Bela Lugosi
Bela Lugosi in 1920
Born	Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (1882-10-20)20 October 1882 Lugos, Austria-Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania)
Died	16 August 1956(1956-08-16) (aged 73) Los Angeles, California, United States
Cause of death	Heart attack
Resting place	Holy Cross Cemetery
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1917–1956
Spouse	Ilona Szmick (1917–1920) (divorced) Ilona von Montagh (1921–1924) (divorced) Beatrice Weeks (1929–1929) (divorced) Lillian Arch (1933–1953) (divorced) 1 child[1] Hope Lininger (1955–1956) (his death)
Children	Bela George Lugosi
Parents	István Blaskó (father) Paula de Vojnich (mother)
Website
http://www.lugosi.com

Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (20 October 1882 – 16 August 1956), commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen.^[2] He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his career.

Early life[link]

Lugosi, the youngest of four children,^[3] was born as Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó in Lugos (at the time part of Austria–Hungary, now Lugoj in Romania), to Paula de Vojnich and István Blaskó, a banker.^[4] He later based his last name on his hometown.^[3] He and his sister Vilma were raised in a Roman Catholic family.^[5] At the age of 12, Lugosi dropped out of school.^[3] He began his acting career probably in 1901 or 1902. His earliest known performances are from provincial theaters in the 1903–1904 season, playing small roles in several plays and operettas.^[6] He went on to Shakespeare plays and other major roles. Moving to Budapest in 1911, he played dozens of roles with the National Theater of Hungary in the period 1913–1919. Although Lugosi would later claim that he "became the leading actor of Hungary's Royal National Theater", almost all his roles there were small or supporting parts.^[7]

During World War I, he served as an infantry lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian Army from 1914 to 1916. There he rose to the rank of captain in the ski patrol and was awarded a medal for being wounded at the Russian front.^[3]

Due to his activism in the actors union in Hungary during the time of the Hungarian Revolution of 1919, he was forced to flee his homeland.^[3] He first went to Vienna, Austria, and then settled in Berlin, Germany, in the Langestrasse where he continued acting.^[3] Eventually, he traveled to New Orleans, United States as a crewman aboard a merchant ship.^[3]

Career[link]

Early films[link]

Lugosi's first film appearance was in the 1917 movie Az ezredes (known in English as The Colonel). When appearing in Hungarian silent films he used the stage name Arisztid Olt. Lugosi made 12 films in Hungary between 1917 and 1918 before leaving for Germany. Following the collapse of Béla Kun's Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919, leftists and trade unionists became vulnerable. Lugosi was proscribed from acting due to his participation in the formation of an actors’ union. In exile in Germany, he began appearing in a small number of well received films, including adaptations of the Karl May novels, Auf den Trümmern des Paradieses (On the Brink of Paradise), and Die Todeskarawane (The Caravan of Death), opposite the ill-fated Jewish actress Dora Gerson. Lugosi left Germany in October 1920, intending to emigrate to the United States, and entered the country at New Orleans in December 1920. He made his way to New York and was legally inspected for immigration at Ellis Island in March 1921.^[8] He declared his intention to become a U.S. citizen in 1928, and on June 26, 1931, he was naturalized.^[9]

On his arrival in America, the 6 foot 1 inch (1.85 m), 180 lb. (82 kg) Béla worked for some time as a laborer, then entered the theater in New York City's Hungarian immigrant colony. With fellow Hungarian actors he formed a small stock company that toured Eastern cities, playing for immigrant audiences. He acted in his first Broadway play, The Red Poppy, in 1922. Three more parts came in 1925–1926, including a five-month run in the comedy-fantasy The Devil in the Cheese.^[10] His first American film role came in the 1923 melodrama The Silent Command. Several more silent roles followed, as villains or continental types, all in productions made in the New York area.

[edit] Dracula

Lugosi was approached in the summer of 1927^[11] to star in a Broadway production of Dracula adapted by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston from Bram Stoker's novel. The Horace Liveright production was successful, running 261 performances before touring. He was soon called to Hollywood for character parts in early talkies.

Despite his critically acclaimed performance on stage, Lugosi was not Universal Pictures’ first choice for the role of Dracula when the company optioned the rights to the Deane play and began production in 1930. A persistent rumor asserts that director Tod Browning's long-time collaborator, Lon Chaney, was Universal's first choice for the role, and that Lugosi was chosen only due to Chaney's death shortly before production. This is questionable, because Chaney had been under long-term contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer since 1925, and had negotiated a lucrative new contract just before his death.

Chaney and Browning had worked together on several projects (including four of Chaney's final five releases), but Browning was only a last-minute choice to direct the movie version of Dracula after the death of director Paul Leni, who was originally slated to direct.

Typecasting[link]

Through his association with Dracula (in which he appeared with minimal makeup, using his natural, heavily accented voice), Lugosi found himself typecast as a horror villain in such movies as Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Raven, and Son of Frankenstein for Universal, and the independent White Zombie. His accent, while a part of his image, limited the roles he could play.

