Bram
Stoker’s immortal vampire, Dracula -- originally a symbol of colonialist
blow-black and a Romantic response to Enlightenment -- has been a regular
character and also a regular menace on cult-television programming for several
decades.
Francis
Lederer played the Count in the 1971 Night Gallery (1969 – 1973) story “The
Devil is Not Mocked.” In this unusual tale, Nazi soldiers are billeted in
Dracula’s castle during World War II, and soon taught a lesson in the true
nature of evil.
A
wax museum version of Count Dracula, replete with his memories and brought to
life by “oscillating vibrations” appeared in the Saturday morning series Monster
Squad (1976). This version of Dracula (Henry Polic II) was a superhero,
essentially, teamed with the Frankenstein Monster and The Wolf Man.
Lorne
Greene, of all people guest-starred as the Transylvanian menace in a two part
episode of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew
Mysteries, in 1977’s “The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula.”
In
1979, Michael Nouri portrayed Dracula for ten episodes of “The Curse of Dracula,”
a regular segment of the short-lived NBC series Cliffhangers. Here, Dracula was
alive and well in the late 20th century, working as a professor of
European history at San Francisco’s Southbay College. Alas, Dracula was being hunted by the
grandson of his old nemesis, Van Helsing, and the key to destroying this
vampire was burning all twenty of his coffins, which were hidden around the
city.
Geordie
Johnson played a yuppie version of Dracula, Alexander Lucard, in the syndicated
Dracula: The Series (1990). The
show was filmed in Luxembourg and ran for twenty-one, half-hour episodes. It pitted the business magnate
against a trio of meddling kids.
In
the fifth season premiere of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997 – 2003), Dracula
(Rudolf Martin) unexpectedly showed up in Sunnydale, enslaved Xander (as a
Renfield substitute) and romanced the Chosen One. Until she staked him.
In
2013, Jonathan Rhys-Meyer took on the role of Stoker’s count in NBC’s Dracula. Here, Dracula went under the name of
Alexander Grayson, and arrived in London to take revenge upon his family’s
enemies but ended up finding Mina, the reincarnation of his lost love. The
series was canceled by NBC after one season, but Netflix is producing a second
season.
I don't know how many people have seen it in the States, but I have to put in a word for Louis Jourdan in Count Dracula, made by the BBC in 1977. It's surely the best attempt on film or TV to stay close to the book.
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