Bela Lugosi in Person

The latest in a series of books by researchers extraordinaire Gary D. Rhodes and Bill Kaffenberger, Bela Lugosi in Person brims with new facts,figures, and never-seen photos documenting the actor’s scores of live public performances from 1931 to 1945, the era of his greatest fame.  Three-act plays, vaudeville sketches, variety shows, and personal appearances are all chronicled at length, bringing new perspective to Lugosi’s life and career.



            Gary Rhodes and Bill Kaffenberger have once again delivered the goods with their latest work Bela Lugosi in Person.  They have combined their gift for scholarly research with an entertaining style to unveil fascinating aspects of Lugosi’s stage career and the personal dramas that took place behind stage. Chockfull of surprises and new revelations that will delight every reader, but particularly aficionados who know Lugosi, but not “Lugosi in Person.”  Simply superb.

            – Robert Cremer, author of Lugosi:  The Man Behind the Cape



            I’ve been a fan of Bela Lugosi for some six decades. Ironically I’d never heard of the actor until the day in 1956 that he died, when my Mother informed me of his passing. Now I’m also a fan of Gary D. Rhodes and Bill Kaffenberger, a team who, it seems, know – and care – more about the man best known for his role of Count Dracula, and getting the facts about that man accurately recorded, than anyone else on the planet. Rhodes’ previous book, Tod Browning’s Dracula,and Rhodes and Kaffenberger’s No Traveler Returns, are incredibly well-researched and entertaining studies of the actor’s career that I could not put down once I began reading them … and this new tome, written with the same scholarship and style, completes a literary trilogy every Bela Lugosi enthusiast should own and read.  Highly recommended!

            – Donald F. Glut, author of The Dracula Book and The Empire Strikes Back    novelization.



            I witnessed the intensity of my father, Bela Lugosi, firsthand. But I did not at the time realize how unique the experience was. His personal magnetism has survived in people’s memories and in our culture. This is evidenced by the desire of so many people wanting to connect to Dad by connecting to me – at conventions, on the street and anywhere they hear the name “Bela Lugosi.”  It was Dad’s elegance and captivating personality that made Count Dracula such an alluring yet horrific figure, so I can imagine the draw my father must have created when he was to appear in person – and the effect he must have had on a live audience.

I am grateful that Gary Rhodes and Bill Kaffenberger’s new book shines a light on Dad’s personal appearances, a previously uncovered facet of his career and legacy.

– Bela G. Lugosi