Highlander is a 1986 fantasy action film directed by Russell Mulcahy and based on a story by Gregory Widen. It stars Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, Clancy Brown, and Roxanne Hart. The film depicts the climax of an ages-old battle between immortal warriors, depicted through interwoven past and present day storylines. Despite having enjoyed little success in its initial U.S. release, the cult film launched Lambert to stardom and inspired a franchise that included film sequels, television spin-offs, and an upcoming remake. The film's tagline, "There can be only one," has carried on throughout the franchise, as have the songs provided for the film by Queen.

Plot[link]

This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (February 2012)

The film begins with a voiceover establishing the film as the story of the immortals fighting to the death for centuries. In the present day, Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert), the Highlander, attends a wrestling match at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In the arena's parking garage, Connor is confronted by Iman Fasil (Peter Diamond), and after a lengthy sword duel, decapitates him, upon which an energy surge destroys several cars around him. He hides his sword and attempts to flee, but is arrested by the police, who take him in for questioning.

The story goes back hundreds of years to the Scottish Highlands of the 1500s, where we see Connor and his clan, the Clan MacLeod, getting ready to go into battle. He has some battle-weary friends and a girlfriend. Having failed to get information from Connor, the police are forced to let him go. One of the detectives involved, Brenda (Roxanne Hart), is an expert in metallurgy, and recognises Fasil's sword as a historical artifact, probably worth over a million dollars. Later Connor returns to the garage to retrieve his own sword, but sees Brenda is looking at the crime scene. She finds some metal shards embedded in a nearby concrete column and saves them for analysis.

The scene returns to the Highlands, where the Kurgan (Clancy Brown) assists the clan Murdoch against the Clan MacLeod in exchange for the sole rights to Connor. The battle begins, and the frightened Connor soon finds that all the Murdoch clansmen avoid him, clearing the way for the Kurgan. In the resulting confrontation, the Kurgan stabs Connor before he can strike a single blow, but is driven off by the MacLeod clansmen before he can finish him. Connor is taken back to the village, but is so badly wounded that everyone assumes that he is going to die. When he makes a remarkable overnight recovery, the village becomes convinced that it is the work of the devil, and they prepare to burn him at the stake. To save him from the angry mob, the clan leader stops the burning and exiles him.

In the present, Connor, living under the alias Russell Nash, is a wealthy antiquities dealer, with a middle-aged adoptive daughter, Rachel (Sheila Gish), whom he had rescued from the Nazis during World War II, working as his assistant. Later the Kurgan, bearing a hideous scar on his neck and calling himself Victor Kruger, drives into the city and takes up residence at a seedy motel. Connor tails Brenda to a bar, where they strike up a conversation, but she leaves quickly. She attempts to tail Connor when he follows, but the Kurgan attacks both. The brief fight is interrupted by a police helicopter, and everybody flees. Brenda has analyzed the metal fragments and discovered them to be extremely unusual. She makes a date with Connor in an attempt to entrap him: she has a cassette recorder hidden in a drawer and also has a gun just in case. Connor recognises the ruse, tells her to stop digging and leaves.

The Connor of the past lives an idyllic but isolated life with his wife Heather. One day the mysterious Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez (Sean Connery) appears, and soon begins training Connor in the art of sword fighting. He explains that they both belong to a race of immortals, who constantly fight one another, but can only be killed by complete decapitation. When one immortal decapitates another, the winner receives a transfer of power called "the quickening." Eventually all the immortals must do battle until there is only one left; the last survivor will receive "the Prize." Ramirez tells Connor that the Kurgan, the strongest of the immortals, must not achieve the Prize, or mankind will enter an age of darkness. One night while Connor is away, the Kurgan shows up and attacks Ramirez. A fierce battle ensues, but Ramirez, after giving the Kurgan his signature scar, is overmatched and decapitated. The Kurgan receives the quickening and rapes Heather, mistaking her for Ramirez's spouse.

In Central Park, Connor meets a long-time friend, fellow immortal Kastigir (Hugh Quarshie). They talk about the impending gathering of immortals which precedes the final battle, and joke about old times. In flashback, a drunken Connor engages an insulted nobleman in a duel, and in a humorous situation, is repeatedly stabbed but continues to rise and continue the fight. Connor eventually concedes defeat and apologizes to the nobleman for insulting his wife. Brenda has by now discovered that Connor has been alive for centuries, living under false identities, faking his death every few decades, signing his assets over to children who had died at birth, and assuming their identities. She confronts Connor, who demonstrates his immortality by stabbing himself in the stomach. After this revelation Brenda and Connor become lovers, although Connor is reluctant, following a flashback in which Connor's wife, Heather, dies of old age in his arms. Ramirez has earlier explained that immortals cannot have children and should not get romantically involved, because they will always outlive their mortal partners.

