A gallery of bloodthirsty gentlemen

No, these gentlemen don’t eat men. They are just after their blood, so keep your necks protected at all times.

• Robert Pattinson (No. 1) has revived interest in vampires for sure because he’s so gorgeous-looking that nobody will ever refuse to be bitten — take note, not eaten — by him. In Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight, a worldwide hit grossing close to $400 million, and New Moon (showing nationwide starting today), and soon Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, Pattinson does it with such flourish that biting into the neck of his girlfriend Bella Swan (played by Kristen Stewart) seems as easy and as yummy as licking a cone of ice-cream.

A bit of history (according to a New Moon Insider Special mag): Vampires have been a familiar figure in movies since the birth of Hollywood, with the silent flick Vampire of the Coast paving the way in 1909. So far there have been over 170 versions of Dracula alone, count ‘em!

Trivia: Did you know that the aswang and the manananggal, the Philippine counterparts of the vampire, are mentioned in Twilight?

Let’s take a quick look at some of the other bloodthirsty gentlemen:

• No. 2: Kiefer Sutherland. He was 21 when he played the modern-day vampire David in The Lost Boys.

• No. 3: William Marshall. He played the title role in Blacula, who bit an African prince, in 1972, followed by Scream Blacula Scream in 1973.

• No. 4: George Hamilton. In Love at First Bite, Count Dracula moves from Transylvania to New York. He was “the most-tanned” vampire to date.

• No. 5: Frank Langella. Deemed one of the most sensual vampires, in the 1979 film Dracula, he said, “I think sexuality and immortality are two good reasons why Dracula is so popular. Sex and eternal life — they are an unbeatable combination.”

• No. 6: Leslie Nielsen. In director Mel Brooks’ 1995 spoof Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Nielsen played the blood-sucker for fun and got away with it.

• No. 7: Tom Cruise. He was Lestat de Lioncourt in Interview with the Vampire (based on the Anne Rice best-selling novel). Quote-unquote: “I can’t do something halfway, three-quarters, nine-tenths...If I’m going to do something, I go all the way.”

• No. 8: Gary Oldman. He was said to be in love with Dracula long before he played the role in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

• No. 9: Brad Pitt. He played Louis de Pointe du Lac in Interview with the Vampire. Quote-unquote: “You’ve got one guy biting another guy’s neck...but you have to follow vampire logic: Once you’re a vampire, male and female doesn’t matter.”

• No. 10: Wesley Snipes. Star of Blade, Blade, he said, “I have a great deal of fun playing Blade. The lifestyle of it, the controlled rebelliousness, is wonderful to me, And it’s therapeutic, too. A role like this lets you vent.”

• No. 11: John Carradine. He played the role in four movies — House of Frankenstein (1944), Blood of Dracula’s Castle and Vampire Men of the Lost Planet in the late ‘60s, and Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula in 1979 when he was 73.

• No. 12: Jack Palance. He was described as “the chilling Dracula” in the 1973 adaptation of the Bram Stoker novel. He admitted that he was becoming Dracula more than he wanted to.

• No. 13: Bela Lugosi. He starred in the 1931 classic Dracula. Born in 1882, he was “the real Count Dracula” and when he died in 1956 he was buried in full costume, including the cape.

• No. 14: David Niven. What about an aging Count Dracula...in the 1974 movie Old Dracula in which the vampire took viewers on a tour of his castle.

• No. 15: Christopher Lee. A record-holder, he played the role in nine movies starting in 1958 (Horror of Dracula), thereby defining the Dracula character. The cape he wore was sold at auction in 2009 for $40,000.

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