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| 1 | According to the authorized Karloff bio by Stephen Jacobs, the acting troupe Karloff was part of in 1912, touring Canadian cities and towns, was running out of money, the person in charge was drinking away their savings, and the troupe was on the verge of breaking up. Karloff himself was considering giving up on acting and becoming a farmer in the province of Saskatchewan where the troupe was touring in June of 1912. They were in Regina, Saskatchewan the day an F4 tornado ripped through the prairie city, killing 28 (including a couple that had missed their ride on the Titanic months earlier) and left thousands homeless. Karloff and others helped in the recovery effort and the troupe got back together to put on benefit performances, donating half the proceeds of each to the recovery effort. |
| 2 | Karloff's last words to his wife as he was dying of pneumonia were "Walter Pidgeon.". |
| 3 | He was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 1737 Vine Street; and for Television at 6664 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California. |
| 4 | He appeared with Bela Lugosi in eight films:Gift of Gab (1934) The Black Cat (1934), The Raven (1935), The Invisible Ray (1936), Son of Frankenstein (1939), You'll Find Out (1940), Black Friday (1940) and The Body Snatcher (1945). |
| 5 | He was a distant cousin of Quentin Crisp. Karloff's real name was William Henry Pratt while Crisp's was Denis Pratt. Karloff appeared in Bride of Frankenstein (1935) while Crisp appeared in the remake The Bride (1985). |
| 6 | He has three roles in common with his Corridors of Blood (1958) and The Crimson Cult (1968) co-star Christopher Lee: (1) Karloff played Frankenstein's Monster in Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Son of Frankenstein (1939) while Lee played him in The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), (2) Karloff played the Mummy in The Mummy (1932) while Lee played him in The Mummy (1959), (3) Karloff played Dr. Fu Manchu in The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) while Lee played him in The Face of Fu Manchu (1965), The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966), The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967), The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968) and Sax Rohmer's The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969) and (4) Karloff played Grigori Rasputin in Suspense: The Black Prophet (1953) while Lee played him in Rasputin: The Mad Monk (1966). |
| 7 | Was a huge fan and avid follower of rugby and cricket. |
| 8 | He is commemorated by a plaque on the wall of 36 Forest Hill Road, Camberwell, London. |
| 9 | Insured himself against "premature aging" due to the heavy stage makeup and prosthetics he often worked in. |
| 10 | His performance as Frankenstein's Monster was an inspiration for the Marvel comics character the Incredible Hulk. |
| 11 | Domestic partner of Olive de Wilton (1916-1919). |
| 12 | Karloff was considered such an anonymous actor by Universal that he was not invited to the December 6, 1931 premiere of Frankenstein (1931). |
| 13 | Almost 25 years after his death, he appeared in archive footage taken from Bride of Frankenstein (1935) in the opening credits of Weird Science (1994). The same is true of Ernest Thesiger. |
| 14 | Karloff got the role in The Criminal Code (1931), a breakthrough role for him, because he was broke. He could not go to the Masquers Club because he could not pay his dues and could not afford his second choice, a cup of coffee, so he went to Actors' Equity, where he learned that there was casting for the role. |
| 15 | Karloff was one of the 12 original founders of the Screen Actors Guild and held SAG card #9. |
| 16 | In his book, "Mark of the Werewolf", novelist Jeffrey Sackett has a character named William Henry Pratt. The character's description fits Karloff perfectly. |
| 17 | His siblings pushed him toward a career in government service, but he turned to acting instead. |
| 18 | He was raised by his older brothers and a stepsister. |
| 19 | He was the youngest of eight sons. |
| 20 | Both of Karloff's parents died when he was still a child. |
| 21 | The mad scientist character in the Bugs Bunny short Water, Water Every Hare (1952) is patterned after Boris right down to his slight lisp and heavy eyebrows. |
| 22 | Never legally changed his name to Boris Karloff. He always signed contracts and documents as "William Henry Pratt aka Boris Karloff". |
| 23 | Maintained an apartment in New York's The Dakota apartment house. |
| 24 | Took out his false teeth to achieve the metamorphosis in The Haunted Strangler (1958). |
| 25 | Rejected by the British Army in World War I, because of a heart murmur. |
| 26 | Once did a television commercial for A-1 Steak Sauce. |
| 27 | He was Christopher Lee's neighbor for many years. |
| 28 | His voice was the basis for future Tony the Tiger commercials by Kellogg's. |
| 29 | Although he will forever be linked to Frankenstein's Monster, Karloff actually played Frankenstein's creation only three times--once in the original Frankenstein (1931), again in Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and finally in Son of Frankenstein (1939). He played Dr. Frankenstein only once, in Frankenstein 1970 (1958). |
| 30 | Raised rare Bedlington Terriers while he lived in Brentwood, California. One day he was walking them with his four-year old daughter Sara Karloff when they broke free and they ran up to an inebriated man stumbling down the street. The drunk begged Karloff for a ride to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, claiming he "just saw three sheep bark!". Karloff obliged. |
| 31 | He was the biggest star to lend his voice to a sound effect. Universal added his anguished scream over the dead Ygor from Son of Frankenstein (1939) to its stock sound effects library and used it for subsequent films, including House of Frankenstein (1944) (the cry when Daniel the hunchback falls from the roof). |
| 32 | He is commemorated by a plaque inside St. Paul's Church (The Actors' Church), Covent Garden, London. |