The Kurgan kills Kastigir and confronts Connor in a church, but they hold off from fighting as immortals are not permitted to do battle on holy ground. He gloats about killing Ramirez and raping Heather, which she had not revealed to Connor. When he finds out about Connor's relationship with Brenda, he kidnaps her to draw Connor out. After a climactic fight, Connor defeats and beheads the Kurgan and receives the Prize, which manifests itself as a massive quickening. Now mortal and capable of having children, Connor moves back to Scotland with Brenda, and prepares to live out his life with her. With the Prize, Connor has awareness of the thoughts of all the people around the world, and the ability to exert some influence, which he uses to encourage cooperation and peace.

Cast[link]

Production[link]

Conception[link]

Gregory Widen wrote the script to Highlander, which he then titled Shadow Clan, as a class assignment while he was an undergraduate in the screenwriting program at UCLA. Widen sold the script for US$200,000.

According to William Panzer, joint producer with Peter S. Davis of the Highlander franchise:

Widen's original draft differed significantly from the movie version. It's darker and more violent. Connor is born in 1408 rather than 1518. He lives with his mother and father. Heather doesn't exist; Connor is promised to a girl named Mara, who rejects him when she learns he's immortal. Connor leaves his village instead of being banished. His alias is Richard Tupin and his weapon is a custom broadsword. Ramirez is a Spaniard born in 1100 instead of an ancient Egyptian born more than two thousand years earlier. The Kurgan is known as the Knight, using the alias Carl William Smith. He is not a savage, but a cold-blooded killer. Brenda is Brenna Cartwright.

Other elements were changed during the rewrite. Initially, immortals could have children; in the draft Connor is said to have had 37. In a flashback in the first draft, Connor attends the funeral of one of his sons. His wife (in her 70s) and his two sons, who are in their mid 50s, see him revealed as an immortal. Also, there are no quickenings in the first draft. When an immortal kills another, nothing special occurs. Nor is there mention of a "prize". When Connor finally kills the Knight, he feels a sharp burning pain. We are not told if he remains immortal.

Filming[link]

Eilean Donan Castle

Filming began in April 1985 and ended August 30, 1985.^[2] It took place in Scotland, England, and New York City.^[3]

Director Russell Mulcahy filmed it using music video techniques including fast cutting and pacy music.^[4]

Director of photography Arthur Smith actually filmed the scene in which fish fall out of MacLeod's kilt, but Lambert's kilt proved to be too short. Smith said, "I stuck part of a drain pipe above Chris's kilt out of camera range, and fed live trout down the tube." Smith also had difficulties shooting MacLeod meeting the Kurgan. It was raining that day and the crew had to use umbrellas and hair dryers to prevent water from hitting the camera lenses and appearing on the film. Smith also remembered that Lambert, who was near-sighted, "kept forgetting to take off his glasses as he came over the hill on his horse."^[5]

The filming of the parking garage scene took place in two different places. According to New York location manager Brett Botula, "the garage exterior is Manhattan, across from Madison Square Garden, and the interior is 'somewhere in London.'"^[6] The pro-wrestling match in the opening scene featured The Fabulous Freebirds vs. Greg Gagne, Jim Brunzell and The Tonga Kid.^[7]

The scene where the MacLeod clan sets off to battle is supposed to take place "in the village of Glenfinnan, on the shore of Loch Shiel" in the Lochaber area, but was actually filmed at Eilean Donan Castle, which is in the same general area but is really on the shore of Loch Duich, a sea loch near Kyle of Lochalsh and the Isle of Skye.

According to the DVD commentary, the film's climax was originally intended to take place on top of the Statue of Liberty. Then it was changed to an amusement park and finally changed to the rooftop of the Silvercup Studios building.^[3] The opening sequence was originally intended to take place during an NHL hockey game. But the NHL refused to allow the crew to film there because they were intending to emphasize the violence of the match.^[3]

The church scene involving The Kurgan was filmed at St Augustines in London at night with the permission of the priests in charge. Still, Brown's lines were ad-libbed, and they were reportedly considered so sacrilegious that the priests off-camera were making the sign of the cross as he said them.^{[citation needed]}

