Minor Characters in Universal Monsters - Prof. Bruno Lampini

Prof. Bruno Lampini

Bruno Lampini, better known as Professor Lampini, is a sideshow huckster played by George Zucco who appears in House of Frankenstein. He was the owner of the travelling show known as Professor Lampini's Chamber of Horrors. Lampini had in his possession the actual skeleton of Dracula, which he took from the vampire's castle in Carpathia though this would seem impossible within the Universal series' continuity, as Dracula's skeleton would be resting in the swamps of the American South at the end of Son of Dracula, the previous Dracula installment. While travelling in a rainstorm, Lampini's wagon became stuck in the mud, and he and his assistant Sherman were unable to move it. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Dr. Gustav Niemann, freshly escaped from prison, arrived.

Niemann and his assistant Daniel helped Lampini and Sherman free the wagon from the mud, and in return a grateful Lampini allowed the two men hitch a ride with him to the next town. This proved to be a fatal mistake on Lampini's part, for when he refused to take Niemann to Reigelberg, the mad scientist ordered Daniel to kill him. Daniel did so by breaking Lampini's neck, a rather unflattering end for the man who did indeed possess Dracula's skeleton.

Niemann later impersonated Lampini and brought Dracula back to life by removing the stake from his heart.