Oct. 5, 2025

Karloff vs Lugosi - "The Monster Mash-Up: When Dracula and Frankenstein Went to War"

Show Notes
Transcript

October 1956: Bela Lugosi dies in a charity ward, buried in his Dracula cape—the only valuable thing he owned. Boris Karloff sends flowers but doesn't attend, too busy earning $7,500 a week on Broadway. The monsters of Universal Horror spent thirty years locked in a bitter rivalry that began when Karloff's Frankenstein eclipsed Lugosi's Dracula and ended with one man a pauper, the other a millionaire. From their first film together in 1934 to Lugosi's final humiliation playing the Monster he once "rejected," Marcus Reid unearths the petty sabotage, salary disputes, and scene-stealing that poisoned eight collaborations. Featuring Lugosi's morphine addiction, Karloff's icy British contempt, and the cruel mathematics of Hollywood fame that declared one monster a star and the other a has-been. Just in time for Halloween, discover how the men who gave us Dracula and Frankenstein spent more energy trying to destroy each other than any hero in their films ever did. Some monsters wear makeup. Others just wear their ambitions on their sleeves.

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Caalaruga Shark Media, October twenty ninth, nineteen fifty six, Los

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Angeles County Hospital. Bela Lugosi lies dying in a charity ward,

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his arms scarred from decades of morphine injections, his mind

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clouded by methadone and dementia. The man who terrified millions

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as Count Dracula will be buried in three days, wearing

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his vampire cape, as he requested, because it's the only

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way anyone will remember him. Three thousand miles away in London,

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Boris Karloff is performing eight shows a week as Captain

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Hook and Peter Pan, earning seven thousand, five hundred dollars weekly,

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more than Lugosi made in his final decade. When reporters

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call for comment about his former co star's death, Karlov's

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response is carefully measured. Poor Bella, it was a tragic

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end to a life that had given so much to

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so many. He was a great actor who never received

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his due even in death. Karlov couldn't resist the subtle

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dig never received his due because both men knew the truth.

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Bella Lugosi created horror stardom, but Boris Karloff perfected it.

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One died a pauper, the other a millionaire. One bitter

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and forgotten, the other beloved and celebrated. Welcome back to feuds, power, pride,

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and payback. I'm Marcus Reid. Some feuds burn hot with

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public confrontations and dramatic showdowns. Others simmer for decades, beneath

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forced smiles and professional courtesy. The rivalry between Boris Karloff

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and Bela Lugosi was the latter, a slow burning hatred

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fueled by jealousy, wounded pride, and the cruel arithmetic of

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Hollywood fame. This is the story of how two men

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who should have been allies, immigrants who found stardom playing

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monsters instead became locked in a bitter competition that would

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last thirty years. It's about how the actors who gave

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us Frankenstein and Dracula spent more energy trying to destroy

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each other than any of the heroes in their films

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ever did. Just in time for Halloween, this is episode

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thirty two, the Monster Mashup, when Dracula and Frankenstein went

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to war. Act one. The Count arrives first to understand

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how Dracula and Frankenstein's monster became mortal. Enemies. You need

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to understand the men behind the makeup and what they

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represented to each other. Bella ference Deso Blasco was born

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in eighteen eighty two in what is now Romania, the

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son of a banker who expected him to follow a

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respectable path. Instead, young Bella ran away to become an actor,

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adopting the stage name Lugosi after his hometown of Lugos.

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By nineteen ten, he was Hungary's leading man, a romantic

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hero who made women swoon and men jealous. Then came

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World War One, the collapse of the Hungarian monarchy, and

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Lugosi's involvement in an actors union that supported the wrong

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side of the revolution. In nineteen twenty, he fled to

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America with nothing but ambition and an accent so thick

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he could barely order coffee. For years, Lugosi struggled in

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New York, taking any role that required a vaguely European accent.

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He was a sheikh, a Russian, a Frenchman, anything but

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a star. Then, in nineteen twenty seven, he landed the

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role of Count Dracula in a Broadway play that would

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change everything. Lugosi didn't just play Dracula, he became him.