The scene in the alley where the Kurgan beheads Kastagir and then stabs the ex-Marine, followed by an explosion, was filmed in an alley in England even though it was set in New York. The director was reluctant to set off the explosion in the alley because the windows were full of Victorian glass, but he was given permission to do so because that particular site was going to be destroyed in a few months anyway.^{[citation needed]}

All of Sean Connery's scenes had to be filmed in a single week due to Connery's hectic schedule. Still, during the filming of the movie, Connery and Lambert got along even better than their onscreen counterparts, even going as far as to call each other by their characters' names when not filming. The two were (and continue to be) such good friends that Lambert threatened to back out of the sequel unless Connery's character was added to the film.^{[citation needed]} The opening voice-over by Connery has an echo effect because it was recorded in his Spanish villa bathroom. It was played for the producers over the phone and they approved of it because they could not discern the quality of the recording that way.^[3]

Soundtrack[link]

The original orchestral score was composed by Michael Kamen and the soundtrack includes several songs by Queen, such as "Hammer to Fall" and "Princes of the Universe," which was also used in the Highlander television series title sequence.^[8] Queen wrote many of the songs specifically to match the mood of the scenes when the songs play, notably Brian May's "Who Wants to Live Forever," concerning the doomed love of Connor and his wife Heather.

While no albums specifically tied to the Highlander movie were ever released, Queen's 1986 album A Kind of Magic features most of the songs from the film, although sometimes in different arrangements. Part of Michael Kamen's score was played during the New Line Cinema logo before their movies in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Deleted and abandoned scenes[link]

A duel sequence that introduced an Asian immortal named Yung Dol Kim was cut from the film. The footage for the scene, along with certain other deleted scenes, was later destroyed by fire, although a few stills from the sequence, some in colour and others in black and white, survived. Other deleted, and subsequently lost, moments include a scene of Connor, Kastagir and Bedsoe partying at a bar and one in which Connor shows Brenda his katana after sex.

In the scene following Connor beheading the Kurgan, director Russell Mulcahy had originally envisioned an animated dragon with the Kurgan's battle helmet emerging from his decapitated body and challenging Connor again. Only after Connor had defeated this ghost-dragon would he have received the final quickening and subsequent Prize. This idea was eventually cut due to budget constraints.^{[citation needed]}

Alternate versions[link]

The European version of the film contained scenes not found in the American version. The director's cut is based upon this version, and it runs eight minutes longer than the US version.^[9] The additional scenes include:^[10]

• MacLeod having a short flashback about his first battle in Scotland during the wrestling match
• A longer fight scene between Connor and Fasil, mainly Fasil doing backflips through the garage
• A scene showing Connor's first love, Kate, bringing him flowers before he goes to battle
• A flashback to World War II that further develops the character of Rachel Ellenstein
• Longer sex scene between Connor and Brenda
• A scene where the Kurgan can be seen in the background trailing MacLeod and Brenda at the zoo
• Much longer fight scene between MacLeod and the Kurgan at the end of the movie

There are several changes in dialogue from the theatrical version:

• Whooshing sounds whenever one Immortal senses another
• When Connor and Ramirez jump into the water during training, Ramirez (in the theatrical version) shouts, "MacLeod, this is the Quickening!"
• When Connor is talking about the 1783 bottle of wine (in the theatrical version), after he says, "Brandy, bottled in 1783", Brenda's head can be seen moving but she speaks no dialogue. In the new release, she says, "Wow, that's old."
• After Connor wins the Prize and is being comforted by Brenda (in the theatrical version), he looks up and says, "I want to go home." This is missing in the new release.

The new release is also missing a short scene of Detective Bedsoe spilling coffee on himself while staking out Brenda's apartment.^[11]

The French theatrical version of Highlander is mainly the same version as the US theatrical. It includes the World War II flashback but it removes the interior shot of Detective Bedsoe in his car while on a stakeout. This has been issued on 2-disc and 3-disc DVD sets in France with French dialog only.^{[citation needed]}

Release and reception[link]

Upon initial U.S. release, it was not well-received, but it gained wide and persistent popularity in Europe and on other markets, as well as on home video. It has since obtained status as a cult classic film in both domestic and non-domestic markets, leading to four sequels, a television series, and various other spin-offs.

