to action

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• Website: https://belalugosi.com/

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Lynne Sparks

John Salak: Okay, so it's now late October, which means the football season is in full swing, the World Series [00:00:36] is at hand, the weather is getting cooler, and in most places leaves are falling off trees. It also means that Halloween is just about here, which ushers in a frightfully entertaining time of year.

Okay, what's the draw though? Is it weird, unhealthy, morbid, or perhaps something worse to watch films about ghouls, goblins, ghosts, vampires, slashers, and zombies? Or maybe, just maybe, do these films stir up some hidden benefits? After all, they've been around for a century. Horror films first surfaced in Germany in the 20s with The Cabinet of Dr.

The Walking Dead, Ghost Story, and The Conjuring, among so many, many, many more, drew legions of viewers. Ultimately, it's fair to say we love to be scared silly, and perhaps for some good reasons. Our upcoming guest is going to help us explore why. As the granddaughter of film icon Bela Lugosi, she is better positioned than most to lend some insights into Bela's life and work, and why so many of us are [00:02:24] drawn to his movies and to horror films in general.

So, I'd like to welcome everybody to this section of What the Health podcast. And as mentioned, we have an incredibly special guest today. Someone who I have known in all, full disclosure, off and on for probably a year, at least digitally and on the phone.

And as noted, we are Glad to welcome Lynn Lugosi Sparks, who is the CEO of Lugosi Enterprises, and from my personal standpoint, much more important than that is the granddaughter of the great Bela Lugosi one of the iconic actors in Hollywood and certainly best known by many people as Dracula.

Lynne Sparks: Thank you for having me.

John Salak: All right. And Lynn and I had spoken many times and even before this interview and she stressed, so I'm going to preface this. She stressed that while Lynn certainly knows a lot about her grandfather and his upbringing and the films he made and all this stuff, Lynn wants to make sure everyone knows that she doesn't want to be seen as a film historian, though she is incredibly knowledgeable.

Lynne Sparks: Yes, because, unfortunately I didn't get to meet him.

And so while I have some stories that my dad has told me, and of course I've been working alongside the author of the biography, I do know things, but I can't speak about anything he told me personally or what he might have thought about something.

John Salak: And actually, because you just brought it up, I want you to give a little description of what Lugosi Enterprises is.

Lynne Sparks: Okay. Well, the book itself is titled Bela Lugosi, The Man Behind the Cape, and it is right now tentatively scheduled to be released spring of 2024, don't have an exact date yet, but it's, being published by Clover Press sometime in 2024.

It made that right a property right that could pass to their heirs. And for that reason, my dad has had control over the commercial use of his. father's name and likeness, [00:05:24] and along with all other families of celebrities that have passed away. So that was a wonderful thing for families to be able to control those rights.

John Salak: And when you think of Bela Lugosi, there are a lot of great actors who came out of all the major studios in the thirties and forties.

And we're gonna touch a little bit on Bela Lugosi's earlier life in a moment and what shaped him. But I mean, he is such an iconic figure. That I can't think of many actors and certainly there are great actors, but who are as iconic is in terms of a single character and he put in a lot of different movies.

Lynne Sparks: I know when I've been in fortunate enough to be, with fans at a convention or an event, and a lot of times people will have their children with them and you can see them looking at the images of Bela Lugosi and Dracula. And , the parents will say, that's the original Dracula.

John Salak: I read recently that someone else was actually targeted to be the first film Dracula. Yeah. Absolutely. And I, they picked your grandfather and I forget the reason. You probably know this or may have heard this.

And the point is your grandfather had this wonderful accent that then also sort of invigorated the character that quite frankly, someone from Britain or the US at that time with a flatter accent may not have made it such a rich character.

Lynne Sparks: Yeah. Well, there were several actors being considered for the role.

And so you would think that Because it had such success on the stage that it would be a no brainer that he would be thought of [00:08:24] for that role, but he wasn't in fact, many other actors were thought of before him and he'd been trying to get that role a petition in himself, various ways.

