Halloween - Profile of Boris Karloff, Legendary Horror Actor

He was the Best Frankenstein's Monster

As we get nearer and nearer to Halloween, we always think of the famous ghosts and monsters of the silver screen that have scared us over the years.

From a mummy staggering out of an Egyptian tomb to a killer in a mask chasing High School students, All Souls Eve on 31st October is the best – or worst – day for thrills and chills, and the time classic horror movies come back to haunt us all.

Frankenstein’s monster and Dracula are probably the two most iconic horror characters across the world, but the actors who have played them often find themselves forever immortalized by fangs or a bolt through the neck - even the mention of their name brings to mind dark corners in remote castles.

Boris Karloff will always be one of the true icons of horror for his performance as the monster in Frankenstein (1931) and with Elsa Lanchester in Bride of Frankenstein (1935), but off-screen he was very different.

Not many people know that he was one of the founders of the Screen Actor’s Guild, and was outspoken about dangerous working conditions on sets. He would carry a role of dimes in his pocket for payphones because he knew his home phone was tapped – such was the studio’s distrust of unions. Known as a true gentleman, Karloff recorded many successful albums of children's stories and gave generously to charity – a very different image from the one we might imagine.

Born on November 23, 1887 in London, William Henry Pratt was the son of a Deputy Commissioner of Customs, Salt and Opium, and his maternal grandmother was a sister of Anna Leonowens, whose stories were the basis of the musical “The King and I”. It was through Anna that Karloff claimed his distant East Indian ancestry, although he often said he was Russian in order to explain his exotic looks.