The movie made $2,453,021 on its opening weekend and ended up making $5,735,847 domestically.^[2] Internationally, the movie made $12,885,193.^[2]

Highlander currently holds a 67% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 30 reviews.^[12]

Danél Griffin of Film as Art awarded the film four stars (out of four), saying: "The key to Highlander's success is in its approach to its subject matter. What could have been a premise that breathes cliché is given a fresh approach due to Mulcahy’s unique directing style and a cleverly-written script. [...] Highlander is certainly a classic film that will continue to be cherished and watched as the world of movie making continues to grow and change. It is a triumphant example of the art of cinema, and watching it reminds us all of why we like going to the movies in the first place."^[13] Christopher Null of FilmCritic.com gave the film four and a half stars out of five, writing: "Highlander has no equal among sword-and-sorcery flicks."^[14] Null later called Highlander "the greatest action film ever made," saying that it features "awesome swordfights, an awesome score, and a time-bending plotline that only a philistine could dislike."^[15]

Matt Ford of the BBC gave the film three stars out of five, writing: "From the moody, rain-soaked, noir-ish streets of late 20th century America to the wild open spaces of medieval Scotland, Mulcahy plunders movie history to set off his visceral fight scenes with suitably rugged locations. [...] What the film loses through ham acting, weak narrative, and pompous macho posturing it more than compensates with in sheer fiery bravado, pace, and larger than life action."^[16] Dean Winkelspecht of DVD Town also gave Highlander three stars out of five, writing: "The film's slow pace and dated look will turn away many a new viewer [...] However, there is a certain appeal to the film that brings back many for a second or third helping. I have learned to appreciate the film over the years, [and] the film's story is unique and entertaining."^[17]

Also giving the film three stars out of five, Adam Tyner of DVD Talk wrote, "The screenplay spots a number of intelligent, creative ideas, and I find the very concept of displacing the sword-and-sorcery genre to then-modern-day New York City to be fairly inventive. The dialogue and performances don't quite match many of the film's concepts, though. The tone seems somewhat uneven, as if Highlander is unsure if it wants to be seen as a straight adventure epic or if it's a campy action flick."^[11] IGN, awarding Highlander a score of 8 out of 10, wrote: "This 80s classic has a lot going for it. The hardcore MTV manner in which it was filmed is common these days, but was groundbreaking then. This movie features some of the best scene transitions committed to celluloid. [...] To this is added some fun performances by Connery and especially Clancy Brown."^[10]

Leonard Maltin gave the film one and a half stars: "Interesting premise made silly and boring... Former rock video director Mulcahy's relentlessly showy camera moves may cause you to reach for the Dramamine."^[18]

Home video[link]

The video was a hit in the United States.^[19] The theatrical release of Highlander II: The Quickening in 1991 significantly increased the rental activity on Highlander even though the sequel was not a box-office success.^[20] Highlander was first released to DVD in the United States in 1997, in a "10th Anniversary Edition" Director's Cut that contained the international uncut version of the film.^[10] A "15th Anniversary" edition was released in Australia in 2001, which also contained the International cut of the film.^[21] Highlander was again released in 2002 in two editions: a special edition "Immortal Edition" with several extra features and a standard edition, both of which contain the International uncut version.^[22] On the June 17, 2009 French distributor StudioCanal issued the film on Blu-ray^[23] with identical releases following in Germany,^[24] UK,^[25] Holland, Australia and Japan.^[26] The U.S. director's cut is currently available on DVD in North America from Lionsgate under license from the film's current owner, StudioCanal. 20th Century Fox, the theatrical distributor, remains the television rights holder.

Novelization[link]

A novelization of the film was written by Gary Kilworth. It expanded more on the movie by telling how the Kurgan met his first death, his training with an Immortal Arab known as "The Bedouin," whom he eventually kills. The novel also reveals how the Kurgan gets his customized broadsword and his battle with an Immortal Mongol before meeting MacLeod in 1536.

Related plagiarism[link]

Marie-Pier Côté, a 12-year old Canadian, published a novel called Laura l'immortelle. On March 13, 2007 the French-language newspaper La Presse published an article noting a list of similarities between Laura l'immortelle and Highlander.^[27] Côté later admitted that the story was a plagiarized Highlander fan fiction originally written by a Frenchman.^[28][29]

Remake[link]

On March 2008, Summit Entertainment announced that it had bought the film rights to the Highlander franchise and is remaking the 1986 original movie. Originally Iron Man writers Art Marcum and Matt Holloway were writing the script, but Summit Entertainment turned to Melissa Rosenberg to write it instead, with release scheduled for 2011.^[30][31][32] In September 2009, Fast & Furious director Justin Lin was announced as director of the film,^[33] while Neal H. Moritz was slated to co-produce. As of 2011, release had been pushed back to 2014. As of the middle of May of 2012, Ryan Reynolds was slated to play the titular character.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Highlander (film)

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Highlander (film)

