THE CURSE OF DRACULA/NBC/1979
*(Michael Nouri) Count Dracula, a 500-year-old vampire nobleman from
Transylvania (located in Central Romania) who relocated to San Francisco to
teach evening classes in European history at South Bay College. He used the
students on campus to satiate his blood lust. On his trail was Kurt von Helsing,
the grandson of Professor von Helsing, the now deceased nemesis of the count.
THE CURSE OF DRACULA was one of three serials aired under the umbrella title
CLIFF HANGERS.
DRACULA: THE SERIES/SYN/1990
*(Geordie Johnson) Alexander Lucard (Dracul backwords), the legendary
Transylvanian vampire moves his operations to corporate chair of a global
conglomerate based in Luxembourg in this tongue-in-cheek adaptation of Bram
Stoker's classic horror novel "Dracula.". As always there is someone on his
trail. In Lucard's case, it is Gustav Helsing who enlists his young American
nephews (Max and Chris) to bring Dracula down.
THE MUNSTERS/CBS/1964-66
*(Al Lewis/costar) Grandpa Munster, aka "Count Vladimir Dracula," a 378-year-old
vampire and mad scientist who lived at 1313 Mockingbird Land with his daughter
Lili (Yvonne De Carlo) and her family. Grandpa loves to invent things in his
laboratory and has a pet bat named Igor described by him as "a mouse with wings
who joined the Transylvanian Air Force." Lili Munster (nee Lili Dracula)
supports such charities as "Bundles for Transylvania." Her husband Herman (Fred
Gywnne) was built in Dr. Frankenstein lab in Transylvania. On the revival series
THE MUNSTERS TODAY/SYN/1988-91 we discovered that Grandpa attended the
University of Transylvania where he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Aorta
fraternity; and that his Transylvanian business background included operating a
blood bank with Ghenghis Khan; and running fangs sharpening shop. Also featured
were Irwin Charone as Lily's brother, Lester Dracula; Jo deWinter as Lily's
mother Katja Dracula; Angelina Fiordessisi as Lily's cousin, Bella; Christopher
Fielder as Lily's cousin, Damien; Jerry Houser as Lily's cousin Wolfgang
Dracula; Camilla Ashland as Lily's aunt, Lucretia Dracula; and Ruth Buzzi as
Grandpa's mother; and Sandy Baron as Grandpa's brother, Yorga Dracula.
THE NANNY/CBS/1993-99
*(Fran Drescher) Fran Fine, a Jewish-American bridal shop worker from Flushing,
New York who got fired from her job, began selling perfume and then landed a job
as a nanny to the children of a wealthy Manhattan gentile widower (whom she
later married). Her family included Renee Taylor as Fran's mother, Sylvia Fine;
and Ann Guilbert as Fran's grandmother, Yetta Rosenberg-Fine. On one episode,
one of Grandma Yetta’s letters revealed she was a Romanian immigrant and that on
the way to Ellis Island to marry Joe Fine, an American furrier, she had an
affair with the ship’s waiter.
THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN/NBC/1996-2001
**(Elmarie Wendel) Mrs. “Mamie” Dubcek, the colorful landlord of the Solomon
family who, in reality, are a bunch of aliens hiding out on planet Earth. Mrs.
Dubcek revealed her ethnic background while talking to the Solomons. She pointed
out "their" last name was obviously Jewish. Harry Solomon then asked her ethnic
origins and she told him she was part Czechoslovakian and part Romanian..sort of
a “slavic mutt.”
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE, INC.
(Special Ops Force)/SYN/1997-99
**(Mindy Clarke) Margo Vincent a.k.a. Margo Vincentino Alexandrescu, ex-CIA
agent with a gift for languages who joined a Special Ops Forces group. She was
born in communist Romania. Her parents physician mother and physicist father
took Margo (then five-years-old) and escaped the tyranny of despot Nicolae
Ceausescu to settle on the East coast of America (after traveling via the Black
Sea, Turkey and Israel). In college, Margo’s wrote a Master's thesis on
Ceausescu's 23-year reign of terror known as "Ceausescu Orphans." Margo enjoys
athletics, especially rollerblading and dislikes people who enjoy killing. She
served as a CIA case officer in West Germany where she fell in love with German
officer Noah Peri. When he was killed by a sniper’s bullet, Margo vows to track
the assassin down (revealed to be a Wolfgang Kepper) and seek retribution.