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The hypnotic stare, the sweeping cape, the predatory sexuality barely

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contained beneath aristocratic manners. Women genuinely fainted during performances. Men

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felt inadequate in his presence. When Universal Pictures decided to

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adapt the play in nineteen thirty one, Lugosi was the

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only choice. Dracula was a sensation, earning seven hundred thousand

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dollars in its initial release, massive money during the depression,

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Lugosi became Universal's biggest star, commanding seven hundred fifty dollars

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per week when the average American made twenty dollars. Fan

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Mail poured in from around the world. He was a

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invited to the best parties, dated the most beautiful women,

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lived like the count he portrayed. But Hollywood fame is

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a vampire itself, feeding on those who create it, and

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Lugosi was about to learn how quickly it could turn

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act too. The usurpation. The story of how Karlov got

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the role of the Monster instead of Bela Lugosi has

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been told so many times it's achieved myth status. The

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most common version Lugosi was offered the role but turned

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it down because the monster had no dialogue and required

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heavy makeup. He saw it as beneath the star of Dracula,

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I was a star in my country, and I will

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not be a scarecrow over here. Bella supposedly declared the

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truth was more complex and more painful. Bella did test

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for the role, but Wayle found him too theatrical, too melodramatic.

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Lugosi played the monster as a killing machine, arms outstretched,

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groaning like an animal. Wayle wanted something subtler, a creature

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that was born innocent and turned violent by the world's cruelty.

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Karloff understood immediately. Under Jack Pierce's revolutionary make up, which

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took four hours to apply and two to remove, he

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created a performance of stunning subtlety. The way he reached

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for light like a child, the confused pain when people screamed,

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The moment by the lake with the little girl showing

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wonder before tragedy. Frankenstein premiered on November twenty first, nineteen

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thirty one, less than ten months after Dracula. It was

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an even bigger hit, earning over a million dollars, but

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more importantly, critics who had dismissed Dracula as theatrical camp

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praised Frankenstein as art. Karloff, under pounds of makeup and

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without speaking a word, had created something Bella never could.

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Sympathy for the monster. The impact on their careers was

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immediate and devastating. Karloff was offered a contract at seven

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hundred fifty dollars per week, exactly what Bella was making.

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By nineteen thirty two, when they appeared together in The

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Black Cat, Karloff was making one thousand dollars per week

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to Bella's seven hundred fifty dollars. The mentee had surpassed

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the Master. Bella's bitterness was palpable. On set. He would

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make cutting remarks about tricks with makeup and grunting instead

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of acting Karloff. Ever, the English gentleman would respond with

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icy politeness that only enraged Bella more. Poor Bella, Karloff

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would say to others loud enough for Lugosi to hear.

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Never understood that less is more Act three eight Rounds

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in Hell. Between nineteen thirty two and nineteen forty five,

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Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi were sentenced by Hollywood Economics

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to appear in eight films together. Each collaboration was a

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new circle of their private hell, their mutual antipathy barely

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concealed behind professional necessity. Their first pairing, The Black Cat

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nineteen thirty four, set the template. Lugosi played a satan

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worshiping architect, Karloff a vengeance seeking psychiatrist. Behind the scenes,

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they were equally adversarial. Bella constantly tried to upstage Karloff,

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holding dramatic poses longer than directed, emphasizing his lines while

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Karloff spoke. Karloff returned, alliated with subtle scene stealing a

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raised eyebrow here, a slight gesture there that drew the eye.

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Director Edgar Olmer later recalled they hated each other. Bella

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felt Boris had stolen his career. Boris felt Bella was unprofessional.

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They would not speak between takes unless absolutely necessary. By

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The Raven nineteen thirty five, their conflict had become part

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of the marketing. Universal promoted it as Karloff and Lugosi

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in their Supreme Thriller, But on set, Bella was drinking

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heavily forgetting lines, showing up late. His six hundred dollars

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weekly salary was now half of Karloff's. The Mathematics of

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Fame were crushing him. The nator came during Son of

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Frankenstein nineteen thirty nine, Bella, reduced to playing Igor, the

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hunchback assistant, watched Karlov's monster get all the dramatic moments unseen.

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Bella was supposed to simply point while Karloff emoted. Instead,

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he launched into an improvised speech, forcing director Roland Lee

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to stop filming. Mister Lugosi, Lee said, carefully, perhaps we

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should stick to the script. There is no script for me.

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Bella exploded only for him, pointing at Karloff, always for him.

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Karloff's response was devastating in its civility. Bella, We're all

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just trying to make a good picture. But the cruelest

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twist came when Karloff decided he was done with the monster.

