Bela - His Impact On My Life
THE ONLY TRUE DRACULA
This is called a callout box, we can put images, text, links and whatever else we can think of. Like maybe a new image and fact every month.
As a young boy I can remember distinctly my parent's concern of my fascination with monsters and in particular Dracula.
It became an obsession, I had to see every Dracula movie on TV (no VCR or DVD in my childhood), and I had to buy every magazine on Dracula I could get my little hands on. I remember doing school reports on Dracula, fact and fiction and quite frankly my teacher's kept telling me to do a different subject. Even though my parents were a little befuddled at my love of monsters, they supported me.
The defining moment of my childhood came when I first saw Dracula starring Bela Lugosi. I cannot remember how old I was or even what year it was (showing my age a little here), all I know is I was amazed. I wasn't scared at all, it seemed as if all my fascination, reading and research on Dracula culminated with this.
To me Bela was Dracula and unfairly to him always will be. There have been others before and after, but he was the creature of legend.
Statuesque, refined, elegant, exuding a class and power about him that made men quake in fear and woman fall at his feet. That is Bela's Dracula. Every young boy's fantasy (at least mine), especially those thought a little different because of their tastes and hobbies.
After watching that I had to find everything there was about this man. Trips to the library ensued and thus my life long fascination with Bela had begun.
The excitement I felt when I learned about the other movies he had made and the stage performances he gave was quite extraordinary. As the years have passed I have amassed quite a collection of Bela movies. They keep releasing new versions and I keep buying them. I also collect horror memorabilia and guess what I have the most of...yes Bela.
As I continued to read more about his life and learned over the years about his early struggles as a child because he wanted to be something different then what his father wanted him to be I began to see things differently. If this person could leave home at the age of 12 to pursue what he wanted to do in life, what can I be capable of.
Thus, here I am being considered as the web designer for the legend himself. I am humbled at even being considered. I may not have all the technical knowledge of others but what I bring to the table every fan can relate to...passion and love for the man who launched a thousand nightmares and for the man who's films, stories, quotes, perseverance helped shape the man I am today.
(I wanted to use the castle from the film in the top banner but I could not find a good picture on-line, so I used a photo of the real Castle Dracula.