Lugosi did attempt to break type by auditioning for other roles. He lost out to Lionel Barrymore for the role of Rasputin in Rasputin and the Empress; C. Henry Gordon for the role of Surat Khan in Charge of the Light Brigade; Basil Rathbone for the role of Commissar Dimitri Gorotchenko in Tovarich (a role Lugosi had played on stage). He did play the elegant, somewhat hot-tempered Gen. Nicholas Strenovsky-Petronovich in International House.

Regardless of controversy, five films at Universal — The Black Cat, The Raven, The Invisible Ray, Son of Frankenstein, Black Friday (plus minor cameo performances in 1934's Gift of Gab) and two at RKO Pictures, You'll Find Out and The Body Snatcher — paired Lugosi with Boris Karloff. Despite the relative size of their roles, Lugosi inevitably got second billing, below Karloff. Lugosi's attitude toward Karloff is the subject of contradictory reports, some claiming that he was openly resentful of Karloff's long-term success and ability to get good roles beyond the horror arena, while others suggested the two actors were — for a time, at least — good friends. Karloff himself in interviews suggested that Lugosi was initially mistrustful of him when they acted together, believing that the Englishman would attempt to upstage him. When this proved not to be the case, according to Karloff, Lugosi settled down and they worked together amicably (though some have further commented that Karloff's on-set demand to break from filming for mid-afternoon tea annoyed Lugosi).

Universal tried to give Lugosi more heroic roles, as in The Black Cat, The Invisible Ray, and a romantic role in the adventure serial The Return of Chandu, but his typecasting problem was too entrenched for those roles to help.

Lugosi addressed his plea to be cast in non-horror roles directly to casting directors through his listing in the 1937 Players Directory, published by the Motion Picture Academy, in which he (or his agent) calls the idea that he is only fit for horror films "an error."^[12]

Career path[link]

A number of factors worked against Lugosi's career in the mid-1930s. Universal changed management in 1936, and because of a British ban on horror films, dropped them from their production schedule; Lugosi found himself consigned to Universal's non-horror B-film unit, at times in small roles where he was obviously used for "name value" only. Throughout the 1930s, Lugosi, experiencing a severe career decline despite popularity with audiences (Universal executives always preferred his rival Karloff), accepted many leading roles from independent producers like Nat Levine, Sol Lesser, and Sam Katzman. These low-budget thrillers indicate that Lugosi was less discriminating than Karloff in selecting screen vehicles, but the exposure helped Lugosi financially if not artistically. Lugosi tried to keep busy with stage work, but had to borrow money from the Actors' Fund to pay hospital bills when his only child, Bela George Lugosi, was born in 1938.

From The Devil Bat, 1940

His career was given a second chance by Universal's Son of Frankenstein in 1939, when he played the character role of Ygor, who uses the Monster for his own revenge, in heavy makeup and beard. The same year saw Lugosi playing a straight character role in a major motion picture: he was a stern commissar in MGM's comedy Ninotchka, starring Greta Garbo. This small but prestigious role could have been a turning point for the actor, but within the year he was back on Hollywood's Poverty Row, playing leads for Sam Katzman. These horror, comedy and mystery B-films were released by Monogram Pictures. At Universal, he often received star billing for what amounted to a supporting part. The Gorilla (1939) had him playing straight man to Patsy Kelly, in a role she told author Boze Hadleigh was her finest role.

Ostensibly due to injuries received during military service, Lugosi developed severe, chronic sciatica. Though at first he was treated with pain remedies such as asparagus juice, doctors increased the medication to opiates. The growth of his dependence on pain-killers, particularly morphine and methadone, was directly proportional to the dwindling of screen offers. In 1943, he finally played the role of Frankenstein's monster in Universal's Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, which this time contained dialogue (Lugosi's voice had been dubbed over that of Lon Chaney, Jr., from line readings at the end of 1942's The Ghost of Frankenstein because Ygor's brain had been transplanted into the Monster). Lugosi continued to play the Monster with Ygor's consciousness but with groping gestures because the Monster was now blind. Ultimately, all of the Monster's dialogue and all references to his sightlessness were edited out of the released film, leaving a strange, maimed performance characterized by unexplained gestures and lip movements with no words coming out. He also came to recreate the role of Dracula a second and last time on film in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein in 1948. By this time, Lugosi's drug use was so notorious that the producers were not even aware that Lugosi was still alive, and had penciled in actor Ian Keith for the role.

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was Bela Lugosi's last "A" movie. For the remainder of his life he appeared — less and less frequently — in obscure, low-budget features. From 1947 to 1950, he performed in summer stock, often in productions of Dracula or Arsenic and Old Lace, and during the rest of the year made personal appearances in a touring "spook show" and on television. While in England to play a six-month tour of Dracula in 1951, he co-starred in a lowbrow movie comedy, Mother Riley Meets the Vampire (also known as Vampire over London and My Son, the Vampire). Upon his return to America, Lugosi was interviewed for television, and revealed his ambition to play more comedy, though wistfully noting, "Now I am the boogie man." Independent producer Jack Broder took Lugosi at his word, casting him in a jungle-themed comedy, Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla. Another opportunity for comedy came in September 1949 when Milton Berle invited Lugosi to appear in a sketch on Texaco Star Theater.^[13] Lugosi memorized the script for the skit, but became confused on the air when Berle began to ad lib.^[14]