And I think he even tried to deal with the Stoker estate and get the film made, himself. Somehow, he wanted to play that role on film. He felt that it should be him. So fortunately people from Universal finally saw him on stage and brought him, to Los Angeles for a, an audition.

John Salak: It's funny to funny or if you think about it, the film came out in 1931 and this is sort of just at the cusp or a little bit of a couple of years after when we see the emergence of talkies. So, like, a character like Lon Chaney [00:09:36] Sr. had starred in a lot of silent films, so the impact of a voice, and certainly your grandfather's accent, again, is a fascinating element of that.

I think a lot of people don't realize that your grandfather was such an accomplished actor before. Taking on the role and working with Universal Studios and throughout, and not just in the States, but also his background. And I know he considers himself, or he considered himself Hungarian, the Romanians now consider him Romanian.

Can you tell us a little bit about your grandfather's background both in film and beforehand?

Lynne Sparks: He didn't play Dracula in the film until he was 49 years old.

Wow. Yeah. That's amazing.

So he had become, an established stage actor in Hungary, hundreds and hundreds of stage performances in Budapest alone.

And he wasn't always a horror actor, , right. Or an evil character, Shakespearean [00:11:24] roles and romantic leads. So, he prided himself on his stage acting skills. And I think that he was a perfectionist and he attained that by just meticulous rehearsals and practice. So, stage actors in Hungary were exempt from the war.

But he felt very strongly that he... And we're

John Salak: talking about the First World War. Yes, I'm sorry. I just want to clarify. No, I just wanted to clarify that.

So it was brutal. I think that was a very, difficult time for him, but you know, when he didn't leave the army, he continued supporting it through various fundraising events for the troops in Budapest.

And that's when our early films were starting and he was cast by. Some of the directors in films, and that's how he started in Hungarian film.

John Salak: And for people who don't realize, Budapest was quite, and still is, but was then quite a grand city in terms of Eastern Europe. It was a real Mecca. I know, and I'm phrasing this because a lot of Americans probably don't realize that they of course know Budapest.

But when did he come to the States?

Well, well, he entered the U. S. through New Orleans. [00:13:48] Oh, wow. I didn't realize that. He made his way to New York City where he eventually, officially went through Ellis Island.

John Salak: Okay. Is there a plaque there for him on Ellis Island? I mean, a nameplate?

Lynne Sparks: He didn't go in the usual way, but there's different dates on different documents of immigration. So even the Ellis Island historical society said it was an unusual chain of paperwork that is done after the fact, if you will.

Lynne Sparks: He used another name before he settled on Lugosi. And it was actually, and he even spelled Lugosi differently. So we have... Playbills and film credits where he's Aristide Olt and then he's Bale Lugosi, which spelled L U G O S Y and then Bale Lugosi as he appears.

Oh, wow.

Lynne Sparks: I know, he was enjoying the success of the stage play very much. And he had moved to Los Angeles. He wanted to be in films. So. He'd already acted in some films before Dracula and continued to play the role on stage.

So I think he just felt it was the next move in his career. And that it was the logical choice that he could portray the character that he created on film.

Lynne Sparks: Right? Well, I think the overall takeaway that not just me, but other people like his work is that he had a magnetism, no matter what character he was playing that just it's like still to this day jumps off the screen.

I think it's just that he was a master of his craft and unfortunately he didn't get to play the varied roles that I think he could play and that he very much wished to play on film.

Portrayed as having a serious drug problem, but you said you wanted at least to address this and clear this up, at least from your perspective and what you know. So, please feel free.

Lynne Sparks: I think that, you know, just quickly the Ed Wood film, while very good for a lot of reasons, didn't accurately portray my grandfather, but a lot of people consider it almost like a documentary about Ed and my grandfather.

What my grandfather was like, he actually over his life was a health nut. He loved to hike. He loved to be outdoors. He drank sulfur water imported from Hungary. He, went to. [00:18:00] hot springs for health reasons. If he was having certain ailments, he would cure them with natural things, drinking asparagus juice and things like this.

So, he was somebody that health was important to him and he was not addicted to drugs like people think he was, or an addict. He, it was really a medically prescribed painkillers that he became, eventually became addicted to.

