A friend of mine met Boris Karloff once. Bruce was just a young child at the time and Boris was an old man. Bruce freely admitted to being frightened out of his mind by Karloff, at first. Soon, though, his warmth and friendliness helped my friend past his initial fear. Speaks well of the gentleman who narrarated the Chuck Jones "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" television special...
Karloff and Lugosi--two of the greatest actors of the 20th century. A lot of good roles often didn't come Lugosi's way, but you can watch any of them, and see the work of a master. Karloff was a wonderful actor. It is still a pleasure to watch his work, hour after hour.
@@captainmobius5823 Horror of Dracula came out in 1958 or 59 - So really late 50's into early 70's. By '73, Lee was tired of those roles and went different directions, ( ie: the man with the golden gun - james bond ). And the 30's were the biggest decade for Lugosi & Karloff. Just commenting, not picking.
Boris Karloff was a tremendously underrated actor. Personally, I think that while Ray Milland gave a fine performance in "The Lost Weekend," Boris Karloff should have won the 1946 Best Actor Academy Award for his performance in "The Body Snatcher" (coincidentally the last film that had both Karloff and Lugosi in it). But of course, no one would have thought of awarding an Oscar for a performance in a B movie. AIUI, Karloff was so tired of the typecasting that was forced upon him after "Frankenstein" that he was planning to give up on movie acting, but Val Lewton's offer of more substantial roles ("The Body Snatcher," "Isle of the Dead," and "Bedlam").
Don't forget Lionel Atwill, and Basil Rathbone of course. Yes, I love that film. Ygor is a wonderfully sinister character who gets bizarrely overlooked in pop culture. When most people refer to and imitate "Igor" they almost always reference Fritz, from the first Frankenstein film, played by Dwight Frye. Lugosi takes the performance of Ygor seriously, with subtext and the way he delivers lines when Ygor is hiding something.
@@WaterShowsProd I'd like to see a colourized version of all the Classic Horror films including The Old Dark House and Jamaica Inn and others in that vein. I think I have most of them on two 100 movie Horror packs I bought at a DVD store ( when there still was such a thing ).
My dear, close friend Forrest J Ackerman wrote the script for this album, An Evening with Boris Karloff. Forry was thrilled to work with Karloff, and who wouldn’t be?
@@garykass114 Well yes, I WAS lucky, but then Forry had countless friends. My friendship with him began when I was 15 and he was 60, and he printed a letter from me in Famous Monsters of Filmland #127. I started writing to him, and he always wrote back. After we’d been pen pals for a while (and he’d printed another letter from me, in #130), we began calling each other once or twice each year (I lived in Ga. and he was in LA, and long distance was expensive in those days). Then in 1993 we finally met face to face, at a DragonCon in Atlanta. We met at a few other conventions, and in ‘97 he dedicated Ackermanthology to me, an anthology he edited of vintage science fiction stories. I had never been able to visit the Ackermansion (his home / museum), so in 2000 he paid my airfare both ways, and had me as a houseguest for 9 days and nights. I could go on and on; there’s a lot more, but I’ve bragged too much. None of this says anything about me, though; it only speaks of Forry, and of what an impossibly wonderful man he was. I’ll love him forever.
@ Well yes, I WAS lucky, but then Forry had countless friends. My friendship with him began when I was 15 and he was 60, and he printed a letter from me in Famous Monsters of Filmland #127. I started writing to him, and he always wrote back. After we'd been pen pals for a while (and he'd printed another letter from me, in #130), we began calling each other once or twice each year (I lived in Ga. and he was in LA, and long distance was expensive in those days). Then in 1993 we finally met face to face, at a DragonCon in Atlanta. We met at a few other conventions, and in '97 he dedicated Ackermanthology to me, an anthology he edited of vintage science fiction stories. I had never been able to visit the Ackermansion (his home / museum), so in 2000 he paid my airfare both ways, and had me as a houseguest for 9 days and nights. I could go on and on; there's a lot more, but l've bragged too much. None of this says anything about me, though; it only speaks of Forry, and of what an impossibly wonderful man he was. l'll love him forever.
@@garykass114 Well yes, I WAS lucky, but then Forry had countless friends. My friendship with him began when I was 15 and he was 60, and he printed a letter from me in Famous Monsters of Filmland #127. I started writing to him, and he always wrote back. After we'd been pen pals for a while (and he'd printed another letter from me, in #130), we began calling each other once or twice each year (I lived in Ga. and he was in LA, and long distance was expensive in those days). Then in 1993 we finally met face to face, at a DragonCon in Atlanta. We met at a few other conventions, and in '97 he dedicated Ackermanthology to me, an anthology he edited of vintage science fiction stories. I had never been able to visit the Ackermansion (his home / museum), so in 2000 he paid my airfare both ways, and had me as a houseguest for 9 days and nights. I could go on and on; there's a lot more, but l've bragged too much. None of this says anything about me, though; it only speaks of Forry, and of what an impossibly wonderful man he was. l'll love him forever.
I met Sara Karloff, Boris’ daughter, at a conference some years ago. She showed us home movies that showed what a sweet man her father was. His screen persona as a scary monster is a tribute to his acting skills. Both he and Bela Lugosi had performed on stage for years before entering films.
