How Bela Lugosi Created One of Hollywood’s Most Haunting Feuds

Once upon a time, in an alternate universe, the great Bela Lugosi would have taken center stage in James Whale’s gothic masterpiece Frankenstein, trading his cape for bolts and forever altering the course of horror history. It would have cemented him, not just as cinema’s first great monster, but as the all-time greatest actor of the genre, a king of the macabre.

But he handed that crown over willingly.

In 1931, Universal was still riding high on the success of its horror blockbuster Dracula. Eager to strike while the iron (and the box office) was hot, production chief Carl Laemmle Jr. set his sights on another gothic classic to keep the chills coming. His choice was Mary Shelley‘s Frankenstein, which he envisioned as the studio’s next macabre masterpiece for the silver screen.