Boris Karloff credited this Hollywood makeup artist with jumpstarting his career
On screen, Karloff often played a villain. Off-screen, he was a humble actor who was quick to sing the praises of his friends.
Boris Karloff made a meal of horror films. Though he starred in his fair share of frightening films, he will perhaps always be best known as the Monster in the 1931 film Frankenstein.
“Playing the monster was the turning point in my career,” Karloff said during an interview with The Times Herald. “I can only look back on him with affection...I was making a picture at Universal when the director of Frankenstein saw me in the commissary and asked if I’d like to try for the part of the monster. At the time, I didn’t nurse much private hope for the picture. But things hadn’t been so brisk for me that I could afford to turn it down.”
However, there was one man behind the scenes that Karloff credited with helping him earn the role.
“Jack Pierce, the makeup man at Universal, was the one really responsible for my getting the part,” said Karloff. “He experimented with me several weeks before the screen test, and it was probably his artistry as much as anything I did that clinched the decision.”
The role made Karloff a horror star. He later appeared in films like The Mummy (1932) and The Raven (1935). Horror was much more than an opportunity to make money. To Karloff, it was a way of life.
“We made terror and excitement pictures in those days,” said the actor. The terror wasn’t in the film for terror’s sake, but came as an outgrowth of ordinary circumstances and affected ordinary people.”
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