Working with Ed Wood[link]

Lugosi in Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space, 1959

Late in his life, Bela Lugosi again received star billing in movies when filmmaker Ed Wood, a fan of Lugosi, found him living in obscurity and near-poverty and offered him roles in his films, such as an anonymous narrator in Glen or Glenda and a Dr. Frankenstein-like mad scientist in Bride of the Monster. During post-production of the latter, Lugosi decided to seek treatment for his drug addiction, and the premiere of the film was said to be intended to help pay for his hospital expenses. According to Kitty Kelley's biography of Frank Sinatra, when the entertainer heard of Lugosi's problems, he helped with expenses and visited at the hospital. Lugosi would recall his amazement, since he did not even know Sinatra.^[15]

During an impromptu interview upon his exit from the treatment center in 1955, Lugosi stated that he was about to go to work on a new Ed Wood film, The Ghoul Goes West. This was one of several projects proposed by Wood, including The Phantom Ghoul and Dr. Acula. With Lugosi in his famed Dracula cape, Wood shot impromptu test footage, with no storyline in mind, in front of Tor Johnson's home, a suburban graveyard and in front of Lugosi's apartment building on Carlton Way. This footage ended up in Plan 9 from Outer Space, which was mostly filmed after Lugosi's death. Wood hired Tom Mason, his wife's chiropractor, to double for Lugosi in additional shots.^[16] Mason is thinner than Lugosi, and in every shot covers the lower half of his face with his cape, as Lugosi sometimes did in Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein.

Following his treatment, Lugosi made one final film, in late 1955, The Black Sleep, for Bel-Air Pictures, which was released in the summer of 1956 through United Artists with a promotional campaign that included several personal appearances. To his disappointment, however, his role in this film was of a mute, with no dialogue.

Personal life[link]

In 1917, Lugosi married Ilona Szmick. The couple divorced in 1920, reputedly over political differences with her parents.

In 1929, Lugosi took his place in Hollywood society and scandal when he married wealthy San Francisco widow Beatrice Weeks, but she filed for divorce four months later. Weeks cited actress Clara Bow as the "other woman".^[17]

In 1933 he married 19-year-old Lillian Arch, the daughter of Hungarian immigrants. They had a child, Bela G. Lugosi, in 1938.^[18]

Lillian and Béla divorced in 1953,^[1] at least partially because of Béla's jealousy over Lillian taking a full-time job as an assistant to Brian Donlevy on the sets and studios for Donlevy's radio and television series Dangerous Assignment^[19] — Lillian eventually did marry Brian Donlevy, in 1966.

Lugosi married Hope Lininger, his fifth wife, in 1955. She had been a fan of his, writing letters to him when he was in hospital recovering from addiction to Demerol. She would sign her letters 'A dash of Hope'.

Death[link]

Lugosi's grave at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California

Lugosi died of a heart attack on August 16, 1956, while lying on a couch in his Los Angeles home. He was 73.^[20] The rumor that Lugosi was clutching the script for The Final Curtain, a planned Ed Wood project, at the time of his death is not true.^[21]

Lugosi was buried wearing one of the Dracula Cape costumes, per the request of his son and fourth wife, in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. Contrary to popular belief, Lugosi never requested to be buried in his cloak; Bela G. Lugosi confirmed on numerous occasions that he and his mother, Lillian, actually made the decision but believed that it is what his father would have wanted.^[22]

Legacy[link]

In 1979, the Lugosi v. Universal Pictures decision by the California Supreme Court held that Bela Lugosi's personality rights could not pass to his heirs, as a copyright would have. The court ruled that under California law any rights of publicity, including the right to his image, terminated with Lugosi's death.^[23][24]

Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6340 Hollywood Blvd.

In Tim Burton's 1994 Ed Wood, Lugosi is played by Martin Landau who received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. According to Bela G. Lugosi (his son), Forrest Ackerman, Dolores Fuller and Richard Sheffield, Lugosi never used profanity, owned small dogs, or slept in coffins. The film fabricated much about the Hungarian actor.

Three Lugosi projects were featured on the television show Mystery Science Theater 3000. The Corpse Vanishes appeared in episode 105, the serial The Phantom Creeps throughout season two and the Ed Wood production Bride of the Monster in episode 423.

An episode of Sledge Hammer titled "Last of the Red Hot Vampires" was a homage to Bela Lugosi; at the end of the episode, it was dedicated to "Mr. Blaskó".

In 2001, BBC Radio 4 broadcast There Are Such Things by Steven McNicoll and Mark McDonnell. Focusing on Lugosi and his well-documented struggle to escape from the role that had typecast him, the play went on to receive the Hamilton Dean Award for best dramatic presentation from the Dracula Society in 2002.

A statue of Lugosi can be seen today on one of the corners of the Vajdahunyad Castle in Budapest.

The Ellis Island Immigration Museum in New York City features a live, 30-minute play that focuses on Lugosi's illegal entry into the country and then his arrival at Ellis Island to enter the country legally.^[25]

The cape Lugosi wore in the 1931 film Dracula still survives today in the ownership of Universal Studios.

