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Edward Van Sloan (November 1, 1882, Minnesota – March 6, 1964, California) was an American film character actor best remembered for his roles in Universal Studios horror films. Van Sloan's roles date from the 1930s, including Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931) and The Mummy (1932). In the first of these, he played Abraham Van Helsing, the famous vampire-hunter, a role he had first taken in the successful touring production of Dracula by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston. He played essentially the same role, this time as Dr. Muller, in The Mummy. He again played Van Helsing... MORE

Edward Van Sloan (November 1, 1882, Minnesota – March 6, 1964, California) was an American film character actor best remembered for his roles in Universal Studios horror films. Van Sloan's roles date from the 1930s, including Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931) and The Mummy (1932). In the first of these, he played Abraham Van Helsing, the famous vampire-hunter, a role he had first taken in the successful touring production of Dracula by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston. He played essentially the same role, this time as Dr. Muller, in The Mummy. He again played Van Helsing (inexplicably renamed 'Von Helsing') in the 1936 film Dracula's Daughter. In Frankenstein, he stepped in front of a curtain before the film's opening credits to warn audience members that they now had a chance to escape the theatre if they were too squeamish to endure the film. Van Sloan had a style of playing horror roles that was unmistakably his, speaking his lines in a slow, exaggerated style of elocution with rolling r 's. His grave is located in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania's Boehm Cemetery. LESS