BORIS KARLOFF - individual card, from the set issued by Spooktastic Cards in 2010.
William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor who was primarily known for his roles in horror films. He portrayed Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Son of Frankenstein (1939). He also appeared as Imhotep in The Mummy (1932).
In non-horror roles, he is best known to modern audiences for narrating and as the voice of the Grinch in the animated television special of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966). For his contribution to film and television, Karloff was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Karloff was born William Henry Pratt on 23 November 1887, at 36 Forest Hill Road, Dulwich, Surrey (now London), England. His parents were Edward John Pratt, Jr. and Eliza Sarah Millard. His brother, Sir John Thomas Pratt, was a British diplomat. Edward John Pratt, Jr. was an Anglo-Indian, from a British father and Indian mother, while Karloff's mother also had some Indian ancestry, thus Karloff had a relatively dark complexion that differed from his peers at the time. His mother's maternal aunt was Anna Leonowens, whose tales about life in the royal court of Siam (now Thailand) were the basis of the musical The King and I. Pratt was bow-legged, had a lisp, and stuttered as a young boy. He learned how to manage his stutter, but not his lisp, which was noticeable throughout his career in the film industry.
Pratt spent his childhood years in Enfield, in the County of Middlesex. He was the youngest of nine children, and following his mother's death was brought up by his elder siblings. He received his early education at Enfield Grammar School, and later at the public schools of Uppingham School and Merchant Taylors' School. After this, he attended King's College London where he took studies aimed at a career with the British Government's Consular Service. However, in 1909, he left university without graduating and drifted, departing England for Canada, where he worked as a farm labourer and did various odd itinerant jobs until happening upon acting.
Pratt began appearing in theatrical performances in Canada,[when?] and during this period he chose Boris Karloff as his stage name. Some have theorised that he took the stage name from a mad scientist character in the novel The Drums of Jeopardy called "Boris Karlov". However, the novel was not published until 1920, at least eight years after Karloff had been using the name on stage and in silent films, opening the possibility that the Karlov character might have been named after Karloff after the novel's author noticed it in a cast listing and liked the sound of it rather than simply being a coincidence. Warner Oland played "Boris Karlov" in a film version in 1931. Another possible influence was thought to be a character in the Edgar Rice Burroughs fantasy novel H. R. H. The Rider which features a "Prince Boris of Karlova", but as the novel was not published until 1915, the influence may be backward, that Burroughs saw Karloff in a play and adapted the name for the character. Karloff always claimed he chose the first name "Boris" because it sounded foreign and exotic, and that "Karloff" was a family name (from Karlov—in Cyrillic, Карлов—a name found in several Slavic countries, including Russia, Ukraine and Bulgaria).
Karloff's daughter, Sara, publicly denied any knowledge of Slavic forebears, "Karloff" or otherwise. One reason for the name change was to prevent embarrassment to his family. Whether or not his brothers (all dignified members of the British Foreign Service) actually considered young William the "black sheep of the family" for having become an actor, Karloff apparently worried they felt that way. He did not reunite with his family until he returned to Britain to make The Ghoul (1933), extremely worried that his siblings would disapprove of his new, macabre claim to world fame. Instead, his brothers jostled for position around him and happily posed for publicity photographs. After the photo was taken, Karloff's brothers immediately started asking about getting a copy of their own. The story of the photo became one of Karloff's favorites.
Karloff joined the Jeanne Russell Company in 1911 and performed in towns like Kamloops (British Columbia) and Prince Albert (Saskatchewan). After the devastating tornado in Regina on 30 June 1912, Karloff and other performers helped with clean-up efforts. He later took a job as a railway baggage handler and joined the Harry St. Clair Co. that performed in Minot, North Dakota, for a year in an opera house above a hardware store.
Whilst he was trying to establish his acting career, Karloff had to perform years of manual labour in Canada and the U.S. in order to make ends meet. He was left with back problems from which he suffered for the rest of his life. Because of his health, he did not enlist in World War I.
During this period, Karloff worked in various theatrical stock companies across the U.S. to hone his acting skills. Some acting companies mentioned were the Harry St. Clair Players and the Billie Bennett Touring Company. By early 1918 he was working with the Maud Amber Players in Vallejo, California, but because of the Spanish Flu outbreak in the San Francisco area and the fear of infection, the troupe was disbanded. He was able to find work with the Haggerty Repertory for a while (according to the 1973 obituary of Joseph Paul Haggerty, he and Boris Karloff remained lifelong friends). According to Karloff, in his first film he appeared as an extra in a crowd scene for a Frank Borzage picture at Universal for which he received $5; the title of this film has never been traced.
Once Karloff arrived in Hollywood, he made dozens of silent films, but this work was sporadic, and he often had to take up manual labour such as digging ditches or delivering construction plaster to earn a living.
His first on screen role was in a film serial, The Lightning Raider (1919) with Pearl White. He was in another serial, The Masked Rider (1919), the first of his appearances to survive.
Karloff could also be seen in His Majesty, the American (1919) with Douglas Fairbanks, The Prince and Betty (1919), The Deadlier Sex (1920), and The Courage of Marge O'Doone (1920). He played an Indian in The Last of the Mohicans (1920) and he would often be cast as an Arab or Indian in his early films.