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After Son of Frankenstein, the role that had destroyed Bella's

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career was now beneath Karloff's dignity. He moved on to

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play mad scientists, detectives, even romantic leads. Bella, desperate for work,

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took over as the monster in Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman

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nineteen forty three, The role he had rejected twelve years

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earlier now playing it for a quarter of what Karlov

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had earned act for separate declines. By the late nineteen forties,

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both men were fading from Hollywood's A list, but in

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vastly different ways. Karlov aged gracefully into character parts, broadway

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success and television prosperity. Bella descended into poverty, drug addiction,

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and self parody. The morphine addiction that would kill Bella

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began with sciatica treatment in the nineteen thirties, but it

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accelerated as his career declined. By nineteen fifty, he was

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taking more than thirty injections daily. His fifth wife, Hope,

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would find him passed out with needles still hanging from

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his arm when he worked, which was rare. Make Up

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artists had to cover track marks. Meanwhile, Karloff was reinventing himself.

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He won a Tony Award for arsenic and old lace.

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He hosted television shows. He recorded children's albums, including the

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narrator of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The Monster had

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become a beloved grandfather figure. The final insult came when

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ed Wood, Cinema's worst director, cast Bella in what would

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be his last films. Glenn or Glenda Bride of the

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Monster and the posthumously completed Plan nine from Outer Space

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were beneath even poverty row standards. Bella didn't care. He

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needed the money for drugs. In April nineteen fifty five,

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Bella voluntarily committed himself to the California State Hospital for

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drug treatment. The photos of him entering, gaunt, shaking, clutching

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his cape were brutal. When reporters asked Karlov for comment,

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he sent a polite telegram wishing speedy recovery. Privately. According

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to his wife, Evelyn, Karlov said he brought it on

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himself too much pride, too little sense. When Bella died

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on August sixteenth, nineteen fifty six, he was buried in

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his Dracula cape, the only possession of value he had left.

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His funeral was attended by a few dozen people. Karlov

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sent flowers but didn't attend, claiming scheduling conflicts. Epilogue The

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Immortal Hatred. Boris Karlov lived another thirteen years after Bela

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Lugosi's death, finally succumbing to pneumonia in nineteen sixty nine

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at age eighty one. He died wealthy, respected and surrounded

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by family. His obituaries called him the gentle mindmunster and

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horror's greatest star. Bella was mentioned as an afterthought among

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others who appeared with him, But time has a way

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of revising history. Today both men are horror icons, their

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images endlessly reproduced, their films perpetually screened. The irony is

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that therefoever linked Dracula and Frankenstein. Lugosi and Karlov mentioned

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in the same breath as if they were partners rather

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than enemies. Yet their feud reveals something fundamental about fame's cruelty.

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Bella created horror stardom with his sexuality and sophistication. Karlov

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perfected it with restraint and humanity. One approach led to

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typecasting and bitterness, the other to versatility and longevity. In

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the end, both men were trapped by the monsters they created.

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Bella literally couldn't escape Dracula. Every role was compared to it,

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every performance judged against it. Karloff escaped Frankenstein, only to

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be forever associated with it. Anyway, his obsequies always mentioned

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the bolt necked creature, regardless of his other achievements. Their

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hatred for each other was really hatred for what the

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other represented. Bella saw in Karloff, the career he should

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have had, the respect, the range, the financial security. Karloff

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saw in Bella what he feared, becoming bitter type cast,

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destroyed by the very role that made him famous. This Halloween,

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when you watch the classic universal monster movies, remember that

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the real horror happened between cut and action. Two men

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who gave us immortal moments of fear spent their mortality

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consumed by very human emotions jealousy, resentment, and the terrible

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arriythmeic of fame that declares one man a winner and

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another a loser. Some feuds end with reconciliation. Others end

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with one party's death. The Karloff Lugosi feud ended with both,

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yet neither they're together forever now in the public imagination,

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paired for eternity, like the monsters they portrayed. Somewhere, both

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men are probably furious about it. I'm Marcus Reid. Thanks

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for listening to feuds, power, pride and payback. Happy Halloween,

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and remember the real monsters are usually wearing makeup, but

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sometimes they're just wearing their own faces. Join our feud's

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community on Facebook and Instagram, where thousands are sharing their

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favorite classic horror moments and debating who was the better monster.

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Search Feuds podcast or click the link in the show notes.

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Keep your stakes sharp and your bolt tightened. You never

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know when monsters might turn on each other.