1979: 'The Curse of Dracula' Rises on NBC
February 27, 2021
| By TV WW
On this day in 1979, NBC introduced one of TV's lesser-known vampires, Michael Nouri's Count Dracula from The Curse of the Vampire. The somewhat campy serial, which shared its Tuesday timeslot with two other shows under the banner Cliffhangers, turned Bram Stoker's leading man into a San Francisco college professor who didn't mind teaching night classes. His true identity is discovered by two students — one of whom is a descendant of Dracula's nemesis, Abraham Van Helsing — who set out to destroy the dark one.
The short-lived serial was re-edited into two TV movies, The World of Dracula and The Loves of Dracula.