Karloff's first major role came in a film serial, The Hope Diamond Mystery (1920). He was Indian in Without Benefit of Clergy (1921) and an Arab in Cheated Hearts (1921) and villainous in The Cave Girl (1921). He was a maharajah in The Man from Downing Street (1922), a Nabob in The Infidel (1922) and had roles in The Altar Stairs (1922), Omar the Tentmaker (1922) (as an Imam), The Woman Conquers (1922), The Gentleman from America (1923), The Prisoner (1923) and the serial Riders of the Plains (1923).
Karloff did a Western, The Hellion (1923), and a drama, Dynamite Dan (1924). He could be seen in Parisian Nights (1925), Forbidden Cargo (1925), The Prairie Wife (1925) and the serial Perils of the Wild (1925).
Karloff went back to bit part status in Never the Twain Shall Meet (1925) directed by Maurice Tourneur but he had a good support role in Lady Robinhood (1925).
Karloff went on to be in The Greater Glory (1926), Her Honor, the Governor (1926), The Bells (1926) (as a mesmerist), The Nickel-Hopper (1926), The Golden Web (1926), The Eagle of the Sea (1926), Flames (1926), Old Ironsides (1926), Flaming Fury (1926), Valencia (1926), The Man in the Saddle (1926), Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1927) (as an African), Let It Rain (1927), The Meddlin' Stranger (1927), The Princess from Hoboken (1927), The Phantom Buster (1927), and Soft Cushions (1927).
Karloff had roles in Two Arabian Knights (1927), The Love Mart (1927), The Vanishing Rider (1928) (a serial), Burning the Wind (1928), Vultures of the Sea (1928), and The Little Wild Girl (1928).
He was in The Devil's Chaplain (1929), The Fatal Warning (1929) for Richard Thorpe, The Phantom of the North (1929), Two Sisters (1929), Anne Against the World (1929), Behind That Curtain (1929), and The King of the Kongo (1929), a serial directed by Thorpe.
Karloff had an uncredited bit part in The Unholy Night (1930) directed by Lionel Barrymore, and bigger parts in The Bad One (1930),The Sea Bat (1930) (directed by Barrymore), and The Utah Kid (1930) directed by Thorpe.
A film which brought Karloff recognition was The Criminal Code (1931), a prison drama directed by Howard Hawks in which he reprised a dramatic part he had played on stage. In the same period, Karloff had a small role as a mob boss in Hawks' gangster film Scarface, but the film was not released until 1932 because of difficult censorship issues.
He did another serial for Thorpe, King of the Wild (1931), then had support parts in Cracked Nuts (1931), Young Donovan's Kid (1931), Smart Money (1931), The Public Defender (1931), I Like Your Nerve (1931), and Graft (1931).
Another significant role in the autumn of 1931 saw Karloff play a key supporting part as an unethical newspaper reporter in Five Star Final, a film about tabloid journalism which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
He could also be seen in The Yellow Ticket (1931) The Mad Genius (1931), The Guilty Generation (1931) and Tonight or Never (1931).
Karloff acted in eighty movies before being found by James Whale and cast in Frankenstein (1931). Karloff's role as Frankenstein's monster was physically demanding – it necessitated a bulky costume with four-inch platform boots – but the costume and extensive makeup produced a lasting image. The costume was a job in itself for Karloff with the shoes weighing 11 pounds (5.0 kg) each. Universal Studios quickly copyrighted the makeup design for the Frankenstein monster that Jack P. Pierce had created.
It took a while for Karloff's stardom to be established with the public – he had small roles in Behind the Mask (1932), Business and Pleasure (1932) and The Miracle Man (1932).
As receipts for Frankenstein and Scarface flooded in, Universal gave Karloff third billing in Night World (1932), with Lew Ayres, Mae Clarke and George Raft.
Karloff was reunited with Whale at Universal for The Old Dark House (1932), a horror movie based on the novel Benighted by J.B. Priestley, in which he finally enjoyed top billing above Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Raymond Massey and Gloria Stuart. He was loaned to MGM to play the titular role in The Mask of Fu Manchu (also 1932), for which he gained top billing.
Back at Universal, he was cast as Imhotep who is revived in The Mummy (1932). It was as successful at the box-office as the other two films and Karloff was now established as a star of horror films.
Karloff returned to England to star in The Ghoul (1933), then made a non-horror film for John Ford, The Lost Patrol (1934), where his performance was highly acclaimed.
Karloff was third billed in the Twentieth Century Pictures historical film The House of Rothschild (1934) with George Arliss, which was highly popular.
Horror, however, had now become Karloff's primary genre, and he gave a string of lauded performances in Universal's horror films, including several with Bela Lugosi, his main rival as heir to Lon Chaney's status as the leading horror film star. While the long-standing, creative partnership between Karloff and Lugosi never led to a close friendship, it produced some of the actors' most revered and enduring productions, beginning with The Black Cat (1934) and continuing with Gift of Gab (1934), in which both had cameos. Karloff reprised the role of Frankenstein's monster in Bride of Frankenstein (1935) for James Whale. Then he and Lugosi were reunited for The Raven (1935).
For Columbia, Karloff made The Black Room (1935) then he returned to Universal for The Invisible Ray (1936) with Lugosi, more a science fiction film. Karloff was then cast in a Warner Bros. horror film, The Walking Dead (1936).
Because the Motion Picture Production Code (known as the Hays Code) began to be seriously enforced in 1934, horror films suffered a decline in the second half of the 1930s. Karloff worked in other genres, making two films in Britain, Juggernaut (1936) and The Man Who Changed His Mind (1936).
