Bela Lugosi had performed in a
stage production of
Dracula that was the
toast of
Eastern Europe. He was sought out and cast for the
Universal Pictures film. Unfortunately, he knew no
English at this point and had to memorize what were to him
lines of mere
gibberish.
The immortal lines, "Ah, the children of the night. Listen to them sing" meant to him, "AA, fee zrulrunufde nat. Leezndodumzing." Or even, "AAfgfdtttcrte4564dfgcliikpjhiu9o97uuihknkjhnjycfs."
Thus the weird accent.