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Boris Karloff (November 23, 1887 - February 2,
1969), born William Henry Pratt, was a famous
actor in horror films.

A son of Edward John Pratt Jr, the Deputy
Commissioner of Customs, Salt and Opium, Northern
Division, Indian Salt Revenue Service, and his
third wife, Eliza Sarah Millard, the future actor
was born in Camberwell, London, and brought up in
Enfield. His maternal grandmother was Eliza Julia
Edwards, a sister of Anna Leonowens, whose stories
about life in the royal court of Siam were the
basis of the musical "The King and I". Through
her, Karloff could claim East Indian ancestry, as
it seems that Eliza Edwards and her sister, Anna,
were the children of a mixed-race marriage.
Karloff, however, often claimed Russian ancestry
to explain his exotic looks, though his daughter
Sara Karloff publicly denied any knowledge of
Slavic peoples|Slavic forebears.

Orphaned in his youth, he was raised by his elder
brothers and sister and attended Enfield Grammar
School before moving to Uppingham School in
Rutland, and eventually the University of London.
Karloff's first goal in life was to join the
foreign service -- his brother Sir John Henry
Pratt became a distinguished British diplomat --
but instead he fell into acting. In 1908, Pratt
travelled to Canada, changing his name to
something more in keeping with his new vocation
while on his way to an acting job in Kamloops,
British Columbia. He spent years testing the
waters in North America while living in smaller
towns like Kamloops and Prince Albert,
Saskatchewan. He also lived in Minot, North Dakota
for a year, performing in an opera house above a
hardware store. In 1912, while appearing in a play
in Regina, Saskatchewan, Karloff volunteered to be
a rescue worker following a devastating tornado.
For health reasons, he did not fight in the First
World War.

Once he arrived in California, Karloff made many
silent films, before appearing as the Frankenstein
monster|Monster in Frankenstein (1931
film)|Frankenstein (1931), the film that made him
a star. Karloff (who, in the wake of
Frankenstein's success, was billed for a time only
by his last name) was a very fine actor who played
a wide variety of roles in other genres besides
horror. He gave an excellent performance in the
1934 John Ford epic The Lost Patrol. 

In contrast to the characters he played on screen,
Karloff was known in real life as a very kindly
gentleman who gave generously especially to
children's charities. Karloff was also a charter
member of the Screen Actors Guild, and was
especially outspoken as regards working conditions
on sets (some extremely hazardous) that actors
were expected to deal with in the mid-1930s.

An enthusiastic performer, he was able to return
to the Broadway theatre|Broadway stage in the
original production of Arsenic and Old Lace
(play)|Arsenic and Old Lace in 1941, in which he
played a character enraged to be frequently
mistaken for Karloff.  Somewhat less successful
was his work in the J. B. Priestley play The
Linden Tree.  He also appeared with Jean Arthur as
Captain Hook in the play Peter Pan, and was
nominated for a Tony Award for his work opposite
Julie Harris in The Lark.

In later years, Karloff hosted and acted in a
number of television series, most notably Thriller
(TV series)|Thriller and The Veil, the latter of
which was never broadcast and only came to light
in the 1990s. In the 1960s, Karloff successfully
spoofed his image in the 1963 cult classic film
The Terror (1963 film)|The Terror, directed by
Roger Corman, and appeared as "retired horror film
actor" Byron Orlok (a lightly-disguised version of
himself) in Peter Bogdanovich's critically
acclaimed 1968 film Targets which was one of his
final film appearances.

In the mid-1960s, he narrated the famous
made-for-television animated feature How the
Grinch Stole Christmas!#Adaptations and
translations|How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Due
to an error in the credits, it is sometimes
erroneously stated that Karloff sang the famous
song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" but this was
in fact voice actor Thurl Ravenscroft. 

After battling emphysema for a number of years,
Boris Karloff died from its complications at his
home in Midhurst, Sussex, England on February 2,
1969 at the age of 81. He was interred in the
Mount Cemetery in Guildford, Surrey, England.
However, even death could not put an immediate
halt to Karloff's media career. Three films
Karloff shot in Mexico just prior to his death
were released over a two-year period after his
passing, but were dismissed as undistinguished
efforts by critics. Also, a few years prior to his
death, he lent his name to a comic book for Gold
Key Comics entitled Boris Karloff's Tales of
Mystery. An illustrated likeness of Karloff
continued to introduce each issue of this
publication for nearly a decade after the real
Karloff died.

For his contribution to film and television, Boris
Karloff was awarded two stars on the legendary
Hollywood Walk of Fame at the following locations:

1737 Vine Street (motion pictures}

6664 Hollywood Blvd. (television}


==See also==
*List of Films of Boris Karloff|Index of Films of
Boris Karloff

==External links==
*http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000472/ His profile
in the Internet Movie Database
*http://otrcat.com/boriskarloff.htm His
appearances in radio broadcasts