He returned to Hollywood to play a supporting role in Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936) then did a science fiction film, Night Key (1937).
At Warners, he did two films with John Farrow, playing a Chinese warlord in West of Shanghai (1937) and a murder suspect in The Invisible Menace (1938).
Karloff went to Monogram to play the title role of a Chinese detective in Mr. Wong, Detective (1938), which led to a series. Karloff's portrayal of the character is an example of Hollywood's use of yellowface and its portrayal of East Asians in the earlier half of the 20th century. He had another heroic role in Devil's Island (1939).
Universal found reissuing Dracula and Frankenstein led to success at the box-office and began to produce horror films again starting with Son of Frankenstein (1939). Karloff reprised his role, with Lugosi co starring as Ygor and Basil Rathbone as Frankenstein.
After The Mystery of Mr. Wong (1939) and Mr. Wong in Chinatown (1939) he signed a three-picture deal with Columbia, starting with The Man They Could Not Hang (1939). Karloff returned to Universal to make Tower of London (1939) with Rathbone, playing the murderous henchman of King Richard III.
Karloff made a fourth Mr Wong film at Monogram The Fatal Hour (1940). At Warners he was in British Intelligence (1940), then he went to Universal to do Black Friday (1940) with Lugosi.
Karloff's second and third films for Columbia were The Man with Nine Lives (1940) and Before I Hang (1940). In between he did a fifth and final Mr Wong film, Doomed to Die (1940).
Karloff appeared at a celebrity baseball game as Frankenstein's monster in 1940, hitting a gag home run and making catcher Buster Keaton fall into an acrobatic dead faint as the monster stomped into home plate.
Karloff finished a six picture commitment with Monogram with The Ape (1940). He and Lugosi appeared in a comedy at RKO, You'll Find Out (1941), then he went to Columbia for The Devil Commands (1941) and The Boogie Man Will Get You (1941).
An enthusiastic performer, he returned to the Broadway stage in the original production of Arsenic and Old Lace in 1941, in which he played a homicidal gangster enraged to be frequently mistaken for Karloff. Frank Capra cast Raymond Massey in the 1944 film, which was shot in 1941, while Karloff was still appearing in the role on Broadway. The play's producers allowed the film to be made conditionally: it was not to be released until the production closed. (Karloff reprised his role on television in the anthology series The Best of Broadway (1955), and with Tony Randall and Tom Bosley in a 1962 production on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. He also starred in a radio adaptation produced by Screen Guild Theatre in 1946.)
In 1944, he underwent a spinal operation to relieve a chronic arthritic condition.
Karloff returned to film roles in The Climax (1944), an unsuccessful attempt to repeat the success of Phantom of the Opera (1943). More liked was House of Frankenstein (1944), where Karloff played the villainous Dr. Niemann and the monster was played by Glenn Strange.
Karloff made three films for producer Val Lewton at RKO: The Body Snatcher (1945), his last teaming with Lugosi, Isle of the Dead (1945) and Bedlam (1946).
In a 1946 interview with Louis Berg of the Los Angeles Times, Karloff discussed his arrangement with RKO, working with Lewton and his reasons for leaving Universal. Karloff left Universal because he thought the Frankenstein franchise had run its course; the entries in the series after Son of Frankenstein were B-pictures. Berg wrote that the last installment in which Karloff appeared—House of Frankenstein—was what he called a " 'monster clambake,' with everything thrown in—Frankenstein, Dracula, a hunchback and a 'man-beast' that howled in the night. It was too much. Karloff thought it was ridiculous and said so." Berg explained that the actor had "great love and respect for" Lewton, who was "the man who rescued him from the living dead and restored, so to speak, his soul."
Horror films experienced a decline in popularity after the war, and Karloff found himself working in other genres.
For the Danny Kaye comedy, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), Karloff appeared in a brief but starring role as Dr. Hugo Hollingshead, a psychiatrist. Director Norman Z. McLeod shot a sequence with Karloff in the Frankenstein monster make-up, but it was deleted from the finished film.
Karloff appeared in a film noir, Lured (1947), and as an Indian in Unconquered (1947). He had support roles in Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947), Tap Roots (1948), and Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff.
Karloff had his own weekly children's radio show on WNEW, New York, in 1950. He played children's music and told stories and riddles. Although the programme was meant for children, Karloff attracted many adult listeners as well.
During this period, Karloff was a frequent guest on radio programmes, whether it was starring in Arch Oboler's Chicago-based Lights Out productions (including the episode "Cat Wife") or spoofing his horror image with Fred Allen or Jack Benny. In 1949, he was the host and star of Starring Boris Karloff, a radio and television anthology series for the ABC broadcasting network.
He appeared as the villainous Captain Hook in Peter Pan in a 1950 stage musical adaptation which also featured Jean Arthur.
Karloff returned to horror films with The Strange Door (1951) and The Black Castle (1952).
He was nominated for a Tony Award for his work opposite Julie Harris in The Lark, by the French playwright Jean Anouilh, about Joan of Arc, which was reprised on Hallmark Hall of Fame.
During the 1950s, he appeared on British television in the series Colonel March of Scotland Yard, in which he portrayed John Dickson Carr's fictional detective Colonel March, who was known for solving apparently impossible crimes. Christopher Lee appeared alongside Karloff in the episode "At Night, All Cats are Grey" broadcast in 1955. A little later, Karloff co-starred with Lee in the film Corridors of Blood (1958).
