Paul Naschy

Although the Spanish-born Jacinto Molina Álvarez adopted the stage name of Paul Naschy before getting into his native country's horror film industry, he has since been saddled with several more famous monikers. Dubbed by some as the "Boris Karloff of Spain" and by others as the "Lon Chaney of Spain," Naschy also published several Western novels in the 1950s under the pseudonym Jack Mills. But under any name, by any measure, Naschy was without a doubt a Titan of scary Spanish films. He has played virtually every iconic horror film character, including the blood-sucking title character in 1972's "Count Dracula's Great Love," and stepped into the co-lead role of werewolf Waldemar Daninsky after Lon Chaney Jr. turned it down. This was lucky for Naschy, as it led to a series of 12 films starring that same character, known as the "Hombre Lobo" series. After his death in 2009, Naschy appeared a pair of posthumous "Valdemar Legacy" films. He was honored with a Gold Medal in Fine Arts from Spain in 2001 and a career achievement award in 2004 at the Sitges Horror Film Festival. Other iconic horror characters played by Naschy over the years include the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Mummy, Frankenstein, and Rasputin.