John Salak: yeah. It's good to bring that out because then again, for younger audiences, that is an element what's believed to be as personal.

So when they got divorced, it was really devastating for him. And he did start using the painkillers more, but the important thing to know for young people is. That he addressed it and he admitted himself and at that time admitting yourself to the county [00:19:48] hospital Was very traumatic to do it wasn't like us celebrated wonderful, rehabs.

John Salak: There was some media attention around it as well.

Is that accurate? When he went in? Yeah. So it wasn't just tough enough for a private citizen. He's Bela Lugosi going into this. So there's going to be pictures in the press.

Lynne Sparks: He also used the opportunity to not only let people know that he was doing this brave thing, but also that he was going to get cured and it would be a boost and he would.

John Salak: And in terms of his work, and I think it's fair to say again, you never spoke to your grandpa. I never met your grandfather because he passed away before from your research, talking to your dad, talking to anybody who may have worked with him.

Do you ever think you felt trapped a little bit by the Dracula character? Because he was such an accomplished actor, and it I mean, look, everybody knows what he could have started in a million films that may have been more dramatic, but may not know the name today.

Lynne Sparks: Well, I mean, for myself looking at it and I think a lot of people feel the same way.

I think a takeaway from my grandmother's opinion is that he just was never well represented in Hollywood. So you know,[00:21:36] he didn't have anyone fighting for those good roles for him or fighting for better pay. So whether it was, bad choices on his part on agents that he chose or not having an agent, I think.

A lot of the reason why, things happen the way they did was, at least my grandmother feels too, that he just wasn't properly represented. And, you always can look back on things in hindsight and say, I should have done this. I should have done that. So, I can't think about at the time what he was thinking about his choices, but I do know that he always wanted to have very, Varied roles.

Dracula lives forever. Yeah. Dracula lives forever. Yeah. So one of the other, elements that we wanted to get into is people are so drawn to horror [00:22:48] films and the classic horror films that came out in the thirties and the forties and, all the way up to date, it's possibly the most popular movie genre.

One, why do you think people are so drawn to both your grandfather's films, but you know, from. Horror films in general, and I know you can speak from meeting fans and you meet them all the time. I mean, horror fans, when they must know you're Bela Lugosi's granddaughter, it must be a great thrill for them, and they're fascinated.

So what do you think, what is the attraction?

People can sympathize with, and I think that's what's been missing in a lot of the remakes is this this ability to relate to the tragedy or of why they're a monster or what they have to go through. So I think in that aspect, in addition to people like being scared, people like, you know, the battle of good and evil I think that's what.

John Salak: It's probably your dog it's probably your dog but okay I'm

Lynne Sparks: not a fan of those so I don't really see a lot of the new Really gory films, but I do, I, myself, I like the spooky.

So there's something about it. I have to say that it's just got to be that when you know, what evil is, you maybe you appreciate good more.

And in the end. Good one out. But of course, with Universal, the monsters always came back for the next say, you know, Frankenstein was frozen or Wolfman or somebody spilled blood on Dracula and he wakes up or something like that.

Lynne Sparks: Even the non universal films like Return of the Vampire, where he comes back, during the World War II, and his graveyard's bombed, and out he comes.

Dracula had some involvement in his own creation. But what was the quote about death that you cited?

John Salak: . 'cause he can never die.

Lynne Sparks: Any fans out there who know all the words I know I just. I just completely messed it up, but

John Salak: And also to the great classic horror films were just wonderfully photographed and the actors are all so magnetic your grandfather and Karloff and Mancini Jr.

This may be a stretch. I realize that for some people, but they talk about excitation transfer, adrenaline rushes that when they come down after seeing you feel relaxed and better the ability to live in alternate realities because of this, do you buy any of that?

And again, I recognize you're not a social psychologist or anything.

But I think for horror, yes there's something that happens when you're scared and then you feel safe. I can definitely see where there might be health benefits from that perspective of a release of energy or a transfer of.

John Salak: Right. All right. Do you think horror films have evolved in a good way or a bad way? And I know you may not watch tons of horror films and certainly not slasher films, but do you think they've evolved or is it just production? That's maybe a little different?

