Boris Karloff
The 1931 film Frankenstein brought Boris Karloff to wide attention when he portrayed the Monster in that production.
Karloff was born William Henry Pratt on 23 November 1887 in Dulwich, England. He held both British and American citizenship and worked in the English language throughout his career. His formal education took him through Enfield Grammar School and Uppingham School before he attended King's College London. He worked as both a stage actor and a film actor over the course of his professional life.
His dual citizenship reflected a life connected to both the United Kingdom and the United States. His occupations across his career included work on stage as well as in film, and his use of the English language ran through both areas of his practice as a performer.
Karloff died on 2 February 1969 in Midhurst, England. His career had encompassed stage acting and film acting, and the record of his work as a performer in both mediums stands as the concrete measure of his professional life.
Quotes by Boris Karloff
When I was nine I played the Demon King in Cinderella and it launched me on a long and happy life of being a monster.
It grossed something like 12 million dollars and started a cycle of so-called boy-meets-ghoul horror films.
Certainly I was typed. But what is typing? It is a trademark, a means by which the public recognizes you. Actors work all their lives to achieve that. I got mine with just one picture. It was a blessing.
