# Best Dracula? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 23, 2004, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769 "2004-10-23T15:39:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Roseworm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df788c/32.png) [@Roseworm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roseworm)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769/1 "2004-10-23T15:39:28Z")
Greetings, everyone, Here is a good question for Halloween: _ **Who gave the best performance as Dracula?** _ My nominee: \*\*Jack Palance \*\* in the TV movie \*Dracula \* (1973). This film has solid credentials. It was written by the great horror/fantasy author Richard Matheson and directed by Dan Curtis of “Dark Shadows” fame. The film even uses (effectively) the eerie theme music from “Dark Shadows.” Palance turns in a splendid performance as the legendary Count. His Dracula is feral and frightening, but also noble and sympathetic (and sexy, too). He portrays the monster as a victim of cruel fate. His death scene is particularly touching. So, in your opinion, _ **who gave the best performance as Dracula?** _ God knows there are plenty of Dracs to choose from. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769/2 "2004-10-23T16:04:24Z")
I’ll second your nomination of Jack Palance. But then, I haven’t seen Frank Langella or Gary Oldman in the role. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769/3 "2004-10-23T16:14:54Z")
Well, most people haven’t seen it, but back in the 1970’s, there was a very good version of “Dracula” that I saw on PBS. I think it was probably made by the BBC- it starred French actor Louis Jourdain as Dracula. And of all the Draculas I’ve seen on stage, screen and television, I think Louis did the best job of combining menace, evil AND charm. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769/4 "2004-10-23T16:17:41Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > I’ll second your nomination of Jack Palance. But then, I haven’t seen Frank Langella or Gary Oldman in the role. Disclaimer: I am not a big fan of the Horror genre (where I would say most Dracula films would be classified). However I thought Gary Oldman did a great job with the role in the Coppola version. A complex, charismatic and ultimately tragic figure. Not at all the stereotypical “I vant to bite your neck!” portrayal. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769/5 "2004-10-23T16:19:33Z")
I’m going to really go against popular opinion and say I really like Leslie Nielson’s Dracula in _Dracula: Dead and Loving it_. There’s just something about his nightmare (“I’m eating chicken! And I like it!”) that cracks me up every time. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769/6 "2004-10-23T16:31:53Z")
**Chistopher Lee** - no contest ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769/7 "2004-10-23T16:34:59Z")
There’ve been so many good interpretations, it’s hard to pick just one. My favorite is Frank Langella. So far, he’s the only Dracula I’ve seen who brings any eroticism to the role. Wasn’t the original story really about sexual repression? ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769/8 "2004-10-23T16:38:25Z")
Does [Max Schreck](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0775180/) as Count Orlok count? Or does it have to be somebody playing a character actually named “Dracula”? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769/9 "2004-10-23T17:08:25Z")
My vote’s for Oldham. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769/10 "2004-10-23T17:34:49Z")
Another vote for **Langella** , for the reasons **AuntiePam** stated. A very erotic portrayal…very sleek. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769/11 "2004-10-23T17:49:12Z")
_"Nobody gives two f_cks for Bela anymore…"\* Ah, well, I’m guilty of that too. Maybe I’m just a goofball, but I love the George Hamilton disco-dancing Dracula from **Love at First Bite**. Maybe it was his deadpanning “For you, never a quickie; always, a longie.” Or maybe it was the cape. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769/12 "2004-10-23T18:01:17Z")
