Boris Karloff...

He was born William Henry Pratt in London, England.

I worked in North Conway again today and on the hour and twenty minute ride home I was thinking about my blog and the fact that Tina had told me earlier in the day that she was reading my blog and left a comment. I started thinking about my horror roots and of course, it brought me to Boris Karloff. I admit, Dracula was always my favorite horror character... at least till Pinhead came on the scene in the 80's. However, my favorite "horror" actor has always been Boris Karloff. The presence he brought to the screen was powerful with his strong facial expression and his distinctive voice. Yet, we know him best for a role in which he merely grunted and yelled. Frankenstein's monster was brought to life by Boris Karloff. It's interesting to me that Karloff was only given the role of the monster after Bela Lugosi rejected the role. I bet Lugosi kicked himself in the ass everyday for the rest of his life after that grave mistake! Karloff had a long movie and TV career throughout his life. He played The Mummy in 1932. He was in the original Scarface in the 30's as well. From 1916 - 1971 (several released after his death in 1969) Boris Karloff was in 160 movies. Early years were silent films. One of my favorite roles for him was a voice over narrating the 1966 movie "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". His voice was perfect for the role. He did many more movies that were not in the horror genre than were. Yet, he will forever be known as Frankenstein's monster. Short clip of the introduction of the monster in the 1931 classic at the end of this post.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Boris Karloff (23 November, 1887 – 2 February, 1969) was an English actor who emigrated to Canada in the 1910s. He is best known for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the 1931 film Frankenstein. His popularity following Frankenstein in the early 1930s was such that for a brief time he was billed simply as "Karloff" or, on some movie posters, "Karloff the Uncanny".

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