• Highlander at AllRovi
• Highlander at Box Office Mojo
• Highlander at the Internet Movie Database
• Highlander at Rotten Tomatoes

v t e Films directed by Russell Mulcahy 1970s Derek and Clive Get the Horn (1979) 1980s Razorback (1984) Arena (An Absurd Notion) (1985) As the Lights Go Down (1985) Highlander (1986) 1990s Highlander II: The Quickening (1991) Ricochet (1991) Blue Ice (1992) The Real McCoy (1993) The Shadow (1994) Silent Trigger (1996) Tale of the Mummy (1998) Resurrection (1999) 2000s On the Beach (2000) The Lost Battalion (2001) 1st to Die (2003) Swimming Upstream (2003) 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story (2004) Mysterious Island (2005) The Curse of King Tut's Tomb (2006) While the Children Sleep (2007) Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior (2008) Prayers for Bobby (2009) Give 'Em Hell, Malone (2009) Book:Russell Mulcahy

Look up highlander in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Highlander may refer to:

In regional cultures[link]

• Highlander, a person from the Scottish Highlands
• Highlander, person from the Scottish Gaelic culture of Gàidhealtachd in the Scottish highlands and islands
• The Górale, lit. "Highlanders", a culture in southern Poland and northern Slovakia
• Montañés, lit. "Highlanders", a term sometimes used for a person from Cantabria in northern Spain
• The Merina, an ethnic group from the central plateau of Madagascar
• Highlander, a term sometimes used by Ethiopian and Eritrean lowlanders for a person from the Ethiopian Highlands
• Highlanders (Russian: горцы) are a coupola Russian term for the people of the North Caucasus, who originally lived in mountains (Adyghe, or Circassians, Balkars, Chechens, Ingush, Karachays, Ossetians, Daghestani peoples; sometimes include Highlander subgroups of Georgians, such as Svans and Khevsurs)
• Malsor, lit. "Highlander" is a term used for a person from Malësia e Madhe (Great Highlands) in Albania
• Highlanders, or "Southern Highlanders," sometimes used to denote the mountain people of Southern Appalachia in the eastern United States

In schools[link]

• Highlander Research and Education Center, a leadership training school and cultural center located in Tennessee, known for its support of the labor and civil rights movements

In publications[link]

• The Highlander, a book written by James Macpherson
• The Highlander (newspaper), a Gaelic language political newspaper based in Scotland
• The Highlander, a newspaper based in Marble Falls, Texas
• The Highlander, a newspaper based in Highlands, North Carolina
• The Highlander, the student newspaper of the University of California, Riverside
• The Highlander, the student newspaper of Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas

In the media[link]

• Highlander (franchise), a franchise of films, television series and other media, including:
  • Films:
    • Highlander (film), the first film
    • Highlander II: The Quickening, the second film
    • Highlander III: The Final Dimension, the third film, also known as "Highlander III: The Sorcerer"
    • Highlander: Endgame, the fourth film
    • Highlander: The Source, film spin-off of the television series
    • Highlander: The Reckoning, a franchise reboot film
  • Television series:
    • Highlander: The Series, a spin-off television series based on the film
    • Highlander: The Raven, a spin-off television series based on the previous series
    • Highlander: The Animated Series
  • Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, a spin-off animated film
  • Highlander novels and comic books
  • Games:
    • Highlander (video game), a one-on-one sword fighting ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 game
    • Highlander: The Last of the MacLeods, a video game for the Atari Jaguar CD
    • Highlander: The Card Game, a collectable card game originally produced by Thunder Castle Games, reintroduced by Le Montagnard Inc.
    • Highlander: The Game, a canceled video game based on the Highlander franchise

In the military[link]

• Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons), a regiment of the British Army's Scottish Division
• The Highland regiments, a repertoire of regiments formed of or following Highlander Regiments tradition
• HMS Highlander (H44), a Royal Navy H-Class Destroyer that served in World War II

In sports[link]

• Radford Highlanders, the sports teams (most of which compete at the NCAA Division 1 level), fans, students and alumni of Radford University, in southwest Virginia, US
• Highland Football League one of three senior non-league football (soccer) leagues in Scotland
• Highlanders (rugby), a rugby union team in based in Dunedin, New Zealand that participates in the Super 15 competition
• The Highlanders (professional wrestling), a tag team in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)
• Highlanders F.C., a Zimbabwean football (soccer) club
• NJIT Highlanders, the teams (NCAA Division 1 level), students, alumnae/alumni and fans of the New Jersey Institute of Technology
• The New York Highlanders, a baseball team which would later become the New York Yankees
• University of California, Riverside Highlanders, who sports teams compete in NCAA Division 1 (Big West Conference)
• The Highlander Mountain Marathon, an annual two day orienteering event in Scotland
• High school, preparatory and other secondary schools
  • Heathwood Hall Episcopal School
  • Herricks High School
  • Homestead High School (Mequon, Wisconsin)
  • LHPS Highlanders, the athletics teams fielded by Lake Highland Preparatory School
  • MacArthur High School (Lawton, Oklahoma)
  • Thomas McKean High School, Wilmington, Delaware
  • Northwestern Regional High School
  • Oak Hills High School
  • Rochester Adams High School
  • West Morris Central High School

