Dracula was a Royal Pain in the Neck!

Count Dracula at a glance 

Count Dracula is a fictional character, the titular antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula. Some aspects of the character may have been inspired by the 15th century Wallachian Prince, Vlad III the Impaler.

Count Dracula (his first name is never given in the novel) is a centuries-old vampire, sorcerer and Transylvanian nobleman, who claims to be a Szekely descended from Attila the Hun. He inhabits a decaying castle in the Carpathian Mountains near the Borgo Pass. Contrary to the vampires of Eastern European folklore which are portrayed as repulsive, corpse-like creatures, Dracula exudes a veneer of aristocratic charm which masks his unfathomable evil.

[Dracula's] face was a strong - a very strong - aquiline, with high bridge of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils; with lofty domed forehead, and hair growing scantily round the temples, but profusely elsewhere. His eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather cruel looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these protruded over the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his years. For the rest, his ears were pale and at the tops extremely pointed; the chin was broad and strong, and the cheeks firm though thin. The general effect was one of extraordinary pallor. - Jonathan Harker's Journal, Dracula, Chapter 2.

Dracula -- by Bram Stoker 

The FAQs and nothing but the FAQS

Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, featuring as its primary antagonist the vampire Count Dracula.

Dracula has been attributed to many literary genres including vampire literature, horror fiction, the gothic novel and invasion literature. Structurally it is an epistolary novel, that is, told as a series of diary entries and letters. Literary critics have examined many themes in the novel, such as the role of women in Victorian culture, conventional and conservative sexuality, immigration, colonialism, postcolonialism and folklore. Although Stoker did not invent the vampire, the novel's influence on the popularity of vampires has been singularly responsible for many theatrical, film and television interpretations throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.

Dracula in popular culture 

The character of Count Dracula from the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, has remained popular over the years, and many films have used the Count as a villain, while others have named him in their titles, such as Dracula's Daughter, The Brides of Dracula, and Zoltan, Hound of Dracula. The number of films that include a reference to Dracula may reach as high as 649, according to the Internet Movie Database. Dracula has enjoyed enormous popularity since its publication and has spawned an extraordinary vampire subculture in the second half of the 20th century. More than 200 films have been made that feature Count Dracula, a number second only to Sherlock Holmes, (and several hundred more that have vampires as their subject). More than 1,000 novels have been written about Dracula or vampires along with a plethora of cartoons, comics, and television programs. At the center of this subculture is the place myth of Transylvania, which has become almost synonymous with vampires.

Most adaptations do not include all the major characters from the novel. The Count is always present, and Jonathan and Mina Harker, Dr. Seward, Dr. Van Helsing, and Renfield usually appear as well. The characters of Mina and Lucy are often combined into a single female role. Jonathan Harker and Renfield are also sometimes reversed or combined. Quincey Morris and Arthur Holmwood are usually omitted entirely.

Bela Lugosi at a glance 

Bela Lugosi (20 October 1882 - 16 August 1956) was a Hungarian American actor of stage and screen, well known for playing Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version. In the last years of his career he featured in several of Ed Wood's low budget films.

Lugosi, the youngest of four children, was born as Bela Ferenc Dezso Blasko in Lugos outside the western border of Transylvania, at the time part of Austria-Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania), to Paula de Vojnich and Istvan Blasko, a banker. He later based his last name on his hometown. He and his sister Vilma were raised in a Roman Catholic family. At the age of 12, Lugosi dropped out of school. He began his acting career probably in 1901 or 1902. His earliest known performances are from provincial theaters in the 1903-1904 season, playing small roles in several plays and operettas. He went on to Shakespeare plays and other major roles. Moving to Budapest in 1911, he played dozens of roles with the National Theater of Hungary in the period 1913-1919. Although Lugosi would later claim that he "became the leading actor of Hungary's Royal National Theater", almost all his roles there were small or supporting parts. He once played the role of Jesus Christ.

