In Adaptations
Seward often appears in different adaptations of Dracula but in a wide variety of different roles. He is often referred to as "Jack" Seward. The most common change is to portray him not as Lucy's suitor, but as her father (or sometimes Mina Harker's father). This was almost certainly based on the decision made in writing the Hamilton Deane stage adaptation. Such portrayals include:
- Gustav Botz (as Dr. Sievers) in Nosferatu (1922)
- Herbert Bunston in Dracula (1931 film)
- José Soriano Viosca in Dracula (1931, Spanish language version)
- Charles Lloyd Pack in Dracula (1958)
- Paul Muller in Count Dracula (1970)
- Donald Pleasence in Dracula (1979)
- Harvey Korman in Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)
In recent years, the trend has been to return Seward to his role in the novel, as a suitor for Lucy's hand in marriage, in:
- Mark Burns in Count Dracula (1977)
- Richard E. Grant in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
- Matthew Johnson in Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary (2002)
- Tom Burke in Dracula (2006)
In the 1938 Mercury Theatre on the Air radio production of Dracula, Seward's character was combined with Arthur Holmwood's and renamed Arthur Seward. He was voiced by Orson Welles, who also voiced Dracula in the adaptation.
Read more about this topic: John Seward