Karloff appeared in Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1952) and visited Italy for The Island Monster (1954) and India for Sabaka (1954).
Karloff, along with H. V. Kaltenborn, was a regular panelist on the NBC game show, Who Said That? which aired between 1948 and 1955. Later, as a guest on NBC's The Gisele MacKenzie Show, Karloff sang "Those Were the Good Old Days" from Damn Yankees while Gisele MacKenzie performed the solo, "Give Me the Simple Life". On The Red Skelton Show, Karloff guest starred along with actor Vincent Price in a parody of Frankenstein, with Red Skelton as "Klem Kadiddle Monster". He served as host and frequent star of the anthology series The Veil (1958) which was never broadcast due to financial problems at the producing studio; the complete series was rediscovered in the 1990s.
Karloff made some horror films in the late 1950s: Voodoo Island (1957), The Haunted Strangler (1958), Frankenstein 1970 (1958) (as the Baron), and Corridors of Blood (1958). In the "mad scientist" role in Frankenstein 1970 as Baron Victor von Frankenstein II, the grandson of the original creator. In the finale, it is revealed that the crippled Baron has given his own face to the monster. Karloff donned the monster make-up for the last time in 1962 for a Halloween episode of the TV series Route 66, which also featured Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney, Jr.
During this period, he hosted and acted in a number of television series, including Thriller and Out of This World.
Karloff appeared in Black Sabbath (1963) directed by Mario Bava. He made The Raven (1963) for Roger Corman and American International Pictures (AIP). Corman used Karloff in The Terror (1963) playing a baron who murdered his wife. He made a cameo in AIP's Bikini Beach (1964) and had a bigger role in that studio's The Comedy of Terrors (1964), directed by Jacques Tourneur and Die, Monster, Die! (1965). British actress Suzan Farmer, who played his daughter in the film, later recalled Karloff was aloof during production "and wasn’t the charming personality people perceived him to be".
In 1966, Karloff also appeared with Robert Vaughn and Stefanie Powers in the spy series The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., in the episode "The Mother Muffin Affair," Karloff performed in drag as the titular character.
That same year, he also played an Indian Maharajah on the installment of the adventure series The Wild Wild West titled "The Night of the Golden Cobra".
In 1967, he played an eccentric Spanish professor who believes himself to be Don Quixote in a whimsical episode of I Spy titled "Mainly on the Plains".
Karloff's last film for AIP was The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1967).
In the mid-1960s, he enjoyed a late-career surge in the United States when he narrated the made-for-television animated film of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and also provided the voice of the Grinch, although the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" was sung by the American voice actor Thurl Ravenscroft. The film was first broadcast on CBS-TV in 1966. Karloff later received a Grammy Award for "Best Recording For Children" after the recording was commercially released. Because Ravenscroft (who never met Karloff in the course of their work on the show) was uncredited for his contribution to How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, his performance of the song was often mistakenly attributed to Karloff.
He appeared in Mad Monster Party? (1967) and starred in the second feature film of the British director Michael Reeves,The Sorcerers (1966).
Karloff starred in Targets (1968), a film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, featuring two separate stories that converge into one. In one, a disturbed young man kills his family, then embarks on a killing spree. In the other, a famous horror-film actor contemplates then confirms his retirement, agreeing to one last appearance at a drive-in cinema. Karloff starred as the retired horror film actor, Byron Orlok, a thinly disguised version of himself; Orlok was facing an end of life crisis, which he resolved through a confrontation with the gunman at the drive-in cinema.
Around the same time, he played occult expert Professor Marsh in a British production titled The Crimson Cult (Curse of the Crimson Altar, also 1968), which was the last Karloff film to be released during his lifetime.
He ended his career by appearing in four low-budget Mexican horror films: Isle of the Snake People, The Incredible Invasion, Fear Chamber and House of Evil. This was a package deal with Mexican producer Luis Enrique Vergara. Karloff's scenes were directed by Jack Hill and shot back-to-back in Los Angeles in the spring of 1968. The films were then completed in Mexico. All four were released posthumously, with the last, The Incredible Invasion, not released until 1971, two years after Karloff's death. Cauldron of Blood, shot in Spain in 1967 and co-starring Viveca Lindfors, was also released after Karloff's death.
While shooting his final films, Karloff suffered from emphysema. Only half of one lung was still functioning and he required oxygen between takes.
He recorded the title role of Shakespeare's Cymbeline for the Shakespeare Recording Society (Caedmon Audio). The recording was originally released in 1962. A download of his performance is available from audible.com. He also recorded the narration for Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra under Mario Rossi.
Records he made for the children's market included Three Little Pigs and Other Fairy Stories, Tales of the Frightened (volume 1 and 2), Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories and, with Cyril Ritchard and Celeste Holm, Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes, and Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark.
Karloff was credited for editing several horror anthologies, commencing with Tales of Terror (Cleveland and NY: World Publishing Co, 1943) (compiled with the help of Edmond Speare). This wartime-published anthology went through at least five printings to September 1945. It has been reprinted recently (Orange NJ: Idea Men, 2007). Karloff's name was also attached to And the Darkness Falls (Cleveland and NY: World Publishing Co, 1946); and The Boris Karloff Horror Anthology (London: Souvenir Press, 1965; simultaneous publication in Canada - Toronto: The Ryerson Press; US pbk reprint NY: Avon Books, 1965 retitled as Boris Karloff's Favourite Horror Stories; UK pbk reprints London: Corgi, 1969 and London: Everest, 1975, both under the original title), though it is less clear whether Karloff himself actually edited these.