The theatrical play Lugosi - a vámpír árnyéka (Lugosi - the Shadow of the Vampire, in Hungarian) is based on Lugosi's life, telling the story of his life as he becomes typecast as Dracula and as his drug addiction worsens. He was played by one of Hungary's most renowned actors, Ivan Darvas.

Andy Warhol's 1963 silkscreen The Kiss depicts Lugosi from Dracula about to bite into the neck of co-star Helen Chandler, who played Mina Harker. A copy sold for $798,000 at Christie's in May 2000.^[26]

Lugosi was also the subject of "Bela Lugosi's Dead", the first single by English rock band Bauhaus. It was released in August 1979 and it is often considered to be the first gothic rock record.

Bela Lugosi was a charter member of the Screen Actors Guild.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers, ISBN 0-9773798-1-7 (hardcover)
• The Immortal Count: The Life and Films of Bela Lugosi by Arthur Lennig (2003), ISBN 0-8131-2273-2 (hardcover)
• Bela Lugosi (Midnight Marquee Actors Series) by Gary Svehla and Susan Svehla (1995) ISBN 1-887664-01-7 (paperback)
• Bela Lugosi: Master of the Macabre by Larry Edwards (1997), ISBN 1-881117-09-X (paperback)
• Films of Bela Lugosi by Richard Bojarski (1980) ISBN 0-8065-0716-0 (hardcover)
• Sinister Serials of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr. by Leonard J. Kohl (2000) ISBN 1-887664-31-9 (paperback)
• Vampire over London: Bela Lugosi in Britain by Frank J. Dello Stritto (2000) ISBN 0-9704269-0-9 (hardcover)
• Lugosi: The Man Behind the Cape by Robert Cremer (1976) ISBN 0-8092-8137-6 (hardcover)
• Bela Lugosi: Biografia di una metamorfosi by Edgardo Franzosini (1998) ISBN 88-459-1370-8

External links[link]

Biography portal

• Official website
• Bela Lugosi at the Internet Movie Database
• More information at PORT.hu
• Bela Lugosi at AllRovi^{[dead link]}
• Bela Lugosi at the Internet Broadway Database
• Bela Lugosi at Find a Grave

Aleksander Kostarev a Russian instrumental progressive rock musician. Though his musical career started back in the 70's, it was only the 2000s that he gained recognition, becoming one of the most important artists of the Russian progressive rock scene.

Style[link]

Being a guitarist, the music of Kostarev is instrumental. His musical genre is usually considered progressive rock, but actually its a mixture that includes art rock, psychedelic rock, jazz fusion, experimental rock and many more.

Biography[link]

Alexander Kostarev was born on July 1, 1954 in Sverdlovsk.

The first band he played with was Perekrestok, which was formed in 1976 while being students at the Ural University.

In 1986 Kostarev moved to Moscow and together with other musicians started a band called Quadraphonic Sound Theatre, which soon changed to CosMoBob. At the same time Kostarev worked with many Russian jazz and rock musicians as a session guitarist, one of them being Yegor Letov.

In 1995 CosMoBob changed its name to Dead Music, but soon returned to CosMoBob.

In the 2000s Kostarev started performing solo and gained popularity as one of the most important Russian progressive rock figures.

In 2003 the band CosMoBob decided to change its name to Kostarev's Group. In 2003 the Kostarev Group first album was released by Starless Records. The album was called Live@InProg 2003 and it was recorded during the bands performance at the InProg music festival in 2003.

In the years 2003-2005 Kostarev Group was a constant act in the InProg festival, the 2000s most important progressive rock festival in Russia and one of the most important in the world.

In the year 2006 Alexander Kostarev was specially invited to lead the Jam session that concluded the first day of the InProg 2006 festival. At the same year the Kostarev Group song "who's flying over me" appeared on the "Theme of Appreciation - A Worldwide Tribute to Eddie Jobson" compilation.

In 2006 Alexander Kostarev released a compilation called Kostarev. Works 1978-2006, which included chosen recordings of Alexander Kostarev and different groups he played with at the period of 1978-2006.

Discography[link]

• Kostarev Group. Live@InProg 2003 (Live album)(2003)
• Kostarev. Works 1978-2006 (compilation)(2006)

Trivia[link]

• In 1987 the guitar-maker Yevgeniy Berezov created specifically for Alexander Kostarev a green extra-long guitar which has 29 frets on a 770 mm length scale tuned in the C# key. The name Alexander gave to it was "a green long instrument". It turns into a regular E-key-tuned guitar once a capo is placed at the third fret.^[1]
• Kostarev appeared six times in the InProg festival. Currently, it is the record for the biggest number of appearances in the InProg festival for one man/band.

