- [on whether he resented being typed as a "horror star"] One always hears of actors complaining of being typed - if he's young, he's typed as a juvenile; if he's handsome, he's typed as a leading man. I was lucky. Whereas bootmakers have to spend millions to establish a trademark, I was handed a trademark free of charge. When an actor gets in a position to select his own roles, he's in big trouble, for he never knows what he can do best. I'm sure I'd be damn good as little Lord Fauntleroy, but who would pay ten cents to see it?
- 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.
- My wife has good taste. She has seen very few of my movies.
- [In 1936, on his appeal to children, who empathized with the monster] I don't really scare them any more than do Jungle Jim, Dan Dunn, Tarzan, and the other heroes of the comic sections.
- You could heave a brick out of the window and hit ten actors who could play my parts. I just happened to be on the right corner at the right time.
- The monster was the best friend I ever had.
- [on his rival, Bela Lugosi] Poor old Bela, it was a strange thing. He was really a shy, sensitive, talented man who had a fine career on the classical stage in Europe, but he made a fatal mistake. He never took the trouble to learn our language. He had real problems with his speech and difficulty interpreting lines.
- My dear old monster. I owe everything to him. He's my best friend.
- My leg in a steel brace... operating with only half a lung... why, it's a public scandal that I'm still around. But as long as the people want me, I feel an obligation to go on performing. After all, every time I act I provide employment for a fleet of doubles.
- I am a very lucky man. Here I am in my 80th year, and I am still able to earn my bread and butter at my profession. I am one of that very small family of the human race who happens to thoroughly enjoy his work. If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't go on.
- [on Jack P. Pierce] The best make-up man in the world. I owe him a lot.
- Most actors, you know, come out here with contracts from New York. They have gone through their hardships back East, and once in Hollywood, everything is easy on them. But I can remember standing outside little one-arm restaurants along Hollywood Boulevard and wishing I had an extra dime - for a couple of doughnuts to go with my coffee.
- Horror means something revolting. Anybody can show you a pailful of innards. But the object of the roles I played is not to turn your stomach - but merely to make your hair stand on end.
- 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.
- [on his pet hate] Background music in films. I know my films have it too - the heavy, sinister stuff. But I still think background music is an insult to the intelligence of audiences. The mood should be conveyed by the action and not have to be underlined. There was that Hitchcock film Lifeboat (1944) in which three or four people were floating on a boat in the middle of the ocean. But from nowhere at all there came a celestial choir on the soundtrack. It's so silly.
- [on his then current studio AIP] James Nicholon and Samuel Arkoff, the bosses, and everyone connected with AIP show me wonderful kindness and consideration. And their standards of production, writing, directing and color are very fine.
- [on animals] I am very fond of dogs and used to keep them when I was in Hollywood. But we have an apartment in London, and I don't think one should have a dog without a garden for it to run in.
- Of course, there are always things you see in your own films that you feel could have been done better. But once a film is finished, it's too late to do anything about it. The ship has sailed and one's mistakes are embalmed. But you can learn something for the next time.
- [on his last wife, Evelyn Hope, as reported by daughter Sara Karloff, regarding his ambushed appearance in This Is Your Life (1950) TV show] She sold me out for a washer and dryer!
- [As told in her biography, Dear Boris, asking his friend, Cynthia Lindsay to not publicize his marriage to Evelyn Hope] I'd appreciate it if you keep this our secret. The papers will get it, but I don't want anyone nosing around. I have been married four times before--they didn't matter really, mostly, but it would be nicer for Evie not to have it mentioned.
- [in 1963, when asked if he did a lot of preparation & study like method actors] Well, I have my own opinion about the method actors; I don't think a great deal of it and perhaps I can put it in a nutshell. I believe Alfred Lunt was asked that question. How he prepared before he went on. The stage, this is. And he thought for a moment and he said 'Well, I stand in the wings, I listen for my cue, I check my fly, go on and try not to bump into people' and that was his method and I think that's about mine.
- [on his alleged meeting with Lon Chaney] I did not dream that within a few years, Lon Chaney would be dead and that I would get my chance in roles similar to those which were even then making him famous. I do not consider myself a second Chaney.
- [responding to J. Eugene Chrisman's saccharine ode dedicated to him in a published in a 1935 magazine's open letter] I should correct the story that I will not tolerate a fly-swatter in my house because of my dread of taking a life, even that of an insect. (...) You should see me going through the snails in my garden like a destroying angel.
- [Losing his temper while speaking about the Italian people, when told that an Italian hotelier was unimpressed with Karloff staying at his hotel] They're venal, the Romans are venal, venal, venal!
- [on his brother, George Marlowe] "Despite the fact that George was an extraordinarily handsome man, he never went very far on the stage, which was the reason he gave it up for a city job. But I tried to emulate him."
- [on Marilyn Monroe & How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)] Marilyn & I have something in common: [that performance] could become for her what Frankenstein was for me. (...) Marilyn is probably grateful for the attention--not to mention the cash--her monster has won for her, just as I am. But can you imagine that girl living up to what she looks like?
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