In vehicles[link]

• AirLony Highlander, a Czech ultralight biplane
• Toyota Highlander, a sport utility vehicle
• H1ghlander, an autonomous vehicle created by Carnegie Mellon University's Red Team for the DARPA Grand Challenge
• Highlander, a dinghy class sailboat manufactured by Allen Boat Company

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Bram Stoker
Photograph of Stoker ca. 1906
Born	Abraham Stoker (1847-11-08)8 November 1847 Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland
Died	20 April 1912(1912-04-20) (aged 64) London, England
Occupation	Novelist
Nationality	Irish
Citizenship	British
Period	Victorian era, Edwardian Era
Genres	Gothic, Romantic Fiction
Literary movement	Victorian
Notable work(s)	Dracula
Spouse(s)	Florence Balcombe
Children	Irving Noel Thornley Stoker
Relative(s)	father: Abraham Stoker mother: Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornley
Influences John Polidori, Sheridan Le Fanu
Influenced Stephen King, Anne Rice, Miroslav Šustek
Signature
www.bramstoker.org

Abraham "Bram" Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912) was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula. During his lifetime, he was better known as personal assistant of actor Henry Irving and business manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London, which Irving owned.

Early life[link]

Stoker was born on 8 November 1847 at 15 Marino Crescent, Clontarf, on the northside of Dublin, Ireland.^[1][2] His parents were Abraham Stoker (1799–1876), from Dublin, and Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornley (1818–1901), who came from Ballyshannon, County Donegal. Stoker was the third of seven children.^[3] Abraham and Charlotte were members of the Church of Ireland Parish of Clontarf and attended the parish church with their children, who were baptised there.

Stoker was bed-ridden until he started school at the age of seven, when he made a complete recovery. Of this time, Stoker wrote, "I was naturally thoughtful, and the leisure of long illness gave opportunity for many thoughts which were fruitful according to their kind in later years." He was educated in a private school run by the Rev. William Woods.^[4]

After his recovery, he grew up without further major health issues, even excelling as an athlete (he was named University Athlete) at Trinity College, Dublin, which he attended from 1864 to 1870. He graduated with honours in mathematics. He was auditor of the College Historical Society and president of the University Philosophical Society, where his first paper was on "Sensationalism in Fiction and Society".

Early career[link]

Stoker became interested in the theatre while a student through a friend, Dr. Maunsell. He became the theatre critic for the Dublin Evening Mail, co-owned by the author of Gothic tales Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. Theatre critics were held in low esteem but he attracted notice by the quality of his reviews. In December 1876 he gave a favourable review of Henry Irving's Hamlet at the Theatre Royal in Dublin. Irving invited Stoker for dinner at the Shelbourne Hotel, where he was staying. They became friends. Stoker also wrote stories, and in 1872 "The Crystal Cup" was published by the London Society, followed by "The Chain of Destiny" in four parts in The Shamrock. In 1876, while a civil servant in Dublin, Stoker wrote a non-fiction book (The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland, published 1879), which remained a standard work .^[4] Furthermore, he possessed an interest in art, and was a founder of the Dublin Sketching Club in 1874.^[5]

Lyceum Theatre and later career[link]

In 1878 Stoker married Florence Balcombe, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel James Balcombe of 1 Marino Crescent. She was a celebrated beauty whose former suitor was Oscar Wilde.^[6] Stoker had known Wilde from his student days, having proposed him for membership of the university’s Philosophical Society while he was president. Wilde was upset at Florence's decision, but Stoker later resumed the acquaintanceship, and after Wilde's fall visited him on the Continent.^[7]

The Stokers moved to London, where Stoker became acting manager and then business manager of Irving's Lyceum Theatre, London, a post he held for 27 years. On 31 December 1879, Bram and Florence's only child was born, a son whom they christened Irving Noel Thornley Stoker. The collaboration with Irving was important for Stoker and through him he became involved in London's high society, where he met James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (to whom he was distantly related). Working for Irving, the most famous actor of his time, and managing one of the most successful theatres in London made Stoker a notable if busy man. He was dedicated to Irving and his memoirs show he idolised him. In London Stoker also met Hall Caine who became one of his closest friends - he dedicated Dracula to him.

