Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Boris Karloff


Only this day in way, way back in 1969, Boris Karloff died at the age of eighty-one. He's probably most famous for his role in Frankenstein, but many kids might recognize his name from How The Grinch Stole Christmas. I found a few interesting facts while reading about him today ...

  • His real name was William Henry Pratt.
  • His grandmother was related to family of the royal Siam court, which was the basis of the musical The King & I.
  • Boris was bow-legged, had a lisp, and stuttered as a young boy.
  • He was very generous to children's charities.
  • Boris dressed as Santa every Christmas to give gifts to disabled kids.
  • He played Captain Hook in the theatrical play Peter Pan.
  • Boris has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
  • He won a Grammy for his spoken words in The Grinch.
  • Boris married 6 times and had only one daughter.
  • He died from pneumonia and was cremated in England.
I watch Boris every Halloween in Frankenstein. If you ever get the chance to check out the 75th anniversary edition of that film, do so because there's some great documentary footage on it. It's amazing to think that if he were still alive today, he would be 123 years old. His character will live on forever!

6 comments:

  1. I did not know he was the narrator of The Grinch Stole Christmas...all these years of watching that movie and I did not know that...I gotta pay better attention to things...grin...

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  2. I didn't know those things about Boris, particularly that he had such regular kind of name.

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  3. Okay, I admit it... I have never seen Frankenstein OR The Grinch... can we still be friends? :)

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  4. I will admit that I have seen Frankenstein. I can remember when growing up our local television station would have the old B & W horror flicks on at 11:30 on a Saturday night. I would get up after everyone went to bed and sneak in the living room to watch them...Frankenstein was one of my favorite...those were the good ole days....lol
    Thanks for the memories!!!
    Bear Hugs,
    Carol

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  5. I didn't know most of those things, neat to learn about them. I also admit I've never seen THAT Frankenstein, just the funny one Young Frankenstein. lol

    Nancy

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