Sunday, August 2, 2009

Vampires in stories and novels from Cleveland Plain Dealer

From Cleveland Plain Dealer-LOVE LOVE book lists. Note #3 and the Dallas hotel name change!

"The Vampyre" (1819): John Polidori's story introducing literature's first great vampire, Lord Ruthven.

"Varney the Vampire" (1847): Featuring vampire Sir Francis Varney, James Malcolm Rymer's penny dreadful was the first vampire novel in English.

"Carmilla" (1872): The title vampire of Irish writer Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's story is a woman.

"Dracula" (1897): One of the greatest horror novels of all time, although the name Vlad never appears in the book and Bram Stoker's count looked nothing like Bela Lugosi.

"I Am Legend" (1954): Fantasy legend Richard Matheson consulted scientists and doctors for this novel that provides logical reasons for vampire legends and myths.

"Progeny of the Adder" (1964): Leslie H. Whitten's novel combined a "Dragnet"-like police procedural with the hunt for a vampire terrorizing Washington, D.C.

" 'Salem's Lot" (1975): Stephen King thought if one vampire was scary in "Dracula," a whole town of them would be terrifying for this novel.

"Interview With the Vampire" (1976): Anne Rice creates a literary sensation with the first of her many vampire novels (although the second, "The Vampire Lestat," may be the best of them).

"They Thirst" (1981): Another horrormeister, Robert McCammon, hit the best-seller lists with this novel about a Los Angeles police detective trying to stop a vampire assault.

"The Historian" (2005): Not technically a horror novel, but this book by Elizabeth Kostova created a publishing sensation by blending the folklore around Vlad the Impaler and Stoker's Dracula.

Vampire facts you probably don't know

Did you know . . .

. . . that before German director F.W. Murnau killed the vampire Orlock (Max
Schreck) with the rising sun in his 1922 silent-screen masterpiece, "Nosferatu," sunlight NEVER was fatal to vampires in any myths, legends or even Bram Stoker's 1897 novel "Dracula" -- but after "Nosferatu," it became a near-universal aspect of vampire lore and literature?
. . . that Max Schreck's last name means terror or fright in German, and it was his real name?
. . . that only one actor to play Dracula in a major film, TV or stage production was really named Vlad (Jack Palance -- born Vladimir "Walter Jack" Palahanuik -- in the 1974 TV movie)?
. . . that writer-producer Alan Ball discovered the Sookie Stackhouse novels, the inspiration for his series "True Blood," because he arrived early for a dentist's appointment and decided to kill time at a nearby Barnes & Noble store?
. . . that producer Dan Curtis intended to drive a stake through the heart of "Dark Shadows" vampire Barnabas Collins after actor Jonathan Frid's three-month contract was up, but changed his plans when Barnabas started getting too much fan mail?
. . . that writer Anne Rice loudly protested the idea of Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise starring in director Neil Jordan's film version of her "Interview With the Vampire," saying it was like casting Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer to play vampires Louis and Lestat? (She reversed course after seeing the film.)
. . . that "The Night Stalker," which introduced Darren McGavin as reporter Carl Kolchak in 1972, set the ratings record for TV movies, pulling a staggering 54 share (percentage of TV sets in use during the 90 minutes it aired)?
. . . that Christopher Lee owns the record for playing Dracula on the big screen (nine films as the count and two more with Dracula connections, including the documentary "In Search of Dracula," in which he appeared as the historical Vlad the Impaler)?
. . . that Christopher Lee and Rudolf Martin share the distinction of being the only actors to play both Vlad the Impaler and Count Dracula (Martin in the TV movie "Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula" and a memorable episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer")?
. . . that "nosferatu" is not Romanian (or any other known language) for undead? (Bram Stoker picked up someone else's mistake for "Dracula," and the best etymological guess is that it comes from the Greek word nosphoros for "plague carrier.")

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