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
Frankenstein - 1970 (1958): $25,000
Voodoo Island (1957): $25,000
Bride of Frankenstein (1935): $12,500

He was the original inspiration for the first illustrations of the Incredible Hulk. Great-nephew of Anna Leonowens. Father of Sara Karloff. Received a Tony nomination in 1956 for his dramatic role in 'The Lark.' Shares a birthday with his daughter Sara Karloff. Considered a late bloomer in Hollywood. Frankenstein premiered when he was 44 years old. Pictured on two of a set of five 32¢ US commemorative postage stamps, issued 30 September 1997, celebrating "Famous Movie Monsters". He is shown on one stamp as the title character in The Mummy and on the other as the monster in Frankenstein. Other actors honored in this set of stamps, and the classic monsters they portray, are Lon Chaney as The Phantom of the Opera; Bela Lugosi as _Dracula (1931/I)_ ; and Lon Chaney Jr. as The Wolf Man. A photograph of Karloff in his Frankenstein 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. In contrast to the image he presented in most of his films, the private Karloff was, by every account, a quiet, bookish man off- screen. A true gentleman, he had many friends, both in and out of show business, and he was particularly fond of children. For the latter, among other things, he recorded many successful albums of children's stories. When told that Bobby "Boris" Pickett, who recorded the hit song "Monster Mash", was a big fan of his, by a mutual friend, 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. Suffered from chronic back trouble for most of his adult life, the result of the heavy brace he had to wear as part of his Frankenstein costume. He never let it slow him up, though, and kept active to the end of his life. 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 favorite author was Joseph Conrad. In the 1950s he was cast as Kurtz in a production of Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" on Playhouse 90. 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. When he traveled to England to shoot The Ghoul, it was the first time in nearly 25 years that he returned to his home country and reunited with the surviving members of his family, In the final years of his life, walking, and even just standing, became a painful ordeal. Some filmmakers would modify his roles so that they could be performed in a wheel chair to make him more comfortable. He would mark his lines in the script. Jack Nicholson saw this and adopted the procedure himself. In 1956 he was a celebrity contestent on "The $64,000 Question." The category he chose was children's fairy tales. He won the $32,000 level and quit due to tax considerations. Often thought of as a very large man, he was in actuality a slim man of medium height who wore massive lifts and padding to look large as Frankenstein's monser. 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. According to his daughter, Sara, he had to have 3 major back surgeries in his lifetime. Refused to reprise his role as the Frankenstein Monster in Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein, because he felt spoofs wouldn't sell to the audience. Appeared in 80 films before his breakthrough role in Frankenstein. Played cricket for Enfield Cricket Club (just north of London, England) before emigrating, and the club has his picture hanging in the pavilion. A photo of him keeping wicket while C. Aubrey Smith was batting was included in a display in the Long Room at Lord's cricket ground in 2004. The display was to celebrate Sussex (the oldest county side) winning the County Championship for the first time and the photo was included because Smith had been a captain of Sussex CCC. When he died, the "New York Times" newspaper obituary featured a picture of Frankenstein's monster. Unfortunately, the image was actually Glenn Strange in full makeup, not Karloff. During the production of Frankenstein there was some concern that seven year old Marilyn Harris, who played Maria, the little girl thrown into the lake by the creature, would be overly frightened by the sight of Karloff in costume and make-up to play the scene. When the cast was assembled to travel to the location, Marilyn ran from her car directly up to Karloff, who was in full make-up and costume, took his hand and asked "May I drive with you?" Delighted, and in typical Karloff fashion, he responded, "Would you, darling?" She then rode to the location "The Monster." He celebrated his 51st birthday during the production of Son of Frankenstein and remarked that he received the best birthday present ever: the birth of his daughter Sara Jane. He reportedly rushed from the set to the hospital in full makeup and costume. Was one of the founding Members of the Screen Actor's Guild. His daughter recounts that, due to the Hollywood Studio System's distrust of unions, one of her earliest memories of her father was that he always had carried a roll of dimes in his pocket. This was because he always had to use payphones when dealing with union business, since he knew his home phone had been tapped. Is portrayed by Jack Betts in Gods and Monsters He is commemorated by a plaque inside St.Paul's Church (The Actors' Church), Covent Garden, London. Was a fancier of Bedlington terriers. Karloff 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" to their stock sound effects library and used it for subsequent films, including "House of Frankenstein" (the cry when "Daniel" the hunchback falls from the roof).