Abraham “Bram” Stoker died on April 20, 1912, from syphilis. He passed away in a small boarding house, poor and not widely known or successful at the time.
To make things worse, his death happened just days after the Titanic sank, so hardly anyone noticed. His death was barely mentioned in the newspapers.
Writing was never how he made most of his money. Stoker mainly earned a living working as a personal assistant. He was the friend, secretary, and manager of famous English actor Henry Irving. He worked for Irving for 27 years and also helped run the Lyceum Theatre in London.
After Stoker died, it was his wife, Florence Balcombe—who had once dated Oscar Wilde—who managed to turn his book Dracula into something profitable. In 1922, Florence found out about a German film called Nosferatu that copied Dracula without permission. She decided to sue the filmmakers.
Florence won the lawsuit and was awarded 5,000 pounds. Her efforts helped protect and promote her late husband’s legacy.