Tales of the Frightened (Belmont Books, 1963), though based on the recordings by Karloff of the same title, and featuring his image on the book cover, contained stories written by Michael Avallone; the second volume, More Tales of the Frightened, contained stories authored by Robert Lory. Both Avallone and Lory worked closely with Canadian editor and book packager Lyle Kenyon Engel, who also ghost-edited a horror story anthology for horror film star Basil Rathbone.
Beginning in 1940, Karloff dressed as Father Christmas every Christmas to hand out presents to physically disabled children in a Baltimore hospital.
He never legally changed his name to "Boris Karloff." He signed official documents "William H. Pratt, a.k.a. Boris Karloff."
He was a charter member of the Screen Actors Guild, and he was especially outspoken due to the long hours he spent in makeup while playing Frankenstein's Monster.
He married six times and had one child, daughter Sara Karloff, by fifth wife Dorothy Stine. His final marriage was in 1946 right after his fifth divorce. At the time of his daughter's birth, he was filming Son of Frankenstein and reportedly rushed from the film set to the hospital while still in full makeup.
He was an early member of the Hollywood Cricket Club.
Upon returning to England in 1959, his address was 43 Cadogan Square, London. In 1966, he bought 25 Campden House (in 29 Sheffield Terrace), Kensington W8, and 'Roundabout Cottage' in the Hampshire village of Bramshott. A longtime heavy smoker, he had emphysema which left him with only half of one lung still functioning. He contracted bronchitis in 1968 and was hospitalised at University College Hospital. He died of pneumonia at the King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst, in Sussex, on 2 February 1969, at the age of 81.
His body was cremated following a requested modest service at Guildford Crematorium, Godalming, Surrey, where he is commemorated by a plaque in the Garden of Remembrance. A memorial service was held at St Paul's, Covent Garden (the Actors' Church), London, where there is also a plaque.
During the run of Thriller, Karloff lent his name and likeness to a comic book for Gold Key Comics based upon the series. After Thriller was cancelled, the comic was retitled Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery. An illustrated likeness of Karloff continued to introduce each issue of this publication for more than a decade after his death; the comic lasted until the early 1980s. In 2009, Dark Horse Comics began publishing reprints of Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery in a hard-bound edition.
For his contribution to film and television, Boris Karloff was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1737 Vine Street for motion pictures, and 6664 Hollywood Boulevard for television. Karloff was featured by the U.S. Postal Service as Frankenstein's Monster and the Mummy in its series "Classic Monster Movie Stamps" issued in September 1997. In 1998, an English Heritage blue plaque was unveiled in his hometown in London. The British film magazine Empire in 2016 ranked Karloff's portrayal as Frankenstein's monster the sixth-greatest horror movie character of all time.
On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Boris Karloff among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.
During the early stages of his career he was mostly left in obscurity. By 1919, Karloff found regular work as an extra at Universal Studios. Karloff's first significant hit film was in Howard Hawks's The Criminal Code (1931). While shooting Graft, director James Whale convinced Karloff to star as a character in one of his most popular roles as Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein which led to him becoming an overnight superstar. After Frankenstein and starring in several high-profile films such as Bride of Frankenstein and Scarface, Karloff spent the remainder of the 1930s continuing to work at an incredible pace, but progressively more into less financially successful films.
Karloff starred in a few acclaimed Val Lewton produced horror films of the 1940s and by the mid-1950s, he was a familiar presence on television hosting his own series including Thriller and The Veil and guest starring on such variety programs as The Donald O'Connor Show. He also was Detective Wong in the 1930s. In the 1960s, Karloff was a fixture at Roger Corman's American International Pictures. His final American film was Peter Bogdanovich's Targets, portraying an aging horror film star.