References[link]

1. ^ kost_ins

External links[link]

• The official site of the Kostarev Group (English) (Russian)
• The Kostarev Group Myspace page (English)
• Kostarev's personal page in LiveJournal (Russian)
• About the band from the Russian Association Of Independent Genres site (English)
• An article about the main Russian progressive rock and art-rock bands where Kostarev's group are mentioned (Russian)
• A review about the Live@InProg 2003 album (English)
• About the band from another web-site (Russian)

Trent Reznor
Background information
Birth name	Michael Trent Reznor
Born	(1965-05-17) May 17, 1965 (age 47) Mercer, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Genres	Industrial rock, industrial metal, post-industrial, dark ambient, alternative rock, experimental rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, sound designer, record producer, film score composer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano, synthesizer, mellotron, keyboards, bass guitar, saxophone, cello, double bass, drums, tuba, sousaphone, harmonium, marimba, pan flute, harpsichord, vibraphone, swarmatron
Years active	1982–present
Labels	The Null Corporation, Nothing, Interscope, Universal, TVT
Associated acts	Option 30, The Innocent, Exotic Birds, Nine Inch Nails, How to Destroy Angels, Tapeworm, Atticus Ross, Marilyn Manson, David Fincher
Website	www.nin.com

Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American singer–songwriter, composer, and record producer. As both a vocalist and a multi-instrumentalist, Reznor has led the industrial rock project Nine Inch Nails beginning in 1988, and as of 2010 he and his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, are also members of the post-industrial^[1][2] band How to Destroy Angels alongside fellow composer Atticus Ross,^[1][3] with whom Reznor has scored two films. Reznor was previously associated with the bands Option 30, Exotic Birds, and Tapeworm, among others. Reznor left Interscope Records in 2007, and is now an independent recording artist.

Reznor began creating music early in his life, and cites his Western Pennsylvania childhood as an early influence. After being involved with a number of synthesizer-based bands in the mid-80s, Reznor gained employment at Right Track Studios in Cleveland, Ohio and began creating his own music during the studio's closing hours under the moniker Nine Inch Nails. Reznor's first release as Nine Inch Nails, Pretty Hate Machine (1989), was a commercial and critical success, and he has since released seven major studio releases. Outside of Reznor's chief project Nine Inch Nails, he has contributed to many other artists' albums, including Marilyn Manson and Saul Williams. In 1997, Reznor appeared in Time magazine's list of the year's most influential people, and in Spin magazine he was described as "the most vital artist in music."^[4]

Reznor, in collaboration with Atticus Ross, composed the score for the soundtrack to The Social Network, a 2010 theatrical film about the founding of Facebook. The duo won the 2010 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and the Academy Award for Best Original Score for their collaboration. Reznor and Ross also composed the score to the US film adaptation of the novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which was released in late 2011. Both soundtrack albums were released by The Null Corporation, Reznor's own independent record label.

Early life[link]

Reznor was born in Mercer, Pennsylvania, halfway between Pittsburgh and Erie, the son of Nancy Lou (née Clark) and Michael Reznor.^[5] After his parents divorced, he lived with his maternal grandparents, while his sister Tera lived with their mother.^[6] Reznor is a direct descendant of George Reznor, who founded the Reznor Company, a heating and air conditioning company, in 1888. The family sold the business in the 1960s.^[5][7]

Reznor began playing the piano at the age of five and showed an early aptitude for music. In a 1995 interview, his grandfather, Bill Clark, remarked, "Music was his life, from the time he was a wee boy. He was so gifted."^[8] His former piano teacher Rita Beglin said "Reznor always reminded me of Harry Connick, Jr." when he played.^[8]

Reznor has acknowledged that his sheltered life in Pennsylvania left him feeling isolated from the outside world. In a 1994 interview with Rolling Stone, he references his choices in the music industry.

However, Reznor later said, "I don't want to give the impression it was a miserable childhood."^[10]

At Mercer Area Junior/Senior High School, Reznor learned to play the tenor saxophone and tuba. He was a member of both the jazz and marching band. Former Mercer High School band director Dr. Hendley Hoge remembered Reznor as "very upbeat and friendly."^[8] Reznor also became involved in theater while in high school. He was voted "Best in Drama" by classmates for his roles as Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar and Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man. Reznor graduated from this high school in 1983 and enrolled at Allegheny College, where he studied computer engineering.^[11]

Music career[link]

Early musical projects[link]

While he was enrolled in Allegheny College, Reznor joined local band Option 30, playing three shows a week with them. After only a year of college, Reznor dropped out and moved to Cleveland, Ohio to pursue a career in music.^[8] In 1985, he joined The Innocent as a keyboardist. They released one album, Livin' in the Street, but Reznor quit after just three months. In 1986, Reznor joined local band Exotic Birds, during this time, Reznor also contributed on keyboards to the band Slam Bamboo. He also appeared with them as the fictional band "The Problems" in the 1987 film Light of Day.^[12]

Reznor got a job at Cleveland's Right Track Studio as an assistant engineer and janitor.^[13] Studio owner Bart Koster later commented that Reznor was "so focused in everything he [did]. When that guy waxed the floor, it looked great."^[8] Reznor asked Koster for permission to record demos of his own songs for free during unused studio time. Koster agreed, remarking that it cost him "just a little wear on [his] tape heads".^[8] While assembling these, the earliest Nine Inch Nails recordings, Reznor was unable to find a band that could articulate his songs as he wanted. Instead, inspired by Prince, he played all the instruments himself, except drums.^[14] This role remains Reznor's on most of the band's studio recordings, though he has occasionally involved other musicians and assistants. Several labels responded favorably to the demo material, and Reznor signed with TVT Records.^[13] Nine selections from the Right Track demos were unofficially released in 1988 as Purest Feeling; many of these songs had appeared in revised form on his 1989 debut studio album under the stage name Nine Inch Nails.