Right? And also our culture allowing so much more graphic, visual imagery. So in some ways, people gravitate more to the old films because they enjoy better imagining what they're describing, or what's happening off stage, rather than having it, in your face.

John Salak: Right, right. Well, you talked about it was Halloween, or Friday, the 13th that scared you when you're in high school.

John Salak: Did you beforehand? Did you, would you? Oh, okay. The movie that had the impact for me was the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the original. I remember seeing that my senior year in high school. Right. And I was with my friends and I came out of the movie theater and I was shaking.

Lynne Sparks: That might go to these things that with these films that we're talking to you about right now, if you and I are able to talk about the effect that they had on us at certain times in our life. We talk about why do people get drawn to them?

John Salak: I still remember the first time and I don't think it's a maligned film. I don't think it's given the credit. Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein with your grandfather and it is truly a great movie.

And everybody's looking at this little kid, who are you laughing at? She's simultaneously scared. What would you like people to think of Bella today? When you meet them, what, and again, you're not speaking for Bella, you're speaking for yourself and you're protecting the commercial images, which is very important, but also the legacy of who Bella was and what he meant to film.

He loved his craft. He Stood up for people. He was one of the first members of the Screen Actors Guild here in the United States after representing the actors in Hungary. He supported the war effort to the detriment of his [00:31:12] career, actually, at some points and tried to support and bring Hungarian refugees from the war here to the United States and make sure they're okay. He did a lot as a human being and for the acting profession too. So I would like, people to realize that in addition to, respecting the icon that he is Dracula.

Lynne Sparks: Right now we're over 700 pictures and many of those are either rarely seen or a good handful never before seen because they're coming from the family archives, which we've never made.

John Salak: Oh, wow. And from my own personal perspective, you have one of the original Dracula capes. Does the family still have one of the original Dracula capes?

Lynne Sparks: My dad had it with him his whole life. His mother gave it to him. And recently very difficult decision, actually a decision that was years in the making.

And it's my understanding they haven't exhibited it yet, but. It will, at some point, be exhibited by them, and it's being protected and preserved. But that is the original screen worn cape that he kept with him his whole life. He used it for appearances and other productions.

John Salak: Oh, wow.

It's not, like any other costume cape you have ever seen.

Lynne Sparks: Oh, yeah, it's a pin. I have a necklace.

John Salak: A necklace. Okay.

Necklace. Right. Okay. Good. There you go. And you have a collection of them.

Lynne Sparks: I do.

John Salak: Okay. Not surprising.

Lynne Sparks: I mentioned to you, my grandfather had made for my grandmother, a beautiful bat Pin into one in silver and one in gold, and she wore it all the time, either on a ribbon as a necklace as a pin, sometimes in her hat, and you'll see it in the book.

John Salak: Okay. Well, that's great. Well, Lynn, thank you very much for giving us some insights about Bella, his work, what you think he thought of the horror industry. And also what horror films mean to people.

Lynne Sparks: Thank you so much, John, for having me.

Now signing up is easy and it's free. Just visit us at WellWellUSA. com, go to Midland's discounts at the top menu bar, and the sign up form will appear. Signing up will take seconds, but the benefits can last for years. So, normally at this point of What the Health?, we lay out some health hacks to help you better engage and succeed at whatever the [00:35:24] episode's topic was about.

Well, that's pretty hard when it comes to figuring out why we like being scared silly and if watching horror films actually provide any health benefits. I don't know if there are definitive answers to these questions, but I do know that millions of people are drawn to these films, whether they're the classics of the 30s or 40s or something more recent like Insidious, Sinister, Hell House, Halloween, and so many more.

Maybe, as in those great Universal Studio films, we see these movies as a fight of good against evil, where we almost at times feel sorry for the monsters that we've actually created. I don't know, but I don't think anyone is going to stop watching them. The classics or the modern offerings anytime soon.

com. That's bellalegosi. com. And please be on the lookout for the release of the book Bella Lugosi, The Man Behind the Cape in the Spring of 2024. Thanks for listening and please join us again.