Drac Facts

Dracula (1931), Universal Studios.

• Bela Lugosi only appeared in one other film as Dracula, in 1948's Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
• Although Lugosi played Dracula during a successful Broadway run and subsequent tours, he wasn't the first choice for the film role. He wasn't the second, third or fourth choice either.
• There were three versions of Dracula made at the same time. During the day the English version was filmed. At night a Spanish language version was filmed on the same sets with an entirely different cast and crew. And lastly, because at the time many theaters weren't wired for sound, a silent version of the film was simultaneously edited with dialogue boards.
• Not once during the film does Dracula display fangs.
• The word Nosferatu is widely considered to be Hungarian for "vampire" because Bram Stoker used the word after reading about it in a book on folklore and the occult. Problem is, no such word exists.
• The studio insisted that Dracula only attack women in the movie because they were worried about homoerotic overtones. Dracula's first movie victim is male, but you don't see it.
• The actor who plays Dr. Seward (Herbert Bunston), had met Bram Stoker earlier in his career when he appeared in a stage production at the theater that Stoker managed.
• Actor Dwight Frye (Renfield) and Bela Lugosi had worked together before, on Broadway in a comedy production.