Birth name:William Henry Pratt Birth:23 November 1887 Died:2 February 1969 Nationality: Hollywood Walk Star: Yes
Career / Biography
Boris Karloff came from an Indian and British mixed parentage. After a difficult chidhood he moved to Canada and after various jobs he joined a Canadian touring theatrical company. He had no formal training as an actor. His first film, other than an extra was The Deadlier Sex. He appeared in numerous silent films in the 1920's that were generally quickly made fillers like Dynamite Dan. He often played exotic roles due to his colouring and looks. Possibly the best of thes films was The Bells.
Having beena stage actor and despite a lisp and a stammer he made the transition to sound films. He had appeared in over 80 films before his major break was as Frankenstein's monster in the 1931 film directed by James Whale. He though often claimed his break through role was in The Criminal Code. Frankenstein was made as follow up to Universal's successful Dracula film. The make up produced by Jack Pierce for his character in this film has set the standard for Frankenstein ever since. After making Frankenstein he worked again with James Whale on The Old Dark House again for Universal. These were the first of what became horrror films for Hollywood. He made The Mask Of Fu Manchu for MGM which was sinister and unlike other films of theirs at the time. He returned to Universal for The Mummy and agian it has the most wonderful makeup from Jack Pierce.
In 1933 he was one of the founding members of the Screen Actor Guild in their fight for rights aganst the studio system. In The Black Cat he works opposite Bella Lugosi for the first time. Bride of Frankenstein was the sequel to Frankenstein after a 4 year gap. In The Black Room he gives a good performance as two brothers with opposite characters. This marked in some ways the high point of early horror films as the material becames constrained by the implementation of the Hays Code. In the mid 1930 he was playing character role for Warner Brothers. In 1939 Universal returned to horror films with son of Frankenstein. The Devil Commands was one of several films he made for Columbia Pictures. He was then approached to to appear on Broadway in Arsenic and Old Lace ans a man whose face had been changed to look like Boris Karloff. The Body Snatcher was one of 3 films he made with Val Lewton who had been making more psychological horror films and is arguable one of his best performances. He suffered from back problems during his life which particularly affected the filming of The Isle Of The Dead. In the late 1940's he was doing less challenging roles but then in the 1950's he also worked on live television and returned to Broadway. In 1959 he returned to live in England. Roger Corman brough him back to film with The Raven. After finishing filming The Raven Roger Corman has 2 days left of Boris Karloff's time, so he shot all his scenes for The Terror in those 2 days and added the rest later. In the late 1960's he was playing aging horror characters. During his life he was married six times.
