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Boris Karloff won the literally nuts and bolts part of the monster (photo above left) in the horror classic “Frankenstein” when he was 44; to deepen the mystery his film credit was a question mark. (Above right) Moonlight at the Ranch Special Guest Sara Karloff stands before a montage of legends of horror film, including her father’s famed portrayal (upper left) of Frankenstein’s Monster. |
Moonlight: ‘Frankenstein’ launched a monster of a career for Karloff
September 05, 2012
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
When he was 9 years old he played the demon king in “Cinderella,” which he later said launched him on a long and happy life of being a monster. And when Boris Karloff finally started that horror journey he was 44 and on the edge of starvation - and his first big film role didn’t contain any dialogue in the literally nuts and bolts part of Frankenstein’s Monster, for which his only screen credit was “?”.
But Karloff left a mark on cinema history with his film introduction of the monster, first penned by English author Mary Shelley in 1818. Although a low-budget production, James Whale, one of Universal Studios few remaining auteur directors, and his actors, designers and assistants so infused “Frankenstein” with vision and talent that the film remains a masterpiece of horror.
In real life, the monster, said his daughter Sara Karloff, “was one of the nicest, kindest funniest men in the world.... He left a remarkable legacy both personally and professionally.”
It’s hard to separate the two when speaking of Karloff and the career that roamed from bit player to horror film icon and stage to television, including voicing holiday classics for the large fan base of the children he loved. Karloff the actor and his famous portrayal of Frankenstein’s Monster are being honored at the September 22 Moonlight at the Ranch VI: “Creatures of the Night!”
Karloff’s friend and frequent co-star, the late Bela Lugosi, is also being honored for his career, including his portrayal of Count Dracula in “Dracula” also released in 1931. Sara Karloff and Lugosi’s son, Bela Lugosi Jr. will be special guests at Moonlight, Ventura County’s signature celebration benefiting the Santa Paula Police & Fire Foundation and Chamber of Commerce.
Held at Limoneira Ranch Headquarters, it is expected that many Moonlight guests will dress in costume to reflect the “Creatures of the Night!” theme. No doubt that evening there will be more than one Frankenstein’s Monster lumbering through Limoneira Ranch, but through the decades no one better portrayed the manmade monster than Karloff, whose portrayal seamlessly combined menacing and sad, compassionate and horrific.
Born William Henry Pratt on November 23, 1887 in Camberwell, London, England, the actor’s family was a distinguished one. “He was the youngest of nine children,” said Sara Karloff, and her father and his seven brothers - but not their sister - were bound for diplomatic service. Educated at London University, “Whenever he had the opportunity to sneak away from his studies, he went to the theater.”
When Karloff was 21 he left England “with 100 pounds in his pocket. He was determined to become an actor,” said Sara, “with absolutely no training whatsoever,” and when he arrived in British Columbia he worked as a farmhand.
He adopted the stage name Boris Karloff and spent a decade learning his craft, including portraying himself as an actor to theaters. “He told the story on himself that when the curtain went up on his first performance his salary was $30 a week... and when it came down it was $15. It was abundantly clear he had never stepped on a stage in his life.”
But Karloff did work with three repertory theaters, acting and doing odd jobs - whatever it took to stay in the theater, including performing weekly in multiple productions. Karloff toured the United States and finally ended up in Hollywood, where, Sara said, “he spent 10 years unnoticed as an extra... he’d say he often played the third man from the left in the fourth row.”
His ethnic looks soon led to bit parts, and then finally a break of sorts with the Howard Hawks directed “The Criminal Code” on stage and on film. Sara said it came not a moment too soon: “He’d been a starving actor in Hollywood for 10 years,” literally at times on the brink of starvation, “before he had the opportunity to audition as Frankenstein’s Monster.”
Lon Chaney Sr. had died unexpectedly and Bela Lugosi had turned down the part of the monster when director Whale saw Karloff in the studio commissary and invited him to his table. Whale had Karloff work with makeup genius Jack Pierce for two weeks perfecting the look of the monster, “Then they shot some scenes... the rest was cinema history” when Karloff was given the part.
“It was my father’s 81st film, and he always said no one had seen the first 80; he was 44 years old” when cast as the monster. “You really have to have the fire in the belly to stick to it like that,” said Sara. “He was passionate about being an actor, loved the profession, loved what he did,” although the role took its toll.
“He had a minor back problem going into it” from years of hard labor that was acerbated by his costume, “and my father lost 25 pounds during filming... it was made in the heat of August in Los Angeles and it was a very grueling role. The wardrobe weighed close to 70 pounds; Father was very, very thin.”
Even more amazing than the false bulk of the monster was his real height: the asphalt spreader’s boots the monster wore only added about 2” to Karloff’s natural frame. Sara said the camera angles created the illusion of the monster’s height, and “the shortening of the jacket made his arms very long... and the people acting around him were not that tall. The struts on his legs created the gait” that carried the monster through Frankenstein’s Castle and the studio-created Bavarian countryside.
The film created a sensation and made Karloff a star, a portrayal that launched a varied career that lasted the remainder of his life, although Frankenstein’s Monster remained his most recognizable role. “He was always grateful,” said Sara. “He did not mind being typecast; Father felt he was very lucky, that any actor that had a trademark was very fortunate in their profession, no matter what it might be.... He took the advice given by Lon Chaney Sr. to find something you can do, and then do it better than anyone else.”