I’m sorry but though it has been lampooned and over done, the only actor to leave an indelable stamp on Dracula is Bela Lugosi. Mention Dracula and he is the first person to come to mind. That is a very powerful impression considering in films he played the role twice. The idea of the “I vant to drink your blood” accent comes from Lugosi. The cape the evening tux Lugosi. His piercing stair, the menace all Lugosi. It may no longer have the same impact as it did on audiences in the 30s and there may be better performances and better productions but Bela is forever the first image when we say Dracula. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769/13 "2004-10-23T18:17:14Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Well, most people haven’t seen it, but back in the 1970’s, there was a very good version of “Dracula” that I saw on PBS. I think it was probably made by the BBC- it starred French actor Louis Jourdain as Dracula. And of all the Draculas I’ve seen on stage, screen and television, I think Louis did the best job of combining menace, evil AND charm. I just want to concur heartily with **astorian** here - Louis Jourdain _was_ Dracula in this definitive version, produced by Gerald Savory for the BBC. Christopher Lee _would_ have been the definitive version, if the Hammer films had _ever given him any lines_ … all he does, practically, is snarl or look hypnotic. (I mean, OK, he’s Christopher Lee, he can do both of those pretty damn well - but he can do a damn sight more than that, so why didn’t they let him?) Palance and Langella were both perfectly competent … Gary Oldman, though, in my opinion, was one of the worst things about Coppola’s overblown and overrated B-movie. Bela Lugosi, I’ll accept, is the definitive _Hollywood_ Dracula … but that’s not the same as the real thing. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769/14 "2004-10-23T18:48:27Z")
> [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > **Chistopher Lee** - no contest I’d forgotten [Loius Jourdan](http://imdb.com/name/nm0431139/). That version was pretty good. Maybe I’ll have to change my vote. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769/15 "2004-10-23T20:17:50Z")
Not changing my vote, but now I remember a scene where Jordan was crawling up the side of a building. Very creepy. Okay, he gets half my vote. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769/16 "2004-10-23T20:47:30Z")
Jourdan was good. Palance was good. And, of course, Lugosi created the role and pretty much set the entire structure that later actors would follow; the only major Dracula who deviated largely from the Lugosi mold was Oldman, in the badly misnamed Bram Stoker’s Dracula. But Christopher Lee did an amazing job. Christopher Lee’s Dracula is _not a human being_; Lee’s Dracula is a… _thing_, a monster, a bloodsucking horror. He can be charming, sexy, seductive… very good at _seeming_ to be a human being… …until he feels like letting the act drop and being what he is. Christopher Lee scared the living hell out of me. I still find his interpretation scarier than the “evil genius Dracula,” the “misunderstood Dracula,” the “romantic vampire Dracula,” or the “pathetic blood-addict Dracula.” Lee’s Dracula wasn’t smart enough to question what he was, and wasn’t human enough to consider romance. For all his attractive nattiness, Lee’s Dracula was no more human than a spider is. THAT’S scary. ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769/17 "2004-10-23T21:37:08Z")
> [@chukhung](#): > > Does [Max Schreck](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0775180/) as Count Orlok count? Or does it have to be somebody playing a character actually named “Dracula”? Schreck would get my vote as well. But I’d also give some respect to **Willem Dafoe** playing Max Shreck _playing_ Count Orlok in [Shadow of the Vampire](http://imdb.com/title/tt0189998/) And I have a bit of a soft spot for [Nick Cage](http://imdb.com/title/tt0098577/) too. ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769/18 "2004-10-23T22:13:28Z")
I think Klaus Kinski in the 1979 version of _Nosferatu_ may have been the creepiest Dracula characterization. Of course Kinski would have seemed creepy even if he were wearing pink bunny slippers and bottle-feeding a litter of newborn kittens. I guess my favorite Dracula would be Christopher Lee in the 1958 _Horror of Dracula_, with Peter Cushing as Van Helsing. ---
**Author:** ![Elenfair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cc9497/32.png) [@Elenfair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elenfair)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769/19 "2004-10-23T23:09:49Z")
I will admit, Oldman was pretty darn good. The best Vampire Movie Ever Made, however, probably is “The Fearless Vampire Killers - or - Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are In My Neck.” Then again, I’m easily amused. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769/20 "2004-10-23T23:21:54Z")
> [@chukhung](#): > > Or does it have to be somebody playing a character actually named “Dracula”? Does [URL=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068284/]Blacula count? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dracula/270769.md?page=2)