Welcome to another segment of Silent Saturdays! We're excited to share another wonderfully talented star with you today. The subject of today's post is well known to most people even today, for his trademark roles as a villain or antagonist. Many people do not realize, however, that his climb to fame began during the silent era.
Boris Karloff
Born November 23, 1887
Died February 2, 1969
A blue commemorative plaque marks the address where William Henry Pratt was born in Honor Oak, LDN, England in the fall of 1887. He was the youngest of 9 children, born into a family of rich Anglo-Indian heritage. He was also the great-nephew of Anna Leonowens, who was the inspiration for the famous musical The King and I.
Pratt's mother died when he was relatively young, and he was left in the care of some of his older siblings. He graduated from Merchant Taylors' School, and then went on to study consular service at King's College in London, but he never graduated. He decided to leave school in 1909 and began looking for work wherever he could find it. Many of the odd positions he found involved difficult manual labor, resulting in back problems that he struggled with for the rest of his life. During this time, Pratt almost accidentally stumbled into the world of acting, but it was clear that he had a peculiar gift. Not even a full year after he dropped out of school, he moved to Canada and changed his name to Boris Karloff. No one is quite sure where he came up with the name, but his reasoning for its change was quite clear. Most of his older brothers had prominent jobs in foreign services, and Karloff was afraid of letting them down or embarrassing them with his chosen career path. He believed this until he reunited with his family over 20 years later, at which time he was pleasantly surprised to discover that they were all immensely proud of him and his achievements.
After 2 years in Canada, Karloff became a part of the Jeanne Russell Company in 1911. He stayed with this group for at least a year. Moving on and looking for more work to support him, Karloff took on a job as a
Eventually, Karloff found himself in Hollywood, and while there was work for him, he still did manual labor to get by in between parts. Several of his earliest roles were for film serials, such as The Lightning Raider (1918), The Masked Rider (1919), or The Hope Diamond Mystery (1921). He also had parts in iconic films such as the earliest on screen production of The Last of the Mohicans (1920). In his early days in the land of the stars, Karloff had yet to be cast into any of his monster roles. During the silent era, he was primarily used to portray dark and mysterious foreigners, or villains. His first talkie was Behind That Curtain (1929).
While people were familiar with Karloff, he didn't catch his first big break until he was cast as the monster in the movie Frankenstein (1931). Karloff was very lucky to get the part, and only did so because better known actors turned it down because it had no real speaking parts. The role was also very strenuous. The costume was heavy and bulking--especially the platform shoes that he was required to wear which weighed 11 lbs per foot. Heavy makeup was also a difficult and sometimes tricky prospect in those days, with the potential to be poisonous if too much of it was worn for too long. But Karloff took out life insurance for the project and endured the hours of preparation that turned him into the monster. His patience paid off, and the 1931 picture was an iconic success.
From that time, Karloff was offered better roles. He was the original Imhotep in the 1932 version of The Mummy, and also had a memorable part in the film Scarface later that year. While he certainly did not always play a monster, Karloff had found his niche with it. There were two sequels that gave him the opportunity to reprise his role as the Frankenstein monster, The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Son of Frankenstein (1939). He also returned to the story of Frankenstein later in life, but in a different role. He played the scientist both times with House of Frankenstein (1944), and Frankenstein 1970 (1958).
Karloff had many other important roles throughout the 1930s, such as The Raven (1935), The Black Cat (1934), and The Tower of London (1939). During the 1940s, Karloff dabbled with radio, even having his own anthology series called Starring Boris Karloff. It was also during the forties that Karloff took some time to pursue stage work on Broadway, which he loved. His first reappearance on the stage was in the original Broadway production of Arsenic and Old Lace in 1941--a role that he would reprise once more on screen in the course of his life. Other roles he had on stage were that of Captain Hook in Peter Pan, and a part in The Lark, which he would also reprise later on for television.
Moving into the 1950s, Karloff took on a television role in the British series Colonel March of Scotland Yard. He became a regular on TV segments such as NBC's Who Said That?, and The Red Skelton Show. He continued to work on many different projects until the end of his life, despite having one of his lungs removed and having to use oxygen between takes. Perhaps one of the pieces of his later work that he is most recognized for is using his voice talents for the main character and narration of the 1966 special How
Despite being known for his villainous roles, Karloff was reportedly a very kind and generous gentleman. He invested much of his time and money in charity work, especially anything that helped children. In 1940 he dressed up as Father Christmas and handed out presents in the children's ward of a hospital in Baltimore, Maryland--a tradition that he carried out every year as long as he was physically able. He was a devoted father to his own daughter, Sara Karloff, who was born during the filming of Son of Frankenstein, which resulted in Karloff rushing to the hospital in his full costume at the time of her birth.
Towards the end of his life, Karloff moved back to England full time, spending the rest of his days in his home, known as Roundabout Cottage. He struggled with severe arthritis as well as emphysema. He contracted pneumonia and died due to complications on February 2, 1969, at the age of 81.
Boris Karloff had a remarkable career in many different genres. He left his mark in the worlds of television, radio, and of course film. Over the course of his career, he made 162 motion pictures, 56 of which were silent films from the early days of his career. Amazingly, he never received any awards for his work, but that makes it no less important or remarkable.
"One always hears of actors complaining of being typed--if he's young, he's typed as a juvenile; if he's handsome, he's typed as a leading man. I was lucky. Whereas bootmakers have to spend millions to establish a trademark, I was handed a trademark free of charge. When an actor gets in a position to select his own roles, he's in big trouble, for he never knows what he can do best. I'm sure I'd be damn good as Little Lord Fauntleroy, but who would pay ten cents to see it?"
-Boris Karloff
"My dear old monster..I owe everything to him. He's my best friend."
-Boris Karloff
"You could heave a brick out of the window and hit ten actors who could play my parts. I just happened to be on the right corner at the right time."
-Boris Karloff
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