Along with fellow actors Lon Chaney, Bela Lugosi and Vincent Price, Boris Karloff is recognized as one of the true icons of horror cinema, and the actor most closely identified with the general public's perception of the "monster" from the classic Mary Shelley book "Frankenstein". William Henry Pratt was born on November 23, 1887, in Camberwell, London, England, the son of Edward John Pratt Jr., the Deputy Commissioner of Customs Salt and Opium, Northern Division, Indian Salt Revenue Service, and his third wife, Eliza Sarah Millard.

He was educated at London University in anticipation that he would pursue a diplomatic career; however, he emigrated to Canada in 1909 and joined a touring company based out of Ontario and adopted the stage name of "Boris Karloff". He toured back and forth across the USA for over ten years in a variety of low-budget theater shows and eventually ended up in Hollywood with very little money to his name. Needing cash to support himself, Karloff secured acting work in the fledgling silent film industry in such pictures as The Deadlier Sex, Omar the Tentmaker, Dynamite Dan and Tarzan and the Golden Lion.

His big break came in 1931 when he was cast as "the monster" in the Universal production of Frankenstein, directed by James Whale. The aura of mystery surrounding Karloff was highlighted in the credits, as he was listed as simply "?". The film was a commercial and critical success, and Karloff was instantly established as a hot property in Hollywood. He quickly appeared in several other sinister roles, including Scarface, the black-humored The Old Dark House, as the namesake Oriental villain of the Sax Rohmer novels in The Mask of Fu Manchu, as undead Im-Ho-Tep in The Mummy and the misguided Prof. Morlant in The Ghoul.

He donned the signature make-up, neck bolts and asphalt spreader's boots again to play the Frankenstein monster in the sensational Bride of Frankenstein and the less thrilling Son of Frankenstein. He was a wrongly condemned doctor in Song of Hell, shaven-headed executioner "Mord the Merciless" in Tower of London, another misguided scientist in The Ape, a crazed scientist surrounded by monsters, vampires and werewolves in House of Frankenstein, a murderous cabman in The Body Snatcher and a Greek general fighting vampirism in the superb Val Lewton thriller Isle of the Dead.

While Karloff continued appearing in a plethora of films, many of them were not up to the standards of his previous efforts, including appearances in two of the hokey Bud Abbott and Lou Costello monster movies, the low point of the Universal horror movie cycle. During the 1950s he was a regular guest on many high-profile TV shows including The Buick-Berle Show, Tales of Tomorrow, The Veil, The Donald O'Connor Show, The Red Skelton Hour and The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, to name but a few, and he appeared in a mixed bag of films including Sabaka and Voodoo Island.

His career experienced something of a revival in the 1960s thanks to indie director Roger Corman, with Karloff contributing wonderful performances in The Raven, The Terror, the ultra-eerie Black Sabbath and the H.P. Lovecraft-inspired Die, Monster, Die!. Karloff's last great role was as an aging horror movie star confronting a modern-day sniper in the Peter Bogdanovich film Targets. Three low-budget Mexican-produced horror films starring an ailing Karloff were released in the two years after his death; however, they do no justice to this great actor. Renowned as a kind and warm-hearted gentleman, with a sincere affection for children and their welfare, Karloff passed away on February 2, 1969, from emphysema. He was cremated at Guildford Crematorium, Godalming, Surrey, England, where he is commemorated by a plaque in Plot 2 of the Garden of Remembrance.


Targets (1968): $22,000
The Sorcerers (1967): £ 11,000
The Raven (1963): $30,000
Corridors of Blood (1958): $37,500
Frankenstein - 1970 (1958): $25,000
Grip of the Strangler (1958): $27,500
Voodoo Island (1957): $25,000
Bride of Frankenstein (1935): $12,500

He was the original inspiration for the first illustrations of the Incredible Hulk. Received a Tony nomination in 1956 for his dramatic role in 'The Lark.' Considered a late bloomer in Hollywood. Frankenstein (1931) premiered when he was 44 years old. A photograph of Karloff in his Frankenstein (1931) monster makeup appears on one stamp of a sheet of 10 USA 37¢ commemorative postage stamps, issued 25 February 2003, celebrating American Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes. The stamp, which honors makeup artists, shows Jack P. Pierce and an unidentified assistant applying the monster makeup. When told by a mutual friend that Bobby Pickett, who recorded the hit song "Monster Mash", was a big fan of his, Karloff replied, "Tell him I enjoy his record very much." Pickett still considers that the greatest compliment he's ever gotten, and Karloff eventually sang the song himself on a television special. He had East Indian heritage on this father's side. This gave Karloff a dark skin tone. In several films he was cast in roles such as Arabs and American Indians. His first Broadway play was "Arsenic and Old Lace" in a role that was written for him. He played Jonathan Brewster, whose face has been changed by a disreputable plastic surgeon named Dr. Einstein so that he now looks like Boris Karloff. He also performed the role in the road company of this production. In the final years of his life, walking, and even just standing, became a painful ordeal. Some directors would change the script to place Karloff's character in a wheelchair, so that he would be more comfortable. 1956: He was a celebrity contestant on "The $64,000 Question" (1955). The category he chose was children's fairy tales. He won the $32,000 level and quit due to tax considerations. On June 30, 1912, a then-unknown Karloff had taken some time off to canoe while touring around the city of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. When he came back to the city, he returned to find his accommodation had been destroyed by a tornado that killed 28. He organized a concert that raised some much needed funds for the city. Refused to reprise his role as the Frankenstein Monster in Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), because he felt spoofs wouldn't sell to the audience. He did agree to do publicity for the film and posed for pictures of himself going to see the film. Played cricket for Enfield Cricket Club (just north of London, England) before emigrating, and the club has his picture hanging in the pavilion. When he died, the New York Times obituary featured a picture of Frankenstein's monster. Unfortunately, the image was actually Glenn Strange in full makeup, not Karloff. He celebrated his 51st birthday during the production of Son of Frankenstein (1939) and remarked that he received the best birthday present ever: the birth of his daughter Sara Karloff. He reportedly rushed from the set to the hospital in full makeup and costume. Is portrayed by Jack Betts in Gods and Monsters (1998) He was the biggest star to lend his voice to a sound effect. Universal added his anguished scream over the dead Ygor from Son of Frankenstein (1939) to its stock sound effects library and used it for subsequent films, including House of Frankenstein (1944) (the cry when Daniel the hunchback falls from the roof). Although he will forever be linked to Frankenstein's Monster, Karloff actually played Frankenstein's creation only three times--once in the original Frankenstein (1931), again in Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and finally in Son of Frankenstein (1939). He played Dr. Frankenstein only once, in Frankenstein - 1970 (1958). He was Christopher Lee's neighbor for many years. Rejected by the British Army in World War 1, because of a heart murmur. Maintained an apartment in New York's The Dakota apartment house. The mad scientist character in the Bugs Bunny short Water, Water Every Hare (1952) is patterned after Boris right down to his slight lisp and heavy eyebrows.