Biographic - Sunday October 30, 2011 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Boris Karloff was born William Henry Pratt in London, on November 23, 1887, the great-nephew of Anna Leonowens, whose teaching adventures in Siam inspired. The musical "The King And I" the youngest of nine children, she seemed destined to follow his brothers into a career in the British diplomatic service but was drawn to the stage. He left England for Canada in 1909 and spent the next decade traversing North America in low-budget theater shows. He eventually made his way to Hollywood, where he supplemented his meager earnings from the fledging silent movie industry by working as a truck driver. He was a veteran of almost 80 films when he landed the role that made him a star. When "Dracula" actor Bela Lugosi declined to portray the monster in the 1931 adaptation of Mary Shelly's classic horror tale, "Frankenstein" the role went to Karloff. The creature's iconic look was created by makeup artist Jack Pierce, who used blue-green greasepaint (which photographed gray) for the ghastly skin tone, blackened the creature's fingernails with boot polish, and achieved the stiff-legged gait by fitting Karloff with asphalt spreaders boots and two pairs of pants over steel struts. Karloff played the monster in two more movies- 1935's "Bride of Frankenstein" and 1939 "Son Of Frankenstein." other villainous roles included the undead Im-Ho-Tep in "The Mummy" the lead in "The Mask Of Fu Manchu" an insane opera star in "Charlie Chan At The Opera" and the sinister executioner in "Tower of London." He was a regular on the Broadway stage in the 1940s and 1950s, appearing in a number of productions, including a lengthy run in "Arsenic and Old Lace" and as Captain Hook in "Peter Pan." He also starred as the eye-patched sleuth March in the '50s U.K. series "Colonel March of Scotland Yard." The advent of Tv saw the old horror movie classics became late-night staples, and Karloff also made cameos on a number of tv shows. From "Route66" to "The Girl From "U.N.C.L.E." he also hosted the spooky anthology series "Thriller." He gained a new generation of fans- and a Grammy when he voiced Thr Grinch for the 1966 animated tv special "How The Grinch Stole Christmas!"

Tags