In the course of Irving's tours, Stoker travelled the world, although he never visited Eastern Europe, a setting for his most famous novel. Stoker enjoyed the United States, where Irving was popular. With Irving he was invited twice to the White House, and knew William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. Stoker set two of his novels there, using Americans as characters, the most notable being Quincey Morris. He also met one of his literary idols, Walt Whitman.

The first edition cover of Dracula

Writings[link]

While manager for Irving, and secretary and director of London's Lyceum Theatre, he began writing novels beginning with The Snake's Pass in 1890 and Dracula in 1897. During this period, Stoker was part of the literary staff of the London Daily Telegraph and wrote other fiction, including the horror novels The Lady of the Shroud (1909) and The Lair of the White Worm (1911).^[8] In 1906, after Irving's death, he published his life of Irving, which proved successful,^[4] and managed productions at the Prince of Wales Theatre.

Before writing Dracula, Stoker spent several years researching European folklore and mythological stories of vampires. Dracula is an epistolary novel, written as a collection of realistic, but completely fictional, diary entries, telegrams, letters, ship's logs, and newspaper clippings, all of which added a level of detailed realism to his story, a skill he developed as a newspaper writer.

At the time of its publication, Dracula was considered a "straightforward horror novel" based on imaginary creations of supernatural life.^[8] "It gave form to a universal fantasy . . . and became a part of popular culture."^[8]

According to the Encyclopedia of World Biography, Stoker's stories are today included within the categories of "horror fiction," "romanticized Gothic" stories, and "melodrama."^[8] They are classified alongside other "works of popular fiction" such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein^[9]:394 which, according to historian Jules Zanger, also used the "myth-making" and story-telling method of having "multiple narrators" telling the same tale from different perspectives. "'They can't all be lying,' thinks the reader."^[10]

The original 541-page manuscript of Dracula, believed to have been lost, was found in a barn in northwestern Pennsylvania during the early 1980s.^[11] It included the typed manuscript with many corrections, and handwritten on the title page was "THE UN-DEAD." The author's name was shown at the bottom as Bram Stoker. Author Robert Latham notes, "the most famous horror novel ever published, its title changed at the last minute."^[9]. It now is owned by a private art collector, Paul Allen.

Stoker's inspirations for the story, in addition to Whitby, may have included a visit to Slains Castle in Aberdeenshire, a visit to the crypts of St. Michan's Church in Dublin and the novella Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.^[12]

Stoker's original research notes for the novel are kept by the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia, PA. A facsimile edition of the notes was created by Elizabeth Miller and Robert Eighteen-Bisang in 1998.

Death[link]

In Golders Green

After suffering a number of strokes, Stoker died at No. 26 St George's Square on 20 April 1912.^[13] Some biographers attribute the cause of death to tertiary syphilis.^[14] He was cremated, and his ashes placed in a display urn at Golders Green Crematorium. After Irving Noel Stoker's death in 1961, his ashes were added to that urn. The original plan had been to keep his parents' ashes together, but after Florence Stoker's death her ashes were scattered at the Gardens of Rest. To visit his remains at Golders Green, visitors must be escorted to the room the urn is housed in, for fear of vandalism.

Beliefs and philosophy[link]

Stoker was brought up as a Protestant, in the Church of Ireland. He was a strong supporter of the Liberal party. He took a keen interest in Irish affairs^[4] and was what he called a "philosophical home ruler", believing in Home Rule for Ireland brought about by peaceful means - but as an ardent monarchist he believed that Ireland should remain within the British Empire which he believed was a force for good. He was a great admirer of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone whom he knew personally, and admired his plans for Ireland.^[15]

Stoker had a strong interest in science and medicine and a belief in progress. Some of his novels like The Lady of the Shroud (1909) can be seen as early science fiction.

Stoker had an interest in the occult especially mesmerism, but was also wary of occult fraud and believed strongly that superstition should be replaced by more scientific ideas. In the mid 1890s, Stoker is rumoured to have become a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, though there is no concrete evidence to support this claim.^[16][17][18] One of Stoker's closest friends was J.W. Brodie-Innis, a major figure in the Order, and Stoker himself hired Pamela Coleman Smith, as an artist at the Lyceum Theater.

