Dacre Stoker - Father of Dracula

Bram Stoker, his life, his research and writing of Dracula to promote a documentary film called Father of Dracula, being made by an Irish film maker, Jason Figgis, and written by John West.  I have contributed years of research and do the narration on the film. 

Dracula is the most famous horror character in literature. Over a hundred years after the publication of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, (1897) the character still has the power to fascinate and horrify us. 

The image of the undead vampire as a symbol of evil is now firmly embedded in our collective consciousness, thanks to Stoker. Paradoxically, Dracula has also be-come a symbol of forbidden lust thanks to the later portrayals of the character by Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, Frank Langella and Gary Oldman etc. etc. 

But what of Bram Stoker, the man behind the creation? Sadly, he left no autobiography and precious little first-hand source material for us to better understand his life and inspirations for his writing of Dracula. For most, he is a shadowy or un-known figure, a man long since eclipsed by the character that he created. However, by examining his private journals, notes, and the memories of those who knew him, we can piece together an account of his life and learn much about the man who became the father of Dracula. 

With this documentary, we aim to reveal the man and how he came to create the Prince of Darkness, Count Dracula. Written by author and historian John West and directed by Jason Figgis, an award-winning IFTA-nominated film and TV director, this unique documentary, narrated by Dacre Stoker, the great-grandnephew of Bram Stoker, looks at the life of his illustrious ancestor. It will cover his early life, his mysterious childhood illness, his days as a student in Dublin, his successful career as Sir Henry Irving’s manager at the Lyceum Theater and, of course, how he came to write Dracula. We will  look into how Bram Stoker gathered his research in different libraries and archives and how he utilized the vampire myth that already existed across Europe and North America to bring to life literature’s greatest horror icon.

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