Dracula (1924 play) in the context of Hamilton Deane

Horace Brisbin Liveright (pronounced "LIVE-right," anglicized by Horace's father from the German Liebrecht; 10 December 1884 – 24 September 1933) was an American publisher and stage producer. With Albert Boni, he founded the Modern Library and Boni & Liveright publishers. He published the books of numerous influential American and British authors. Turning to theatre, he produced the successful 1927 Broadway play Dracula, with Béla Lugosi and Edward Van Sloan in the roles they would make famous in the 1931 film by the same name.

Dracula is a 1931 American pre-Code vampire film directed and co-produced by Tod Browning from a screenplay written by Garrett Fort and starring Bela Lugosi in the title role. It is based on the stage play Dracula by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, which in turn is adapted from the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Lugosi portrays Count Dracula, a vampire who emigrates from Transylvania to England and preys upon the blood of living victims, including a young man's fiancée.

Produced and distributed by Universal Pictures, Dracula is the first sound film adaptation of the Stoker novel. Several actors were considered to portray the title character, but Lugosi, who had previously played the role on Broadway, eventually got the part. The film was partially shot on sets at Universal Studios Lot in California, which were reused at night for the filming of a concurrently produced Spanish-language adaptation of the same name, also produced by Universal.

Frank Alexander Langella Jr. (/lænˈdʒɛlə/; born January 1, 1938) is an American actor. He eschewed the career of a traditional film star by making the stage the focal point of his career, appearing frequently on Broadway. He has received numerous accolades, including four Tony Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globes.

Langella made his Broadway debut in the 1966 play Yerma. He since established himself as Broadway star winning four Tony Awards, his first two for Best Featured Actor in a Play playing intellectual lizard in Edward Albee's Seascape (1975), and a wealthy and cruel landowner in Ivan Turgenev's Fortune's Fool (2002) and Best Actor in a Play for his roles as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's Frost/Nixon (2007), an elderly man suffering from Alzheimers in Florian Zeller's The Father (2016). He was also Tony-nominated for Dracula (1978), Match (2004), and Man and Boy (2012).

John L. Balderston (October 22, 1889 – March 8, 1954) was an American playwright and screenwriter best remembered for his horror and fantasy scripts. He wrote the 1926 play Berkeley Square and the 1927 American adaptation of the 1924 play Dracula.