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The Blood Is the Life, Part Two

© Elizabeth Burton

That combination was a huge success for Hammer, resulting in six more vampire films of which five had the dynamic duo of Lee and Cushing. The most interesting thing about these later films is that in most of them Lee does not have a single line of dialogue. It is a testament to the man's outstanding talent that he still manages to convey the deadly combination of intimidation and seduction that have made him an icon.

Lee has appeared in more than 250 films and television productions since his career began, including a stint as host of an episode of Saturday Night Live that holds the record of being the third highest rated of the series. He has written an autobiography (Tall, Dark and Gruesome) and three books on films: The Great Villains, Archives of Evil and The Films of Christopher Lee. He is currently starring in the role of Sarumen in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and will also appear in Episode Two of the new Star Wars trilogy.

The success of the Hammer Dracula, not surprisingly, initiated a rebirth of interest in vampire films. One low-budget entry, also from 1958, was The Return of Dracula, which offered a Bohemian actor named Francis Lederer as a Count on the lam who ends up in California. Born near Prague in 1899, Lederer was much better known for his non-genrea films and television work, including playing leading man to the likes of Joan Bennett, Ginger Rogers and Claudette Colbert. He died in May 2000, just short of his 100th birthday.

Over the next two decades, Dracula became a regular fixture in the horror film industry, more so in the UK and on the Continent than in the US. American-made vampire flicks of the era tended toward high camp or simply bad taste, including Dracula versus Frankenstein with a dying Lon Chaney, Jr., Guess What Happened to Count Dracula and the hopefully forgotten Blacula.

Then, in 1973, Universal took up the reins once more, this time to produce a TV movie that was the first to adhere closely to the original book. Directed by Dan Curtis, the creator of Dark Shadows and Barnabas Collins, and with a screenplay by Richard Matheson, this somewhat stuffy addition is enlivened mainly by one thing: a performance by Jack Palance that burns with an inner rage and intensity.

Born in the coal country near Hazleton, Pa., in 1920, Jack Palance is known best for his villains, so the role of the ultimate villain would seem to have been an inevitable choice. His Dracula is a much more physical entity than earlier versions, and that physicality gives his Count a kind of presence that his more elegant predecessors lacked. Palance's vampire hungers for life and his utter rage as he faces final defeat is a vivid and powerful image.