Formation of Nine Inch Nails[link]

Reznor performing at the Lollapalooza festival, 1991.

Most of Reznor's work as a musician has been as founding and primary member of Nine Inch Nails. Nine Inch Nails' debut album, Pretty Hate Machine was released in 1989. It was a moderate commercial success, and was certified Gold in 1992.^[15] Amid pressure from Reznor's record label to produce a follow-up to Pretty Hate Machine, Reznor secretly began recording under various pseudonyms to avoid record company interference, resulting in the Broken EP, released in 1992.^[16] In the summer of 1991 Nine Inch Nails was included in the Lollapalooza package tour. They later won a Grammy Award in 1993 for the song "Wish" in the Best Heavy Metal Performance category.^[17]

Nine Inch Nails' second full-length album, The Downward Spiral, entered the Billboard 200 chart in 1994 at number two,^[18] and remains the highest-selling Nine Inch Nails release in the United States.^[15] To record the album, Reznor rented and moved into the 10050 Cielo Drive mansion, site of the 1969 Manson Family murders.^[19] Reznor built a studio space in the house, which he renamed Le Pig, after the word that was scrawled on the front door in Sharon Tate's blood by her murderers.^[19] Reznor told Entertainment Weekly that despite the notoriety attached to the house, he chose to record there because, "I looked at a lot of places, and this just happened to be the one I liked most".^[19]

Nine Inch Nails toured extensively over the next few years, including a performance at Woodstock '94, although he admitted to the audience that he did not like to play large venues.^[20] Around this time, Reznor's studio perfectionism,^[21] struggles with addiction, and bouts of writer's block prolonged the production of a follow-up.^[22]

Collaboration with other artists[link]

One of Reznor's earliest collaborations was a Ministry side project in 1990 under the name of 1000 Homo DJs. Reznor sang vocals on a cover of Black Sabbath's Supernaut. Due to legal issues with Reznor's label, Reznor's vocals had to be distorted enough to make his voice indistinguishable. The band also recorded additional versions with Al Jourgensen doing vocals.^[23] While there is still debate as to which version is Reznor and which is Jourgensen, it has been definitively stated that Reznor's vocals were used in the TVT Record's Black Box Box set.^[24] Reznor sang backing vocals on Tori Amos' 1994 album Under the Pink on a track called "Past The Mission." Reznor produced Marilyn Manson's first album Portrait of an American Family (1994), several tracks on Marilyn Manson's albums Smells Like Children (1995), and Antichrist Superstar (1996), as well as the film soundtracks for Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994) and David Lynch's Lost Highway (1997). Reznor is credited for "Driver Down" and "Videodrones; Questions" on the soundtrack for Lost Highway, while another track, "The Perfect Drug", is credited to Nine Inch Nails instead. In 1998 Reznor produced a remix of Notorious B.I.G.'s song "Victory" which also featured Busta Rhymes.^[25] He also unofficially worked with Garrett Ahlstrom on "Big Black Bomb" a remix on "Burn" he stated on the spiral, "I never worked on the song but I still consider it an official mix"

Under the band name Tapeworm, Reznor collaborated over the span of nearly 10 years with Danny Lohner, Maynard James Keenan, and Atticus Ross, but the project was eventually terminated before any official material was released.^[26] The only known released Tapeworm material is a reworked version of a track called "Vacant," retitled "Passive", on A Perfect Circle's 2004 album eMOTIVe,^[27] as well as a track called "Potions," on Puscifer's 2009 "C" Is for (Please Insert Sophomoric Genitalia Reference Here).

In 2006, Reznor played his first "solo" show(s) at Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit. Backed by a four piece string section, he performed stripped-down versions of many Nine Inch Nails songs.^[28] Reznor featured on El-P's 2007 album I'll Sleep When You're Dead, guesting on the track "Flyentology". The accompanying music video for the song and its artwork was created by Adult Swim, who aired the music video.

Reznor co-produced Saul Williams' 2007 album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! after Williams toured with Nine Inch Nails in 2005 and 2006. Reznor convinced Williams to release the album as a free download, while giving fans the option of paying $5 for higher quality files, or downloading all of the songs at a lower quality for free.^[29][30] Reznor was also credited as "Musical Consultant" on the 2004 film Man on Fire.^[31] The movie features six Nine Inch Nails songs.^[32] He has produced a number of songs for Jane's Addiction in his home studio in Beverly Hills. The first recordings, new versions of the early tracks "Chip Away" and "Whores", were released simultaneously on Jane's Addiction's website and the NINJA 2009 Tour Sampler digital EP.

How to Destroy Angels[link]

In April 2010, it was announced that Reznor had formed a new band with his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross, called How to Destroy Angels. The group released a self-titled six song EP digitally on June 1, 2010, with the retail edition becoming available on July 6, 2010.^[33]

As an independent artist[link]

Trent Reznor and Robin Finck, Santa Barbara, California 2009.

