Boris Karloff

Born on November 23, 1887 in Camberwell, South London (Great Britain), William Henry Pratt was the youngest of eight children in a large family. His father, Eduard John Pratt Jr., was a diplomat, and the boy wanted to follow in his footsteps, until at the age of 21 he decided to spend time working as a farm hand in Ontario (Canada). One day he came across an ad for a touring theater company, looking for actors, and decided to introduce himself.

For almost a decade he was interpreting various theatrical productions throughout the Canadian territory, using the stage name of Boris Karloff. In 1916 he went to Hollywood, where he obtained work as an extra in The Lightning Raider . Until the end of silent movies he played small roles in titles like The Last of the Mohicans (1920) .

His big break came with the emergence of sound, when the Universal company offered Bela Lugosi to play the monster in Doctor Frankenstein , but he turned it down because his female admirers were not going to recognize him with the excessive makeup that the role required. James Whale , the director, was looking for a replacement, and after a characterization test he realized that Boris Karloff had been born to embody the character.

He did not even appear in the credits, because to give the thing more mystery, where his name should appear there was a question mark. But the film shocked viewers, and Universal decided to offer Karloff a permanent contract.

Since then, he has starred in productions specially designed for his showcasing. He was a mute alcoholic in The House of Shadows , also by James Whale, which included a caption at the beginning of the film indicating that it is the same actor who was Frankenstein’s monster. He also incarnated the evil character created by Sax Rohmer , in The Mask of Fu-Manchu , and was especially distinguished as the Egyptian priest Imhotep in The Mummy (1932) , by Karl Freund . He was also a gangster in Howard Hawks ‘s memorable Scarface .

Having become a popular actor, Karloff asked for a star salary at Universal, but the studio wasn’t up for the job. RKO hired him as one of the protagonists of The Lost Patrol , an important film by the teacher John Ford , where he was a British fighter lost in the Mesopotamian desert with his companions during World War I.

Since the film swept the box office, Universal decided to relent, signing Karloff to a generous contract. They took advantage of their pull for a good number of terrifying productions, some forming a pair with their ‘rival’, Bela Lugosi, such as Satan (1934) , The Raven (1935) , The Invisible Ray , The Son of Frankenstein , Black Friday and The Body Snatcher . Above all , The Bride of Frankenstein stands out , the sequel to his greatest success, even better for its touches of humor and its innovative special effects, very sophisticated for the time.

His sentimental life was complicated, because after divorcing Grace Harding, he had five other wives. In person he was a very affable and refined man, not at all like the tormented souls he portrayed in the movies. He was also involved in numerous charitable causes to support children.

He never left the theater stages. Above all, he swept away the hilarious theatrical version of “Arsenic Out of Compassion”, as the protagonist’s sinister brother, whose face had been reshaped by a surgeon making him identical to Boris Karloff (a pity that due to contractual problems Frank Capra could not resort to him to its excellent film version). In 1950 he had enormous success playing Captain Hook from “Peter Pan” on the Broadway stage. He also found success in film comedy with appearances by him in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty , Abbott and Costello Versus the Murderer , and Abbott and Costello Versus Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , while cast by Cecil B. DeMille. inThe unconquerables .

Throughout the 50s, Boris Karloff’s film career declined, but the actor lavished himself on television, in series, telefilms and shows in which he was a presenter.

At the end of his career, he was asked by the producer and director Roger Corman to star alongside another iconic horror actor, Vincent Price , in The Raven (1963) , in which they gave life to two warring wizards. The director, famous for saving costs during his shoots, took advantage of the sets and the actors to shoot another film over a weekend, The Terror , about a soldier (a very young Jack Nicholson ) who arrives at the mansion of a mysterious aristocrat (Karloff). .

While filming The Curse of the Red Altar , with another horror figure, Christopher Lee , Karloff felt sick. The doctor diagnosed her with a chronic disease: pulmonary emphysema. Although his condition was delicate, he still had time to shoot the film The Corpse Collector with the Aragonese Santos Alcocer , and to move to Mexico to intervene in Isla de los Muertos and The Incredible Invasion , although in his last works the actor was already pretty off. With a rather deteriorated state of health, he returned to England, where he died on February 2, 1969.