|
Year |
Film |
Role |
Director |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1918 |
The Lightning Raider |
|
George B. Seitz |
15-chapter film serial. |
|
1919 |
The Masked Rider |
Mexican roughneck in the saloon (Episode 2 only) |
Aubrey M. Kennedy |
15-chapter film serial. |
|
His Majesty, the American |
the spy |
Joseph Henabery |
Credited as an extra. |
|
|
The Prince and Betty |
|
Robert Thornby |
Bit part. |
|
|
1920 |
The Deadlier Sex |
Jules Borney |
Robert Thornby |
|
|
The Courage of Marge O'Doone |
Tavish |
David Smith |
|
|
|
The Last of the Mohicans |
|
Maurice Tourneur, Clarence Brown |
Credited as an extra. |
|
|
1921 |
The Hope Diamond Mystery |
Dakar / High Priest of the Temple of Sita |
Stuart Paton |
Film serial. |
|
Without Benefit of Clergy |
Ahmed Khan |
James Young |
|
|
|
Cheated Hearts |
Nil Horned |
Hobart Henley |
|
|
|
The Cave Girl |
Baptiste |
Joseph Franz |
|
|
|
1922 |
The Man from Downing Street |
Edward Monckton / the Maharajah Jehan Deharwar |
Edward José |
|
|
The Infidel |
the Nabob |
James Young |
|
|
|
The Altar Stairs |
Hugo |
Lambert Hillyer |
|
|
|
Omar the Tentmaker |
the Holy Imam Mowaffak |
James Young |
|
|
|
The Woman Conquers |
Raoul Maris |
Tom Forman |
|
|
|
1923 |
The Gentleman from America |
|
Edward Sedgwick |
Uncredited bit part. |
|
The Prisoner |
Prince Kapolski |
Jack Conway |
|
|
|
1924 |
Riders of the Plains |
|
Jacques Jaccard |
|
|
The Hellion |
outlaw |
Bruce Mitchell |
|
|
|
Dynamite Dan |
Tony Garcia |
Bruce Mitchell |
|
|
|
1925 |
Parisian Nights |
Pierre |
Alfred Santell |
|
|
Forbidden Cargo |
Pietro Castillano |
Tom Buckingham |
|
|
|
The Prairie Wife |
Diego |
Hugo Ballin |
|
|
|
Perils of the Wild |
|
Francis Ford |
|
|
|
Never the Twain Shall Meet |
villain |
Maurice Tourneur |
Uncredited |
|
|
Lady Robinhood |
Cabraza |
Ralph Ince |
|
|
|
1926 |
The Greater Glory |
scissors grinder |
Curt Rehfeld |
|
|
Her Honor, the Governor |
Snipe Collins |
Chet Withey |
|
|
|
The Bells |
mesmerist |
James Young |
|
|
|
The Nickel-Hopper |
Big Bohunk |
Hal Yates |
|
|
|
The Golden Web |
Dave Sinclair |
Walter Lang |
|
|
|
The Eagle of the Sea |
pirate |
Frank Lloyd |
|
|
|
Flames |
Blackie Blanchett |
Lewis H. Moomaw |
|
|
|
Old Ironsides |
Saracen guard |
James Cruze |
|
|
|
Flaming Fury |
Gaspard |
James Hogan |
|
|
|
Valencia |
|
Dimitri Buchowetzki |
Uncredited bit part. |
|
|
The Man in the Saddle |
robber |
Clifford S. Smith |
Uncredited. |
|
|
1927 |
Tarzan and the Golden Lion |
Ozawa, the Waziri chief |
J. P. McGowan |
|
|
Let It Rain |
crook |
Edward Francis Cline |
|
|
|
The Meddlin' Stranger |
Al Meggs |
Richard Thorpe |
|
|
|
The Princess from Hoboken |
Pavel |
Allan Dale |
|
|
|
The Phantom Buster |
Ramón |
William Bertram |
|
|
|
Soft Cushions |
chief conspirator |
Edward Francis Cline |
|
|
|
Two Arabian Knights |
purser |
Lewis Milestone |
|
|
|
The Love Mart |
Fleming |
George Fitzmaurice |
|
|
|
1928 |
The Vanishing Rider |
villain |
Ray Taylor |
Film serial. |
|
Burning the Wind |
Pug Doran |
Henry MacRae, Herbert Blaché |
|
|
|
Vultures of the Sea |
Grouchy |
Richard Thorpe |
Film serial. |
|
|
The Little Wild Girl |
Maurice Kent |
Frank Mattison |
|
|
|
1929 |
The Devil's Chaplain |
Boris |
Duke Worne |
|
|
The Fatal Warning |
Mullins |
Richard Thorpe |
Film serial. |
|
|
The Phantom of the North |
Jules Gregg |
Harry S. Webb |
|
|
|
Two Sisters |
Cecil |
Scott Pembroke |
|
|
|
Anne Against the World |
|
Duke Worne |
Bit part. |
|
|
Behind That Curtain |
Sudanese servant |
Irving Cummings |
First sound film. |
|
|
The King of the Kongo |
Macklin / Martin |
Richard Thorpe |
Film serial. |
|
|
The Unholy Night |
Abdoul |
Lionel Barrymore |
|
|
|
1930 |
The Bad One |
guard |
George Fitzmaurice |
|
|
The Sea Bat |
Corsican |
Wesley Ruggles |
|
|
|
The Utah Kid |
Baxter |
Richard Thorpe |
|
|
|
The Mother's Cry |
Baxter |
Hobart Henley |
|
|
|
1931 |
Sous les verrous (Pardon Us - French version) |
the Tiger |
James Parrott |
|
|
The Criminal Code |
Ned Galloway |
Howard Hawks |
|
|
|
The Vanishing Legion (serial) |
voice of the Voice, the serial's masked mystery villain |
Ford Beebe & B. Reeves Eason |
|
|
|
King of the Wild |