Christopher Lee at a glance 

Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ (born 27 May 1922) is an English actor. He initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films. Other notable roles include Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man (1973), Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Count Dooku in the Star Wars series, as well as Saruman in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Lee considers his most important role to have been his portrayal of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the biopic Jinnah (1998). Lee has performed roles in over 260 films since 1948.

Lee co-starred with Boris Karloff in the film Corridors of Blood (1958), but Lee's own appearance as Frankenstein's Monster also led to his first appearance as the Transylvanian vampire in the 1958 film Dracula (known as Horror of Dracula in the US). Stories vary as to why Lee did not feature in the 1960 sequel The Brides of Dracula. Some state Hammer were unwilling to pay Lee his current fee, but most tend to believe that he simply did not wish to be typecast. Lee did, however, return to the role in Hammer's Dracula: Prince of Darkness in 1965. Lee's performance is notable in that he has no lines, merely hissing his way through the film.

George Hamilton at a glance 

George Stevens Hamilton (born August 12, 1939) is an American film and television actor. Hamilton was the eldest son of society band leader George "Spike" Hamilton and his first wife, Ann Stevens (formerly Mrs. William Potter). He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and lived in Bytheville, Arkansas, until the age of 12. He won many awards as a student at Palm Beach Lakes Community High School and was the lead in his high school's production of Brigadoon. The 2009 film My One and Only is loosely based on Hamilton's early life and relationship with his mother.

A surprise blockbuster hit came his way in 1979 when Hamilton showed an unforeseen flair for comedy. Love at First Bite was the story of vampire Count Dracula's pursuit of a young Manhattan socialite, played by Susan Saint James. It included such funny scenes as Dracula and his conquest dancing to "I Love the Night Life" at a disco. That film's box-office success created a popularity surge for Hamilton.

Gary Oldman at a glance 

Gary Leonard Oldman (born 21 March 1958) is an English actor and filmmaker who found fame in roles such as Sid Vicious in Sid & Nancy, Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK and Count Dracula in Dracula. Throughout his career, Oldman has frequently been cast as over-the-top villains and morally corrupt characters, becoming well-known to audiences as the primary antagonist of such films as True Romance, Leon, Air Force One, The Fifth Element and The Contender. In recent years he is more recognisable as heroic characters such as Sirius Black in the Harry Potter film series and James Gordon in Christopher Nolan's Batman film series. Acclaimed for his on-screen diversity, Oldman has been referred to as an "actor's actor." In addition to leading and central supporting roles in big-budget Hollywood films, he has frequently acted in independent films.

He starred as Count Dracula in Francis Ford Coppola's romance-horror blockbuster Dracula. A commercially successful film adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, it was a major box office success worldwide, and spawned various merchandise and video games

Tom Cruise at a glance 

Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), better known by his screen name of Tom Cruise, is an American actor and film producer. Forbes magazine ranked him as the world's most powerful celebrity in 2006. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and won three Golden Globe Awards. His first leading role was the 1983 film Risky Business, which has been described as "A Generation X classic, and a career-maker" for the actor.

In 1994, Cruise starred along with Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater in Neil Jordan's Interview with the Vampire, a gothic drama/horror film that was based on Anne Rice's best-selling novel. The film was well received, although Rice was outspoken in her criticism of Cruise having been cast in the film, as River Phoenix was her first choice.

Bran Castle more info 

Bran Castle (German: Toerzburg; Hungarian: Toercsvar), situated near Bran and in the immediate vicinity of Brasov, is a national monument and landmark in Romania. The fortress is situated on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia, on DN73. Commonly known as "Dracula's Castle" (although it is one among several locations linked to the Dracula legend, including Poienari Castle and Hunyad Castle), it is marketed as the home of the titular character in Bram Stoker's Dracula. There is, however, no evidence that Stoker knew anything about this castle. Furthermore, there are persistent myths that it was once the home of Vlad, ruler of Wallachia. This is not true. The historical person Vlad III never resided there.

The castle is now a museum open to tourists, displaying art and furniture collected by Queen Marie. Tourists can see the interior individually or by a guided tour. At the bottom of the hill is a small open air museum park exhibiting traditional Romanian peasant structures (cottages, barns, etc.) from across the country.