Stoker, Bram

(Irish, 1847–1912)

Born in Dublin to middle-class Protestant parents, Stoker went to London in 1876 to become manager for the actor Henry Irving. Although he wrote short stories and several novels including The Lair of the White Worm (1911; idiosyncratically reinterpreted by Ken Russell in a recent film, 1988), he is best known as the author of the vampire classic, Dracula (1897). This blood-curdling and engrossing story revolves around Jonathan Harker's journey to the dark, dilapidated castle in Transylvania where he battles with the evil forces of Count Dracula who can only be stopped from sucking the blood from his living victims by the power of the crucifix, garlic, and wood. In 1931 Dracula was adapted for the screen igniting the 1930s horror-film boom and inspiring many more Dracula films including Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 box office hit, starring Gary Oldman.

Mary Shelley. See SUPERNATURAL  EW