Mustapha |
B. Reeves Eason, Richard Thorpe |
Final film serial. |
|
|
Cracked Nuts |
revolutionary |
Edward F. Cline |
|
|
|
Young Donovan's Kid |
Cokey Joe |
Fred Niblo |
|
|
|
Smart Money |
Sport Williams |
Alfred E. Green |
|
|
|
The Public Defender |
professor |
J. Walter Ruben |
|
|
|
I Like Your Nerve |
Luigi |
William McGann |
|
|
|
Graft |
Joe Terry |
William Christy Cabanne |
|
|
|
Five Star Final |
"Reverend" Vernon Isopod |
Mervyn LeRoy |
|
|
|
The Yellow Ticket |
orderly |
Raoul Walsh |
|
|
|
The Mad Genius |
Fedor's father |
Michael Curtiz |
|
|
|
The Guilty Generation |
Tony Ricca |
Rowland V. Lee |
|
|
|
Frankenstein |
the Frankenstein Monster |
James Whale |
|
|
|
Tonight or Never |
waiter |
Mervyn LeRoy |
|
|
|
1932 |
Behind the Mask |
Jim Henderson |
John Francis Dillon |
|
|
Alias the Doctor |
autopsy surgeon |
Lloyd Bacon, Michael Curtiz |
|
|
|
Business and Pleasure |
sheikh |
David Butler |
|
|
|
Scarface |
Tom Gaffney |
Howard Hawks |
|
|
|
The Miracle Man |
Nikko |
Norman Z. McLeod |
|
|
|
Night World |
"Happy" MacDonald |
Hobart Henley |
|
|
|
The Old Dark House |
Morgan |
James Whale |
Billed as KARLOFF. |
|
|
The Mask of Fu Manchu |
Dr. Fu Manchu |
Charles J. Brabin, Charles Vidor, King Vidor |
|
|
|
The Mummy |
Imhotep/Ardath Bey |
Karl Freund |
Billed as KARLOFF. |
|
|
1933 |
The Ghoul |
Professor Morlant |
T. Hayes Hunter |
|
|
1934 |
The Lost Patrol |
Sanders |
John Ford |
|
|
The House of Rothschild |
Count Ledrantz |
Alfred L. Werker |
|
|
|
The Black Cat |
Hjalmar Poelzig |
Edgar G. Ulmer |
Billed as KARLOFF. |
|
|
Gift of Gab |
cameo appearance (as Karloff) |
Karl W. Freund |
Billed as KARLOFF. |
|
|
1935 |
Bride of Frankenstein |
the Frankenstein Monster |
James Whale |
Billed as KARLOFF. |
|
The Raven |
Edmond Bateman |
Lew Landers |
Billed as KARLOFF. |
|
|
The Black Room |
Baron Gregor de Berghmann / Anton de Berghmann |
Roy William Neill |
|
|
|
1936 |
The Invisible Ray |
Dr. Janos Rukh |
Lambert Hillyer |
Billed as KARLOFF. |
|
The Walking Dead |
John Ellman |
Michael Curtiz |
|
|
|
Juggernaut |
Victor Sartorius |
Henry Edwards |
|
|
|
The Man Who Changed His Mind |
Dr. Laurence |
Robert Stevenson |
|
|
|
Charlie Chan at the Opera |
Gravelle |
H. Bruce Humberstone |
|
|
|
1937 |
Night Key |
Dave Mallory |
Lloyd Corrigan |
Billed as KARLOFF |
|
West of Shanghai |
General Wu Yen Fang |
John Farrow |
|
|
|
1938 |
The Invisible Menace |
Mr. Jevries a.k.a. Dolman |
Lloyd Corrigan |
|
|
Mr. Wong, Detective |
James Lee Wong |
William Nigh |
|
|
|
1939 |
Devil's Island |
Dr. Charles Gaudet |
William Nigh |
|
|
Son of Frankenstein |
the Frankenstein Monster |
Rowland V. Lee |
|
|
|
The Mystery of Mr. Wong |
James Lee Wong |
William Nigh |
|
|
|
Mr. Wong in Chinatown |
James Lee Wong |
William Nigh |
|
|
|
The Man They Could Not Hang |
Dr. Henryk Savaard |
Nick Grinde |
|
|
|
Tower of London |
Mord the Executioner |
Rowland V. Lee |
|
|
|
1940 |
The Fatal Hour |
James Lee Wong |
William Nigh |
|
|
British Intelligence |
Valdar |
Terrell O. Morse |
a.k.a. Enemy Agent |
|
|
Black Friday |
Dr. Ernest Sovac |
Arthur Lubin |
|
|
|
The Man with Nine Lives |
Dr. Leon Kravaal |
Nick Grinde |
|
|
|
Doomed to Die |
James Lee Wong |
William Nigh |
|
|
|
Before I Hang |
Dr. John Garth |
Nick Grinde |
|
|
|
The Ape |
Dr. Bernard Adrian |
William Nigh |
|
|
|
You'll Find Out |
Judge Mainwaring |
David Butler |
|
|
|
1941 |
The Devil Commands |
Dr. Julian Blair |
Edward Dmytryk |
|
|
1942 |
The Boogie Man Will Get You |
Professor Nathaniel Billings |
Lew Landers |
|
|
1944 |
The Climax |
Dr. Hohner |
George Waggner |
|
|
The House of Frankenstein |
Dr. Gustav Niemann |
Erle C. Kenton |
|
|
|
1945 |
The Body Snatcher |
John Gray |
Robert Wise |
|
|
Isle of the Dead |
General Nikolas Pherides |
Mark Robson |
|
|
|
1946 |
Bedlam |
Master George Sims |
Mark Robson |
|
|
1947 |
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty |
Dr. Hugo Hollingshead |
Norman Z. McLeod |
|
|
Lured |
Charles von Druten |
Douglas Sirk |
|
|
|
Unconquered |
Guyasuta |
Cecil B. DeMille |
|
|
|
Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome |
Gruesome |
John Rawlins |
|
|
|
1948 |
Tap Roots |
