Murder Legendre

Murder Legendre (also stylised "Murder" Legendre  ) is a fictional character and the antagonist of the 1932 black-and-white horror film White Zombie where he was portrayed by actor Bela Lugosi.

A malevolent voodoo and zombie master with telepathic powers, this character is remembered as one of the actor's most striking performances and has been the subject of various interpretations.

Description
Murder Legendre was born in Haiti somewhere in the 1890s-1900s. At a young age he met Ledot, a witch doctor who taught him all the skills of voodoo and witchcraft. After mastering them all, Murder becomes a vodou master himself. He used his voodoo powers to turn Ledot into a zombie, he then turned many of his enemies into zombies and made them all work as slaves in his sugar mill.

The action of White Zombie is set in Haiti in 1932. Much of the plot revolves around Legendre, Beaumont, another plantation master, and a newly arrived couple, Neil and his fiancée Madeleine, and how Legendre turns her into a "braindead" zombie.

The character of Legendre is in general identified as white. But some authors identify him as black. In her essay on White Zombie and the Creole, Gillian Phillips insists that Legendre's ethnicity is ambiguous and that he embodies both sides of Haitian history. Although his name suggests French roots, Legendre is also presented as a foreign personality of indeterminate origin, who resents the way all sides of the society of the island have treated him.

He is presented as a necromancer, a sorcerer, a voodoo master or a zombie master

One of his most defining feature is his "sardonically evil smirk", his hypnotic gaze and "long" hands, as well as a forked beard, the result of make-up work by Jack Pierce.

Inspiration
According to author and adventurer William Seabrook in his 1929 novel The Magic Island, a voodoo priestess he met, Maman Celie, briefly inspired Legendre who also is a voodoo priest and witch doctor. In the first chapter of the book, Seabrook describes an innocent Haitian girl being sacrificed and in another, a group of zombies working at a sugar mill.

Analysis
Film historian Gary Don Rhodes mentions in his book about White Zombie that Legendre's Haitian nationality, occupation as a voodoo doctor, and appearance link him closely to Satanism, especially Mephistopheles or Satan himself, while Dr. Bruner would represent Christ. Rhodes also mentions that when Beaumont allows Legendre to drug Madeleine, he literally sells his soul to the devil, especially when Legendre drugs him later on to turn him into a zombie as well. Legendre's sugar mill and castle are built and worked on by his mind-controlled zombies, showcasing the slavery also used to built Mephistopheles's castle, even it is said by Rhodes that Legendre himself prays to the devil with his zombie voodoo rituals.

Lugosi's performance
Lugosi is said to have been "severely underpaid" for the performance. The character's malevolence was compared to the actor's own impersonation of Dracula and various commentators consider Lugosi's performance to be his most notable one after the latter.

In his book about horror film, however, Bryan Seen, who describes him in another book as the "epitome of evil", finds that the character is too unidimensional to allow Lugosi to fully show his talent.

Legacy
The character of Legendre was originally going to return in Revolt of the Zombies released in 1936 which was originally going to be a sequel to White Zombie. However became its own film when the producers had a dispute with Lugosi. In the film, Lugosi's hypnotic eyes from White Zombie could be seen in the opening montage.

Robert Duffey, in his book about Lugosi, calls the character "one of the great Mephistophelean figures in cinema".

Legendre reappeared later in various stories associated with Prowler.

Legendre was also originally going to appear in a White Zombie remake directed by Tobe Hooper in 2009, however those plans never came to fruition.

In 2013-2014, there was a low budget short film remake of White Zombie released by YouTube Channel RagnBone and starring Scarlett Sheppard, Isaac Eastwood and Heather Hepburn as a character based on Legendre.

There was also originally going to be a remake of White Zombie in 2018 by Blumhouse Productions under the leadership of Jason Blum but it is unknown whether those plans are coming in the future or not.

StarAce toys made a 1/6 inch toy model and figure of Murder Legendre based on Bela Lugosi's likeness, which comes equipped with his raven. Other figures representing Legendre have been issued.

The character, who, according to Mark Clark in his books about acting in horror cinema, remains "endlessly fascinating", is also central to a 2017 novel prequel to the film: Memoirs of Murder: A Prequel to the 1932 Classic, White Zombie by Brad A. Braddock, that contains a fictional "personal diary of Murder Legendre himself".