In May 2008 Reznor founded The Null Corporation and Nine Inch Nails released the studio album The Slip as a free digital download. In his appreciation for his following and fan base, and having no contractual obligation, he made "The Slip" available for free on his website, stating “This one’s on me.”^[34] A month and a half after its online release, The Slip had been downloaded 1.4 million times from the official Nine Inch Nails website.^[35]

In February 2009, Reznor posted his thoughts about the future of Nine Inch Nails on NIN.com, stating that "I've been thinking for some time now it's time to make NIN disappear for a while."^[36] Reznor noted in an interview on the official website that while he has not stopped creating music as Nine Inch Nails, the group will not be touring in the foreseeable future.^[37][38]

Video games[link]

The original music from id Software's video game Quake is credited to "Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails";^[39] Reznor helped record sound effects and ambient audio, and the NIN logo appears on the nailgun ammunition boxes in the game.^[40] Reznor's association with id Software began with Reznor being a fan of the original Doom. He reunited with id Software in 2003 as the sound engineer for Doom 3, though due to "time, money and bad management",^[41] he had to abandon the project, and his audio work did not make it into the game's final release.

Nine Inch Nails' 2007 major studio recording, Year Zero, was released alongside an accompanying alternate reality game.^[42] With its lyrics written from the perspective of multiple fictitious characters, Reznor described Year Zero as a concept album criticizing the United States government's current policies and how they will affect the world 15 years in the future.^[43]

Film composition[link]

In 2001, Reznor was asked by Mark Romanek to provide the score for One Hour Photo, but the music did not work for the film and was not used. These compositions eventually evolved into Still.^[44]

In 2009, Trent Reznor composed "Theme for Tetsuo" for the Japanese cyberpunk film Tetsuo: The Bullet Man from Shinya Tsukamoto.^[45]

Reznor collaborated with Atticus Ross to compose the score for David Fincher's The Social Network, a 2010 drama film about the founding of Facebook. Says Reznor, "When I actually read the script and realized what he was up to, I said goodbye to that free time I had planned."^[46] The score was noted for portraying "Mark Zuckerberg the genius, developing a brilliant idea over ominous undertones,"^[47] and received nearly unanimous praise across the board. On September 16, 2010, Reznor announced that the film's score would be released in October 2010 in multiple formats, including digital download, compact disc, 5.1 surround on Blu-ray disc, and vinyl record.^[48] A 5-song sampler EP was released for free via digital download.^[49] In 2011 Reznor and Ross won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score^[50] and the Academy Award for Original Score^[51] for this work.

On January 7, 2011, Reznor announced that he would again be working with Fincher, this time to provide the score for the American adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.^[52] A cover of "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin produced by Reznor and Ross, with Karen O (of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) as featured singer, was released by way of a trailer for the film. The cover extended for the entirety of the trailer and was well received by critics.^[53] Reznor and Ross were announced as nominees for the 2012 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for their score.

Business activity[link]

Suit and counter-suit with John Malm[link]

In 2004, Reznor's former manager John Malm Jr. filed suit in the United States district court of Ohio against Reznor for over $2 million in deferred commissions. The suit alleged that Reznor "reneged on every single contract he and Malm ever entered into", and that Reznor refused to pay Malm payments which he was contractually entitled to.^[54] Weeks later, Reznor filed a counter-suit in the U.S. District Court of New York, charging Malm with fraud and breach of fiduciary duties.^[55] Reznor's suit arose from a five-year management contract signed in the early days of Nine Inch Nails, between Reznor and Malm's management company J. Artist Management. This contract, according to the suit, was unlawful and immoral in that it secured Malm 20% of Reznor's gross earnings, rather than his net earnings, as is the standard practice between artists and their management. The suit also alleged that the contract secured this percentage even if Malm was no longer representing Reznor, and for all Reznor's album advances.^[56] The suit also described how Malm had misappropriated the ownership rights regarding Nine Inch Nails, including the trademark name "NIN".^[57] According to testimony by Malm, Reznor gave him half of the "NIN" trademark "as a gift."^[57]

Reznor stated that he began to fully understand his financial situation after tackling his addiction to drugs and alcohol.^[56] Reznor requested a financial statement from Malm in 2003, only to discover that he had only $400,000 in liquid assets. "It was not pleasant discovering you have a 10th as much as you've been told you have," Reznor told the court.^[58] Malm's lawyers, however, claimed that Malm had worked for years "pro bono", and that Reznor's inability to release an album or tour and his uninhibited spending were the reasons for Reznor's financial situation.^[59]

After a three week trial in 2005, jurors sided with Reznor, awarding him upwards of $2.95 million and returning to him complete control of his trademarks.^[58] After adjustment for inflation, Reznor's award rose to nearly $5 million.^[57]

Independence from major record labels[link]

Following the release of Year Zero, Reznor announced later that Nine Inch Nails had split from its contractual obligations with Interscope Records, and would distribute its next major albums independently. The last Nine Inch Nails release on Interscope was Year Zero Remixed, based on material from Year Zero.^[60]

Criticism of the music industry[link]