| 33 | Was one of the founding members of the Screen Actors Guild. His daughter recounts that, due to the Hollywood studio chiefs' distrust of unions and their attempts to keep them from forming, he always carried a roll of dimes in his pocket. This was because he had to use pay phones when conducting union business, since he knew his home phone had been tapped. |
| 34 | He celebrated his 51st birthday during the production of Son of Frankenstein (1939) and remarked that he received the best birthday present ever: the birth of his daughter Sara Karloff. He reportedly rushed from the set to the hospital in full makeup and costume. |
| 35 | During the production of Frankenstein (1931) there was some concern that seven-year-old Marilyn Harris, who played Maria, the little girl thrown into the lake by the creature, would be overly frightened by the sight of Karloff in costume and make-up when it came time to shoot the scene. When the cast was assembled to travel to the location, Marilyn ran from her car directly up to Karloff, who was in full make-up and costume, took his hand and asked "May I drive with you?". Delighted, and in typical Karloff fashion, he responded, "Would you, darling?". She then rode to the location with "The Monster". |
| 36 | When he died, the New York Times obituary featured a picture of Frankenstein's monster. Unfortunately, the image was actually Glenn Strange in full makeup, not Karloff. |
| 37 | A photo of him keeping wicket while C. Aubrey Smith was batting was included in a display in the Long Room at Lord's cricket ground in 2004. The display was to celebrate Sussex (the oldest county side) winning the County Championship for the first time and the photo was included because Smith had been a captain of Sussex CCC. |
| 38 | Played cricket for Enfield Cricket Club (just north of London, England) before emigrating, and the club has his picture hanging in the pavilion. |
| 39 | He appeared in 80 films before his breakthrough role in Frankenstein (1931). |
| 40 | Refused to reprise his role as Frankenstein's Monster in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), because he felt spoofs would not sell to the audience. He did agree to do publicity for the film and posed for pictures of himself going to see the film. |
| 41 | According to daughter Sara Karloff, he had to have three major back surgeries in his lifetime as a result of carrying Colin Clive up the stairs of the windmill in the climax of Frankenstein (1931). |
| 42 | On June 30, 1912, a then-unknown Karloff had taken some time off to canoe while touring around the city of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. When he came back to the city, he returned to find his accommodation had been destroyed by a tornado that killed 28. He organized a concert that raised some much needed funds for the city. |
| 43 | Often thought of as a very large man, he was in reality a slim man of medium height. He wore huge lifts and much padding to give him the massive look as Frankenstein's monster. |
| 44 | 1956: He was a celebrity contestant on The $64,000 Question (1955). The category he chose was children's fairy tales. He won the $32,000 level and quit due to tax considerations. |
| 45 | He would mark his lines in the script. Jack Nicholson saw this and adopted the procedure himself. |
| 46 | In the final years of his life, walking, and even just standing, became a painful ordeal. Some directors would change the script to place Karloff's character in a wheelchair, so that he would be more comfortable. |
| 47 | When he traveled to England to shoot The Ghoul (1933), it was the first time in nearly 25 years that he returned to his home country and reunited with the surviving members of his family. |
| 48 | His first Broadway play was "Arsenic and Old Lace" in a role that was written for him. He 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 this production. |
| 49 | His favorite author was Joseph Conrad. In the 1950s, he was cast as Kurtz in a production of Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" on Playhouse 90 (1956). |
| 50 | He had East Indian heritage on his father's side, which gave Karloff a dark skin tone. In several films, he was cast in roles such as Arabs and American Indians. |
| 51 | Suffered from chronic back trouble for most of his adult life, the result of the heavy brace he had to wear as part of his Frankenstein costume. He never let it slow him up, though, and kept active to the end of his life. |
| 52 | When told by a mutual friend that Bobby Pickett, who recorded the hit song "Monster Mash", was a huge fan of his, Karloff replied, "Tell him I enjoy his record very much." Pickett still considers that the greatest compliment he has ever gotten, and Karloff eventually sang the song himself on a television special. |
| 53 | In contrast to the image he presented in most of his films, the private Karloff was, by every account, a quiet, bookish man off- screen. A true gentleman, he had many friends, both in and out of show business, and he was particularly fond of children. For the latter, among other things, he recorded many successful albums of children's stories. |
| 54 | A photograph of Karloff in his Frankenstein (1931) monster makeup appears on one stamp of a sheet of 10 USA 37¢ commemorative postage stamps, issued 25 February 2003, celebrating American Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes. The stamp, which honors makeup artists, shows Jack P. Pierce and an unidentified assistant applying the monster makeup. |
| 55 | Pictured on two of a set of five 32¢ US commemorative postage stamps, issued 30 September 1997, celebrating "Famous Movie Monsters". He is shown on one stamp as the title character in The Mummy (1932) and on the other as the monster in Frankenstein (1931). Other actors honored in this set of stamps, and the classic monsters they portray, are Lon Chaney as The Phantom of the Opera (1925); Bela Lugosi as Dracula (1931); and Lon Chaney Jr. as The Wolf Man (1941). |
| 56 | He was considered a late bloomer in Hollywood; Frankenstein (1931) premiered when he was 44 years old. |
| 57 | Shares a birthday with his daughter Sara Karloff. |
| 58 | Received a Tony Award nomination in 1956 for his dramatic role in "The Lark". |
| 59 | Great-nephew of Anna Leonowens. |
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