Who played Van Helsing in the 1931 English-language film Dracula?

Edward Van Sloan played Van Helsing in the 1931 English-language film Dracula.

Van Sloan was not a newcomer to the role: he had played Professor Van Helsing in the successful Broadway production of Dracula, opposite Bela Lugosi as the Count. The film reunited the two performers, helping preserve the stage version’s central conflict between the vampire and his determined adversary.

In Universal’s film, Van Helsing is a learned physician and vampire expert who recognizes the danger Dracula poses. Van Sloan’s measured delivery gives the character an authoritative, theatrical presence amid the film’s deliberately restrained horror style.

The supporting cast can make this question confusing. Herbert Bunston played Dr. Seward, David Manners played John Harker, and Dwight Frye played the doomed, increasingly unhinged Renfield. Van Sloan also appears in the film’s original closing address to the audience, a short epilogue later removed from circulation.