In May 2007, Reznor made a post on the official Nine Inch Nails website condemning Universal Music Group—the parent company of the band's record label, Interscope Records—for their pricing and distribution plans for Nine Inch Nails' 2007 album Year Zero.^[61] He labeled the company's retail pricing of Year Zero in Australia as "ABSURD," concluding that "as a reward for being a 'true fan' you get ripped off". Reznor went on to say that as "the climate grows more and more desperate for record labels, their answer to their mostly self-inflicted wounds seems to be to screw the consumer over even more."^[62] Reznor's post, specifically his criticism of the recording industry at large, elicited considerable media attention.^[63] In September 2007, Reznor continued his attack on Universal Music Group at a concert in Australia, urging fans there to "steal" his music online instead of purchasing it legally.^[64] Reznor went on to encourage the crowd to "steal and steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealin'."^[65]

Musical style and influence[link]

Reznor is a fan of David Bowie, and has cited Bowie's 1977 album Low as one of his favorite albums. Reznor has stated that he played the album constantly during the recording of The Downward Spiral for inspiration.^[10] In 1995, Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie toured as a co-headlining act on the Outside Tour. Reznor also appeared in Bowie's video for "I'm Afraid of Americans", cast as Bowie's stalker. Reznor also made several remixes for the single release of the same song, as well as a remix of "The Hearts Filthy Lesson".^[66] Reznor also states in the 2010 documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage that the band Rush had played a major part in his childhood influences. He also stated that he considered Rush to be "one of the best bands ever" and had gained a perspective on how keyboards could be introduced into hard rock after listening to their 1982 album Signals. Reznor also stated "Freddie Mercury's death meant more to me than John Lennon's" and covered Queen's "Get Down Make Love", which was produced by Paul Barker & Al Jourgensen of Ministry and released on the single for "Sin". In many interviews in Musician, Spin, and Alternative Press, Reznor mentioned The Cars, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Soft Cell,^[67] Prince, Gary Numan, and The Cure's 1985 album, The Head on the Door, as important influences. In a radio interview, Reznor stated the first song he ever wrote "Down in It" was a "total rip-off" of the Skinny Puppy song "Dig It."^[68]

Reznor's work as Nine Inch Nails has influenced many newer artists, which according to Reznor range from "generic imitations" dating from the band's initial success to younger bands echoing his style in a "truer, less imitative way".^[69] Following the release of The Downward Spiral, mainstream artists began to take notice of Nine Inch Nails' influence: David Bowie compared NIN's impact to that of The Velvet Underground.^[70] In 1997, Reznor appeared in Time magazine's list of the year's most influential people, and Spin magazine described him as "the most vital artist in music."^[4] Bob Ezrin, producer for Pink Floyd, Kiss, Alice Cooper, and Peter Gabriel, described Reznor in 2007 as a "true visionary" and advised aspiring artists to take note of his no-compromise attitude.^[71] During a rare appearance at the Kerrang! Awards in London that year, Reznor accepted the Kerrang! Icon, honoring Nine Inch Nails' long-standing influence on rock music.^[72] Steven Wilson of progressive rock band Porcupine Tree has stated that he much admires Reznor's production work, in particular The Fragile. Timbaland, one of pop music's most successful producers in recent years, has cited Reznor as his favorite studio producer.^[73]

Personal life[link]

During the five years following the release of The Downward Spiral (1994), Reznor struggled with depression, social anxiety disorder, and the death of his grandmother, who raised him. During this period of intense grief, Reznor began abusing alcohol and other drugs. He eventually became addicted to alcohol and cocaine.^[74] Five years elapsed before Nine Inch Nails' next album, The Fragile, a double CD that debuted in September 1999 at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 228,000 copies in its first week and receiving favorable reviews.^[75]

In 2001, Reznor successfully completed rehab, and eventually moved from New Orleans to Los Angeles. In a 2005 interview with Kerrang!, Reznor reflected on his self-destructive past: "There was a persona that had run its course. I needed to get my priorities straight, my head screwed on. Instead of always working, I took a couple of years off, just to figure out who I was and working out if I wanted to keep doing this or not. I had become a terrible addict; I needed to get my shit together, figure out what had happened".^[22] In contrast with his former suicidal tendencies, Reznor also admitted in another interview that he is "pretty happy".^[76] Nine Inch Nails' next full-length album, With Teeth (2005), reached number one on Billboard 200.^[77][78]

Reznor married Mariqueen Maandig in October 2009.^[79] Their son, Lazarus Echo, was born in October 2010^[80] and they are currently expecting another child.^[81]

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

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• Official website

Bela George Lugosi also known as Bela Lugosi, Jr. (b. 1938) is the son of Béla Lugosi. A California attorney, his legal actions in Lugosi v. Universal Pictures, led to the creation of the California Celebrities Rights Act.

He was also an executive at Comedy III Productions, which owned the licensing rights to The Three Stooges.^[1][2]

Bela Lugosi, Jr. has been among those who felt notorious filmmaker Edward D. Wood, Jr. exploit his father's stardom, taking advantage of the fading actor when he could not refuse any work.^[3] Most documents and interviews with other Wood associates in Nightmare of Ecstasy suggest that Wood and Lugosi were genuine friends and that Wood helped Lugosi through the worst days of his depression and drug addiction.

References[link]