Tishomingo |
George Marshall |
|
|
The Emperor's Nightingale |
narrator |
Jiří Trnka |
English-language version only. |
|
|
1949 |
Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff |
Swami Talpur |
Charles Barton |
|
|
1951 |
The Strange Door |
Voltan |
Joseph Pevney |
|
|
1952 |
Colonel March Investigates |
Colonel March |
Cy Raker Endfield |
Compiled from several episodes of the television series Colonel March of Scotland Yard. |
|
The Black Castle |
Dr. Meissen |
Nathan Juran |
|
|
|
1953 |
Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde |
Dr. Henry Jekyll / Mr. Edward Hyde |
Charles Lamont |
|
|
1954 |
The Island Monster |
|
Roberto Bianchi Montero |
|
|
The Hindu |
General Pollegar |
Frank Ferrin |
a.k.a. Sabaka |
|
|
1955 |
The Elgin Hour |
Mr. Mycroft |
Daniel Petrie |
Episode "Sting of Death", based on H. F. Heard's novel A Taste for Honey. |
|
1957 |
Voodoo Island |
Dr. Phillip Knight |
Reginald Le Borg |
|
|
1958 |
The Juggler of Our Lady |
narrator |
Al Kouzel |
Animated short. |
|
The Creation of the World |
narrator (U.S. version) |
Eduard Hofman |
English-language version only. |
|
|
The Haunted Strangler |
James Rankin |
Robert Day |
|
|
|
Frankenstein 1970 |
Baron Victor von Frankenstein |
Howard W. Koch |
|
|
|
Corridors of Blood |
Dr. Thomas Bolton |
Robert Day |
|
|
|
1962 |
Arsenic & Old Lace |
Jonathan Brewster |
George Schaefer |
Hallmark Hall of Fame TV film. |
|
1963 |
Black Sabbath |
Gorca |
Mario Bava |
|
|
The Terror |
Baron von Leppe |
Roger Corman |
|
|
|
The Raven |
Dr. Scarabus |
Roger Corman |
|
|
|
1964 |
Bikini Beach |
art dealer |
William Asher |
|
|
Mondo Balordo |
narrator |
Roberto Bianchi Montero |
|
|
|
The Comedy of Terrors |
Amos Hinchley |
Jacques Tourneur |
|
|
|
1965 |
Die, Monster,
Die! |
Nahum Whitley |
Daniel Haller |
|
|
1966 |
The Daydreamer |
the Rat |
Jules Bass |
Voice only. |
|
The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini |
corpse |
Don Weis |
|
|
|
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! |
the Grinch and the narrator |
Chuck Jones |
Animated TV special. Won Grammy Award for Best Album for Children. |
|
|
The Wild Wild West |
Mr. Singh |
Irving J. Moore |
2x02 "The Night of the Golden Cobra". |
|
|
1967 |
The Venetian Affair |
Dr. Pierre Vaugiroud |
Jerry Thorpe |
|
|
Mad Monster Party? |
Baron Boris von Frankenstein |
Jules Bass |
Voice only. |
|
|
The Sorcerers |
Professor Marcus Montserrat |
Michael Reeves |
|
|
|
1968 |
Targets |
Byron Orlok |
Peter Bogdanovich |
|
|
Curse of the Crimson Altar (U.S. title: The Crimson Cult) |
Professor Marshe |
Vernon Sewell |
|
|
|
Fear Chamber (a.k.a. The Torture Zone) |
Dr. Carl Mandel |
Juan Ibañez, Jack Hill |
Released after Karloff's death; filmed in 1968 |
|
|
House of Evil (a.k.a. Dance of Death) |
Mathias Morteval |
Luis Enrique Vergara, Jack Hill |
Released after Karloff's death; filmed in 1968 |
|
|
1970 |
Cauldron of Blood (El Coleccionista de cadáveres); a.k.a. Blind Man's Bluff) |
Franz Badulescu |
Santos Alcocer, Edward Mann |
Released after Karloff's death; filmed in 1968 |
|
1971 |
The Incredible Invasion (a.k.a. Alien Terror and The Sinister Invasion) |
Professor John Meyer |
Luis Enrique Vergara, Jack Hill |
Released after Karloff's death; filmed in 1968 |
|
Isle of the Snake People (U.K. title: Snake People/Hungarian title: Cult of the Dead) |
Karl van Molder / Damballah |
Juan Ibañez, Jack Hill |
Released after Karloff's death; filmed in 1968 |
|
Program |
Episode |
Date |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Lights Out |
"The Dream" |
23 March 1938 |
|
|
Lights Out |
"Valse Triste" |
30 March 1938 |
|
|
Lights Out |
"The Cat Wife" |
6 April 1938 |
|
|
Lights Out |
"Three Matches" |
13 April 1938 |
|
|
Lights Out |
"Night on the Mountain" |
20 April 1938 |
|
|
Screen Guild Players |
"Arsenic and Old Lace" |
25 November 1946 |
|
|
Lights Out |
"Death Robbery" |
16 July 1947 |
|
|
Lights Out |
"The Ring" |
30 July 1947 |
|
|
Philip Morris Playhouse |
"Journey to Nowhere" |
10 February 1952 |
|
|
Theatre Guild on the Air |
"The Sea Wolf" |
27 April 1952 |
|
|
Musical Comedy Theater |
"Yolanda and the Thief" |
26 November 1952 |
|