Posthumous[link]

The short story collection Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories was published in 1914 by Stoker's widow Florence Stoker. The first film adaptation of Dracula was released in 1922 and was named Nosferatu. It was directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau and starred Max Schreck as Count Orlock. Nosferatu was produced while Florence Stoker, Bram Stoker's widow and literary executrix, was still alive. Represented by the attorneys of the British Incorporated Society of Authors, she eventually sued the filmmakers. Her chief legal complaint was that she had been neither asked for permission for the adaptation nor paid any royalty. The case dragged on for some years, with Mrs. Stoker demanding the destruction of the negative and all prints of the film. The suit was finally resolved in the widow's favour in July 1925. Some copies of the film survived, however and the film has become well known. The first authorised film version of Dracula did not come about until almost a decade later when Universal Studios released Tod Browning's Dracula starring Bela Lugosi.

Because of the Stokers' frustrating history with Dracula's copyright, a great-grandnephew of Bram Stoker, Canadian writer Dacre Stoker, with encouragement from screenwriter Ian Holt, decided to write "a sequel that bore the Stoker name" to "reestablish creative control over" the original novel. In 2009, Dracula: The Un-Dead was released, written by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt. Both writers "based [their work] on Bram Stoker's own handwritten notes for characters and plot threads excised from the original edition" along with their own research for the sequel. This also marked Dacre Stoker's writing debut.^[19][20]

In Spring 2012, Dacre Stoker in collaboration with Prof. Elizabeth Miller presented the "lost" Dublin Journal written by Bram Stoker, which had been kept by his great-grandson Noel Dobbs. Stoker's diary entries shed a light on the issues that concerned him before his London years. A remark about a boy who caught flies in a bottle might be a clue for the later development of the Renfield character in Dracula.^[21].

Bibliography[link]

Novels[link]

Bram Stoker Commemorative Plaque, Whitby, England (2002)

• The Primrose Path (1875)
• The Snake's Pass (1890)
• The Watter's Mou' (1895)
• The Shoulder of Shasta (1895)
• Dracula (1897)
• Miss Betty (1898)
• The Mystery of the Sea (1902)
• The Jewel of Seven Stars (1903)
• The Man (aka: The Gates of Life) (1905)
• Lady Athlyne (1908)
• The Lady of the Shroud (1909)
• The Lair of the White Worm (aka: The Garden of Evil) (1911)

Short story collections[link]

• Under the Sunset (1881), comprising eight fairy tales for children.
• Snowbound: The Record of a Theatrical Touring Party (1908)
• Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories (1914)

Uncollected stories[link]

• "The Bridal of Death" (alternate ending to The Jewel of Seven Stars)
• "Buried Treasures"
• "The Chain of Destiny"
• "The Crystal Cup"
• "The Dualitists; or, The Death Doom of the Double Born"
• "Lord Castleton Explains" (chapter 10 of The Fate of Fenella)
• "The Gombeen Man" (chapter 3 of The Snake's Pass)
• "In the Valley of the Shadow"
• "The Man from Shorrox"
• "Midnight Tales"
• "The Red Stockade"
• "The Seer" (chapters 1 and 2 of The Mystery of the Sea)

Non-fiction[link]

• The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland (1879)
• A Glimpse of America (1886)
• Personal Reminiscences of Henry Irving (1906)
• Famous Impostors (1910)
• Bram Stoker's Notes for Dracula: A Facsimile Edition (2008) Bram Stoker Annotated and Transcribed by Robert Eighteen-Bisang and Elizabeth Miller, Foreword by Michael Barsanti. Jefferson NC & London: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3410-7

Critical works on Stoker[link]

• William Hughes, Beyond Dracula (Palgrave, 2000) ISBN 0-312-23136-9 ^[22]

• Belford, Barbara. Bram Stoker. A Biography of the Author of Dracula. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1996.

References and notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bram Stoker

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bram Stoker

• Bram Stoker at the Open Directory Project
• Bram Stoker at the Internet Movie Database
• h2g2 article on Bram Stoker
• Bram Stoker's brief biography and works
• 20 Common Misconceptions and Other Miscellaneous Information
• The Stoker Dracula Organisation
• Gothic and Stoker Studies at Bath Spa University

Online texts[link]

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Bram Stoker

• Works by Bram Stoker at Project Gutenberg Full text versions of some of Stoker's novels.
• Bram Stoker Online Full text and PDF versions of most of Stoker's works.
• Bram Stoker's Dracula Full text of Stoker's novel Dracula.
• Works by Bram Stoker on Open Library at the Internet Archive