And Karloff indeed did Frankenstein better than anyone else: “He felt - as many did including children - that they were not afraid of the creature,” the “victim of Dr. Frankenstein, the perpetuator... which came through very clearly through my father’s empathetic and sympathetic portrayal.... He played the role with great pathos,” a performance acclaimed by audiences and critics alike.
Many more monster and villain roles interspersed with other characters followed in film - more than 170 in all - with theatrical time outs for Broadway and other productions, where Karloff offered straight drama and even comedy.
His first Broadway play was the 1941 comedy smash hit “Arsenic and Old Lace” in a role written for him. Karloff played Jonathan Brewster, whose face has been changed by a disreputable plastic surgeon named Dr. Einstein so that he now looks like Boris Karloff. He also performed the role in the road company of the production that ran for years.
Karloff’s favorite roles came “at different times for different reasons,” ranging from friendships and respect such as with “Frankenstein” co-producer Val Lewton, who worked with Karloff on several productions that Sara said “were beautifully shot and very atmospheric,” to the on-set antics with horror co-stars Vincent Price and Peter Lorre in Roger Corman productions that “drove Roger crazy.”
One of Karloff’s last great roles was for Peter Bogdanovich’s first film, the 1968 “Targets” where the master of monsters - known affectionately in the film business as the “Go To Ghoul” - played an aging horror star. “My father had a soliloquy in it and delivered it in one take... the whole crew applauded. Father got tears in his eyes, that was his last great film... it was a nice exit, a nice moment.”
He was in “The Lark” on Broadway - and nominated for a Tony - starring with Julie Harris, and also portrayed Captain Hook in “Peter Pan” - a role he relished especially “when all the kids came backstage.... He had an enormous body of work” that Sara said included a Grammy for his narration - in addition to voicing the Grinch - of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” a voice still heard today in seasonal television reruns.
Karloff was rarity among actors as in 1949 as he embraced the new medium of television, and his career encompassed everything from appearing on variety shows to having his own anthology series, “Thriller” broadcast for years.
“He turned around his boogeyman image, spoofed himself,” and, said Sara, “He owned Halloween” through generations of monsters, “and was the Grinch every Christmas.... He was a big part of two holidays each year.”
And he was also a big part of the Screen Actors Guild, becoming a founding member in 1933 of a group viewed by studios with resentment and suspicion and as a very risky career move for actors. “Once he gained a voice he felt strong to give voice to actors not yet in his position,” but Karloff, who stayed on the SAG board and whose card was number 9, “felt it imperative to give some sort of protection to upcoming actors... before that they were just a piece of meat.”
Sara Karloff didn’t see “Frankenstein” until she was 19 years old. Born on her father’s birthday - “He said it certainly made me his most expensive birthday present!” - years after the film was released, Sara waited to see her father’s portrayal, although her childhood included visits to sets and viewing of her father’s other movies.
“I don’t like scary movies to this day... I leave the room during ‘Murder She Wrote.’ So I first saw ‘Frankenstein’ on television. I had heard and read so much about it, I watched it very studiously.” And, she noted, “I could always see my father in whatever roles he played.”
All in all though, “He was a very modest, self-effacing man that did not bring his work home, although I wish he had brought home posters and props and things like that... wouldn’t that have been nice? Many of his friends were in the business, but not in front of the camera.... He was passionate about reading and of course, being English, gardening... he was the antithesis of the roles he played.”
Sara “never” thought of becoming an actor: “When my dad was in ‘Peter Pan” back East I watched it from every angle, and at the end of my visit he said he could tell I didn’t have that fire in my belly... that I paid more attention to Nana the dog than I did to him!”
The widow with two sons and three grandchildren - none of whom are involved in acting or the film business - formed Karloff Enterprises (www.karloff.com) in 1993, devoted to her legendary father that offers books and collectibles as well information about the star. Sara makes regular appearances at conventions and symposiums and is pleased at the reception she always receives.
“The nice thing about being my father’s daughter is he is one of the only people in the business nothing negative is ever said about.... When I do conventions I have three days of people saying nothing but nice things to me. It’s delightful! The appeal of my father as a human being and the long legs of his career is multigenerational.”
Sara said her father, who died in 1969 at age 81, would not believe that he is still so highly regarded and fondly remembered: “He wouldn’t understand it, he would say ‘What is the big deal?’ He felt he was the luckiest man alive,” even through his last decade of life when he battled physical and health problems. But he was still acting: “He would be in a wheelchair on oxygen, and when it was his turn to do a scene he would gather himself together and be amazing.”
Also amazing is Karloff’s legacy and place in American culture. “I am nothing but a conduit for my father’s fans,” said Sara. “It’s what the fans make of it, it’s because of the personality of my father and his legacy. You can’t make this stuff up,” she said, “you get caught if you do.”
For more information on the September 22 Moonlight at the Ranch VI: “Creatures of the Night!” visit www.moonlightattheranch.com - be sure to “Like” Moonlight on Facebook.
Tickets to the celebration - each year a sell-out - are only $60 each and can be charged by calling 805-525-1890, reserved prepaid on the website, and purchased in Santa Paula at the Santa Paula Times, 944 E. Main St., Chamber of Commerce 200 N. 10th St., and The Best of VC Marketplace, 108 N. 10th Street. In Ventura visit The Wine Rack, 14 S. California Street.
This year a “feasting table” can be reserved with the purchase of eight tickets. This offer is available only by request at the Santa Paula Times and via charge by phone orders.
