page_title: Boris Karloff
section_title: Early films
hierarchical_section_title: Boris Karloff / Hollywood / Early films
caption_attribution_description: Promotional photo of Boris Karloff from The Bride of Frankenstein as Frankenstein's monster.
context_page_description: William Henry Pratt, better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor who was primarily known for his roles in horror films. He portrayed Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein and Son of Frankenstein. He also appeared as Imhotep in The Mummy.
  In non-horror roles, he is best known to modern audiences for narrating and as the voice of the Grinch in the animated television special of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. For his contribution to film and television, Karloff was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
context_section_description: Once Karloff arrived in Hollywood, he made dozens of silent films, but this work was sporadic, and he often had to take up manual labour such as digging ditches or delivering construction plaster to earn a living.
  His first on screen role was in a film serial, The Lightning Raider (1919) with Pearl White. He was in another serial, The Masked Rider (1919), the first of his appearances to survive.
  Karloff could also be seen in His Majesty, the American (1919) with Douglas Fairbanks, The Prince and Betty (1919), The Deadlier Sex (1920), and The Courage of Marge O'Doone (1920). He played an Indian in The Last of the Mohicans (1920) and he would often be cast as an Arab or Indian in his early films.
  Karloff's first major role came in a film serial, The Hope Diamond Mystery (1920). He was Indian in Without Benefit of Clergy (1921) and an Arab in Cheated Hearts (1921) and villainous in The Cave Girl (1921). He was a maharajah in The Man from Downing Street (1922), a Nabob in The Infidel (1922) and had roles in The Altar Stairs (1922), Omar the Tentmaker (1922) (as an Imam), The Woman Conquers (1922), The Gentleman from America (1923), The Prisoner (1923) and the serial Riders of the Plains (1923).
  Karloff did a Western, The Hellion (1923), and a drama, Dynamite Dan (1924). He could be seen in Parisian Nights (1925), Forbidden Cargo (1925), The Prairie Wife (1925) and the serial Perils of the Wild (1925).
  Karloff went back to bit part status in Never the Twain Shall Meet (1925) directed by Maurice Tourneur but he had a good support role in Lady Robinhood (1925).
  Karloff went on to be in The Greater Glory (1926), Her Honor, the Governor (1926), The Bells (1926) (as a mesmerist), The Nickel-Hopper (1926), The Golden Web (1926), The Eagle of the Sea (1926), Flames (1926), Old Ironsides (1926), Flaming Fury (1926), Valencia (1926), The Man in the Saddle (1926), Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1927) (as an African), Let It Rain (1927), The Meddlin' Stranger (1927), The Princess from Hoboken (1927), The Phantom Buster (1927), and Soft Cushions (1927).
  Karloff had roles in Two Arabian Knights (1927), The Love Mart (1927), The Vanishing Rider (1928) (a serial), Burning the Wind (1928), Vultures of the Sea (1928), and The Little Wild Girl (1928).
  He was in The Devil's Chaplain (1929), The Fatal Warning (1929) for Richard Thorpe, The Phantom of the North (1929), Two Sisters (1929), Anne Against the World (1929), Behind That Curtain (1929), and The King of the Kongo (1929), a serial directed by Thorpe.
  Karloff had an uncredited bit part in The Unholy Night (1930) directed by Lionel Barrymore, and bigger parts in The Bad One (1930),The Sea Bat (1930) (directed by Barrymore), and The Utah Kid (1930) directed by Thorpe.
caption: Karloff in Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
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