Hollywood’s Most Famous Vampire Took His Final Breath at 5620 Harold Way

Bela Lugosi, the actor who forever defined Count Dracula, died inside his Hollywood apartment at 5620 Harold Way on August 16, 1956. Nearly 70 years later, the building still stands.

5620 Harold Way, Los Angeles, CA 90028

There are Hollywood addresses connected to movie history.

Then there are addresses where movie history actually ended.

On August 16, 1956, Bela Lugosi, the Hungarian-born actor whose portrayal of Count Dracula helped define the vampire for generations, was found dead inside his apartment at 5620 Harold Way in Hollywood.

He was 73.

His wife, Hope, returned home that evening and found her husband dead in bed. The Los Angeles Times reported the following morning that Lugosi had died at the Harold Way apartment, apparently from a heart attack.

It was an unexpectedly quiet ending for a man whose face, voice, stare and sweeping black cape had become inseparable from one of the most famous characters in horror history.

And the address where it happened is still there.

5620 Harold Way, Los Angeles, California

Today, 5620 Harold Way is a multifamily residential building in Hollywood.

Current public-record-based property data identifies the building as a 10-unit apartment property constructed in 1955. Property records show approximately 8,292 square feet of building space on a roughly 9,600-square-foot lot. The property last sold in August 2004 for approximately $705,000 and is currently off market.

That construction date is particularly interesting.

If the public records are correct, the building was essentially new when Lugosi lived there. He died the following year.

For someone passing the address today, there is little about the exterior to suggest that one of Hollywood's most recognizable horror legends spent the final chapter of his life here.

But that is exactly what makes individual addresses so fascinating.

A building can change owners. Tenants come and go. Interiors are remodeled. Decades pass.

The history remains.

Before Harold Way, There Was Dracula

To understand why 5620 Harold Way matters, you have to go back to 1931.

Or, more accurately, a few years earlier.

Lugosi had already played Dracula onstage before Universal Pictures brought Bram Stoker's vampire to the screen. The American Film Institute records that Lugosi created the role in the October 5, 1927 American premiere of the stage adaptation of Dracula.

Then came the movie.

Universal's Dracula opened in 1931 with Lugosi as Count Dracula and Tod Browning directing. Universal's own film catalog confirms Lugosi headed a cast that also included Helen Chandler, David Manners, Dwight Frye and Edward Van Sloan.

The role changed horror cinema.

It also changed Lugosi's life.

His deliberate speech, intense stare, formal evening clothes and unmistakable accent became so closely associated with Dracula that much of what audiences now picture when they imagine the sophisticated vampire can be traced back to Lugosi's performance.

The film's importance eventually extended far beyond the horror genre. In 2000, Dracula was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry as a film considered culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.

Lugosi had become immortal on film.

Real life was considerably less forgiving.

More Than Dracula

Although Dracula became the role that defined him, Lugosi's career was much larger than a single movie.

He appeared in White Zombie, The Black Cat, The Raven, Son of Frankenstein and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, among numerous other productions.

He worked alongside another giant of classic horror, Boris Karloff, and later became associated with filmmaker Ed Wood during the final period of his career.

But Dracula followed him everywhere.

It was the role that made him famous, the role audiences expected him to embody and, ultimately, the role that followed him to his grave.

Quite literally.

August 16, 1956

By 1956, Bela Lugosi was living with his fifth wife, Hope, at 5620 Harold Way.

On Thursday, August 16, Hope returned home from work.

Her husband was dead.

The Los Angeles Times reported the next day that Lugosi had died in his apartment at 5620 Harold Way and that his wife found him in bed when she arrived home that evening. He was 73.

Later accounts report that Lugosi died peacefully in his sleep after suffering a heart attack.

For a man whose career had revolved around crypts, castles, monsters and the undead, the reality of his final moments appears to have been remarkably ordinary.

He died at home.

In bed.

Inside an apartment building on Harold Way in Hollywood.

