CLASSIC HORROR MOVIE QUIZ AND TRIVIA...Test your knowledge!
(IF YOU ARE AS MUCH OF A HORROR FAN AS I am, 1. Q: Which actor was originally cast as DRACULA in the 1930 Universal film?
A: The first king of Hollywood horror, Lon Chaney Sr. who had previously played The Phantom of the Opera, and Hunchback of Notre Dame. However, after Chaney Sr. died Bela Lugosi who had already made the part famous on Broadway, was cast.
2. Q: Which actor was originally cast to play the monster in FRANKENSTEIN?
A: Bela Lugosi, on the heels of his success as DRACULA. However, when changes were later made in the story, Lugosi who had become quite the romantic idol from the Dracula role, backed out of the part citing that the make-up would cover his handsome face and the creature no longer spoke... Which upset the actor who did not want to play the character as a mute. Of course, then the part made Boris Karloff a star.
3. Q: Who was the only actor to play ALL of the classic Universal monsters?
A: Lon Chaney Jr. THE WOLFMAN in The Wolfman, Frankenstein;s monster in GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN, DRACULA in Son of Dracula, THE MUMMY in The Mummy's Tomb.
4. Q: What secondary actor also worked in different films featuring Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, and The Wolfman?
A: Character actor Dwight Frye... As Renfield in DRACULA, as Carl (haunchbacked assistant to Dr. Frankenstein) in FRANKENSTEIN, and as a villager in FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN. (Bonus points if you are aware that though his CARL character died in FRANKENSTEIN, he returned to play an entirely different character in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN)
5. Q: What actor in THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN also played Count Dracula on two occasions?
A: John Carradine, who played one of the hunters that discovers the monster in the blind hermits shack in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, would later play Dracula in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and HOUSE OF DRACULA.
6. Q: Though Bela Lugosi finally got his chance to play Frankenstein's Monster (a role he had previously turned down) in FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN, critics complain that he played him as a lumbering and stumbling creature. Why is that?
A: We forgive Bela. The monster stumbled and lumbered because Lugosi played the character as blinded. A scene explaining the blindness was cut from the final picture, so the reason he played the character the way he did was not clear to audiences.
7. Q: What actor played BOTH Frankenstein's Monster and The Wolfman in the very same film?
A: Lon Chaney Jr. again... In FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN he played not only The Wolf Man, but also reprised the role of Frankenstein's monster in a few scenes that Lugosi was unable to. (BONUS: In ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN Lon Chaney Jr. also not only played The Wolf Man, but also doubled as Frankenstein's monster in a few scene when Glenn Strange, who had broken an ankle, was unable to.)
