Bela's final years were a challenge to say the least, including a much publicized treatment for morphine addiction long before Betty Ford made detoxing a fashionable career move. Through it all he never lost his passion to perform. It was in his...blood. Very B-pictures be damned; the Hungarian native, who worked for 50 years on both the stage and screen, just wanted to entertain the masses. And bless his heart, stake-driven or otherwise, he continues to do so 50 years after his death.
Thanks to Tim Burton's 1994 film Ed Wood, for which Martin Landau won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar portraying Bela, he regained a wider audience popularity. While most all Lugosi experts say that Bela wasn't as foul-mouthed as Landau's character, true fans were satisfied to see their hero recognized by the Academy, if only by proxy.
On my most recent visit to Bela in November 2005, several tokens of remembrance adorned his grave. It was heartwarming to see.
