Bela Lugosi stars in the title role of the 1931 English-language Dracula film. He plays Count Dracula, the Transylvanian vampire who travels to England and preys on living victims.
The Universal production was directed by Tod Browning and written by Garrett Fort. It drew heavily on the 1924 stage play by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, rather than adapting Bram Stoker’s novel directly scene by scene. Lugosi had already played Dracula on Broadway, which helped him win the part after Universal considered several other actors.
A common mix-up is confusing Lugosi with Boris Karloff, who became famous as Frankenstein’s monster in Frankenstein later in 1931. Lon Chaney was also considered for the role, but he died before production began. John Carradine played Dracula in later Universal films, not this original English-language version.
Lugosi’s performance helped establish the suave, heavily accented, cape-wearing image of Dracula that became central to popular vampire culture. The film was preserved in the U.S. National Film Registry in 2000.