![]() ![]() ![]() Frankenstein (1931) was originally conceived as a vehicle for Bela Lugosi, but it was to be Boris Karloff who would eventually play the monster in a remarkably sympathetic portrayal. Due to its massive success, Universal quickly went into production on a second horror picture. Based on the stage play rather than Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula (1931) starred Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi in a career (not to mention character) defining performance as the count. ![]() He also recognized the lucrative potential of horror movies and, much against the advice of his father, pursued the rights to Dracula for the studio’s first horror ‘talkie’. was more of a risk taker than his father and as well as building a chain of theaters he pushed Universal’s move into sound production. ![]() head of production as his 21st birthday present.Ĭarl Jr. Further silent chillers from the studio included The Cat and the Canary (1927) and The Man Who Laughs (1928) which was based on Hunchback writer Victor Hugo’s novel of the same name. 1928 was also the year that Universal Studios’ founder Carl Laemmle Sr. His grotesque (and self designed) makeup appalled and thrilled audiences and earned him the title ‘Man of a Thousand Faces’. Lon Chaney starred in two silent horror pictures for Universal The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). Right from the early days, Universal Studios was known for dabbling in the horrific and the macabre. Lon Chaney in The Phantom of the Opera (1925) ![]()
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