- He appeared in 80 films before his breakthrough role in Frankenstein (1931).
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- He was Christopher Lee's neighbor for many years.
- Karloff was considered such an anonymous actor by Universal that he was not invited to the December 6, 1931 premiere of Frankenstein (1931).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Maintained an apartment in New York's The Dakota apartment house.
- 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.
- 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).
- Both of Karloff's parents died when he was still a child.
- 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).
- He was considered a late bloomer in Hollywood; Frankenstein (1931) premiered when he was 44 years old.
- Never legally changed his name to Boris Karloff. Outside of film industry he always went by William or Bill Pratt. He always signed contracts and documents as "William Henry Pratt aka Boris Karloff". His daughter, Sara Karloff, legally changed her last name to Karloff for professional reasons.
- He appeared with Bela Lugosi in eight films: Gift of Gab (1934) The Black Cat (1934), The Raven (1935), The Invisible Ray (1935), Son of Frankenstein (1939), You'll Find Out (1940), Black Friday (1940) and The Body Snatcher (1945).
- 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.
- His siblings pushed him toward a career in government service, but he turned to acting instead.
- 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".
- Played cricket for Enfield Cricket Club (just north of London, England) before emigrating, and the club has his picture hanging in the pavilion.
- His performance as Frankenstein's Monster was an inspiration for the Marvel comics character the Incredible Hulk.
- 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.
- 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.
- His daughter Sara wasn't informed by her former stepmother and Karloff's widow, Evelyn Hope that her father had died, nor that he had been cremated. Allegedly, Evelyn had excluded everyone from his deathbed.
- 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.
- 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.
- Once did a television commercial for A-1 Steak Sauce.
- He is commemorated by a plaque on the wall of 36 Forest Hill Road, Camberwell, London.
- Shares a birthday with his daughter Sara Karloff.
- 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).
- Insured himself against "premature aging" due to the heavy stage makeup and prosthetics he often worked in.
- He would mark his lines in the script. Jack Nicholson saw this and adopted the procedure himself.
- Once frightened a passerby as he was watering his own flowers whilst in his full Frankenstein make-up.
- 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.
- 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).
- Received a Tony Award nomination in 1956 for his dramatic role in "The Lark".
- Although he was fond of embellishing his past and telling that "Karloff" was a last name he had plucked from a relative, his daughter Sara made it clear that there was no such ancestor in his family tree, as he had no Slavic or Russian roots whatsoever. As uncovered by Canada historian Greg Nesteroff, the most likely truth is that William Henry Pratt took the stage name "Boris Karloff" from the character in a 1904 book by Harold MacGrath called "The Man on the Box", which was made into a play in 1905 and later, films starting in 1914. Prophetically, a passage in the book about "Count Karloff" seemed to foretell the actor's own spooky future, as a character says: "'I wonder if I'll run into Karloff.' Karloff! The name chilled him, somehow.".
- He was the youngest of eight sons.
- His hobbies included growing roses, drinking tea, cricket and watching rugby.
- Rejected by the British Army in World War I, because of a heart murmur.
- 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.
- Karloff got the role in The Criminal Code (1930), 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.
- Karloff was one of the 12 original founders of the Screen Actors Guild and held SAG card #9.
- Was on very good terms with Christopher Lee.
- According to his daughter, Sara Karloff, his favorite film of his was Targets (1968) and his favorite actor was George Kennedy.
- 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.
- He was raised by his older brothers and a stepsister.
- 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.
- Although he came close in a deleted scene from The Mummy (1932), much like fellow horror actor, Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff never once got to share a kiss with a female co-star in a romantic scene during his entire Hollywood career. This was in part attributed to the fact that Karloff was dark-skinned due to his Indian heritage, and it would not have been acceptable in the old Hollywood of his era.
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