But one last connection to Dracula remained.

Was Bela Lugosi Really Buried as Dracula?

Yes.

But one of the most repeated stories about his burial isn't quite accurate.

Lugosi was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City wearing Dracula attire, including a cape and his Dracula ring.

Over the decades, the story was often repeated that Lugosi himself had requested to be buried as Dracula.

Available accounts indicate otherwise.

Lugosi's son, Bela G. Lugosi, said the decision was made by him and his mother, Lillian, who believed it was what his father would have wanted.

It's a small distinction, but an important one.

The truth may actually be more poignant than the legend.

Lugosi didn't need to make Dracula his final request.

His family already understood how inseparable the actor and the character had become.

The Hollywood Address That Rarely Gets Mentioned

Hollywood has no shortage of famous homes.

Tour buses still pass former residences of actors, musicians and entertainers. Some properties become attractions. Others are demolished, remodeled beyond recognition or given new addresses.

5620 Harold Way is different.

It is still a functioning residential property.

And unless someone knows what they're looking for, there is little reason to give it a second glance.

Yet this ordinary-looking Hollywood address is where one of the most influential figures in horror-film history spent his final hours.

That puts 5620 Harold Way among a much larger collection of Los Angeles properties whose histories extend far beyond their real estate records.

DiedInHouse has documented several of them, including other famous celebrity homes where Hollywood legends died, as well as properties connected to famous entertainers such as Richard Simmons.

Some of those histories are widely known.

Others are waiting to be rediscovered one address at a time.

Would Bela Lugosi's Death Have to Be Disclosed Today?

This is where the story becomes relevant to modern California homebuyers and renters.

Bela Lugosi died at 5620 Harold Way in 1956.

Would someone buying or renting there today automatically be told?

Generally, no.

California Civil Code Section 1710.2 states that the occurrence or manner of an occupant's death is not a material fact that an owner or agent is required to disclose when the death occurred more than three years before the prospective buyer or tenant's offer.

Lugosi's death occurred nearly seven decades ago.

There is another important part of the statute, however.

California law does not protect an owner or agent who intentionally misrepresents the facts when responding to a direct inquiry about deaths on the property.

You can read more about this in our guide to California death disclosure laws and stigmatized properties.

Disclosure rules also differ considerably from state to state. DiedInHouse maintains a broader guide to stigmatized property and death disclosure laws across the United States.

The larger lesson is simple:

Something can be part of a property's documented history without appearing in a real estate listing.

What Would You Find If You Researched Your Address?

That's the question that makes 5620 Harold Way interesting beyond Bela Lugosi.

Imagine looking at an apartment or house without knowing anything about its past.

You tour the property.

You look at the kitchen.

You check the neighborhood.

You research schools, taxes, commute times and comparable sales.

Maybe you pay hundreds of dollars for an inspection.

Maybe you pay hundreds more for an appraisal.

But none of those things necessarily tells you who lived there before you.

Or what happened there.

At 5620 Harold Way, an ordinary property search can lead directly into the history of classic Hollywood and one of cinema's most recognizable characters.

Most addresses aren't connected to Bela Lugosi.

But every address has a history.

Deaths, crimes, fires, previous residents, drug activity, notorious events and other incidents can become part of a property's story without changing how the building looks today.

That's why property-history research can be worth doing before spending hundreds of dollars on inspections and appraisals.

An inspection tells you about the condition of a property.

An appraisal helps tell you what it's worth.

Neither is designed to tell you everything that happened there.

House History First

If you're buying or renting a property, research the address before you become emotionally or financially committed to it.

DiedInHouse.com helps consumers research available information connected to residential and commercial properties, including deaths, crimes, fires, previous residents and other historical events.

Explore more unusual addresses, celebrity homes, stigmatized properties and real estate histories in DiedInHouse Property Insights.

Or research an address at DiedInHouse.com.

Because sometimes the most interesting thing about a property isn't what you can see during the showing.

It's what happened there before you arrived.