Wax museum to immortalize Karloff, Lugosi monsters
( 2001-08-09 16:09 ) (7 )

Vincent Price may have starred in the horror classic "House of Wax," but it is Boris Karloff's Frankenstein and Bela Lugosi's Dracula who will be immortalized at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.

With offspring of the two horror movie veterans on hand, the wax museum on Wednesday announced it would feature its first-ever wax figures of celebrities in costume and character makeup. The figures are set to be unveiled at the museum on Halloween.

"I bid you welcome," said Bela Lugosi Jr., seemingly channeling his late father's persona as the vampire in the 1931 film "Dracula," directed by Tod Browning.

"Dracula, like the image of Bela Lugosi, never dies," Lugosi said. "Very few actors actually become icons and I think Bela Lugosi has become one," he told Reuters Television.

"He's much more recognized today I think than even when he was alive ... He never thought that he would be remembered," Lugosi said. "And so it means a lot to me that he's being remembered now."

The wax museum worked closely with Karloff and Lugosi family members on the figures, which are being crafted at its London branch.

Karloff's character from "The Mummy" is also being created, and all three will debut at Universal Studios in Hollywood and Florida ahead of an Oct. 31 unveiling at Madame Tussaud's in Times Square.

"It's a remarkable tribute and our family is just thrilled beyond belief," said daughter Sara Karloff. "It's just uncanny the way they've captured their likenesses ... . Although he's in makeup I can see his persona coming through."

Many critics cite "Frankenstein," directed by James Whale, as the best horror movie ever made. Browning's "Dracula" is lauded as among the best examples in which gothic and supernatural elements meld into an eerie tale of the "undead."

Both films are from Universal Studios, which joined forces with the museum on the renderings, and are marking their 70th anniversary.

Tussaud's officials said a figure of Lon Chaney, star of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "The Phantom of the Opera," was in the works. But there was no mention of horror veteran Price, who plays a demented wax museum director in "House of Wax."