Lugosi was a terrific actor,only played Dracula twice and with no fangs! Just tremendous acting! These classics were made for Halloween 🦇! Happy Haunting!😮😮
He only played Dracula twice but he did play a vampire on other occasions, including “The Return of the Vampire” (1943) and “Mark of the Vampire” (1935).
I remember this album so vividly. Karloff goes on an audio tour of his own movies and others in the Universal canon. I’m pretty sure it was on MCA or Decca.
Lugosi might have been typecast and didn't get the roles he should have, but he has immortality as a legend of the genre , that kind of thing money can't buy.
Borax Karoff, contestant in a Warner Brothers drag derby, playing the dark horse. And again, narrating "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". A fascinating man. Would love to learn more about him.....
In a biography about Lugosi … I read there was one time he played Christ and the book showed a photo of him to prove it; but this was a play, not a movie that he did in Hungary in the 1910s …
One of my favorite scenes in _Ed Wood_ is when Wood and the cast for Plan 9 from Outer Space are at the Baptist church that Wood has convinced to finance the movie in exchange for them all being baptized. Wood (Johnny Depp) points out to Bunny Breckenridge (Bill Murray) the man he has gotten to double for the long-dead Bela Lugosi by holding his cape up to hide his face. The man, who looks nothing like Lugosi, says "I want to suck your blood!" and Breckenridge replies, "Let's hear you call Boris Karloff a cocksucker."
It’s really nice to hear Karloff speaking well of Lugosi particularly with all the rumors, myths and legends of their feuding and animosity. How nice it would have been to see them (along with other horror legends) in a true casual hang out.
My understanding is that while they weren't great friends, they were not enemies. I don't know if Bela said some unkind things later in life, as his fortunes were collapsing. But the idea that they were enemies is without foundation.
Bela Lugosi and his Morphine addition was iatrogenic, caused by a medical doctor for pain. He publicly went to a detox clinic, but there was a doubt if this was permanent. Any role he undertook was sheer genius at work.
Bela unfortunately was type-cast after "Dracula"; if you see him in earlier movies like the first Charlie Chan picture......theBlack Camel.....you can see how talented he really was. Also, his agents and producers tried to get him to have speech lessons to tone down his accent just a little, but he didn't, which hampered his choice of roles.
*Transylvania* is a historical and cultural region (not a city) in Central Europe, encompassing *central Romania* . To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mts. Transylvania is a multiethnic region that is comprised of Romanians, Hungarians, and Germans - Dracula was Romanian & Lugosi is Hungarian, born & bred. The Treaty of Trianon (1920) made Transylvania part of Romania. Hungary gained control of northern Transylvania (1940), but it was returned to Romania after World War II. According to Bela's son (Bela George) an American attorney, Karloff, whose real name is William Pratt, points a finger at Boris for ruining his father'a career by sidelining Lugosi, using his influence. Bela Jr. whose legal actions in *Lugosi v. Universal Pictures* led to the creation of the California Celebrities Rights Act.
"Bela and Dracula, one and the same"? Get real! One was an actor and the other a fictional monster. One a real person and the other a make-believe fairy tale.
He was not suggesting that they were one and the same, rather that they have become linked in popular culture. Think of Dracula and Lugosi comes to mind, likewise when Lugosi is mentioned one immediately thinks of Dracula. That sort of thing. 😊
"Transylvania where he [Lugosi] was born..." Tut tut, Boris. That's a pretty tall fib. I'm a little disappointed; Karloff could probably tell a few good anecdotes about Lugosi but in this clip he's apparently reading a studio brochure.
HE WAS! Egészség! But even after becoming an American citizen Lugosi held to his roots. He even financed a Magyar soccer club in Los Angeles (which HAD TO have been intimidating for the opposing teams)
Look at them. The actors of the night.
What beautiful roles they make.
A friend of mine met Boris Karloff once. Bruce was just a young child at the time and Boris was an old man. Bruce freely admitted to being frightened out of his mind by Karloff, at first. Soon, though, his warmth and friendliness helped my friend past his initial fear.
Speaks well of the gentleman who narrarated the Chuck Jones "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" television special...
@jeffanderson8165 I hope your friend knows how lucky he is to have met Boris Karloff. May I ask where and when?
i always loved these actors as a kid, the whole horror movie genre, too, and i still love them.
The old ones were the best, they didn't need CGI to scare you.
Karloff and Lugosi--two of the greatest actors of the 20th century. A lot of good roles often didn't come Lugosi's way, but you can watch any of them, and see the work of a master. Karloff was a wonderful actor. It is still a pleasure to watch his work, hour after hour.
His Dracula is iconic but his Igor in Son Of Frankenstein is my favorite.
Karloff and Lugosi for the 1940's. In the 1970's we had Peter Crushing and Christopher Lee.
@@captainmobius5823 Horror of Dracula came out in 1958 or 59 - So really late 50's into early 70's. By '73, Lee was tired of those roles and went different directions, ( ie: the man with the golden gun - james bond ). And the 30's were the biggest decade for Lugosi & Karloff. Just commenting, not picking.
@@WilliamsDad1989 that's right Hammer started in the 1950s. but became associated with the 1970s more. Thank you for the information. 👍
Boris Karloff was a tremendously underrated actor. Personally, I think that while Ray Milland gave a fine performance in "The Lost Weekend," Boris Karloff should have won the 1946 Best Actor Academy Award for his performance in "The Body Snatcher" (coincidentally the last film that had both Karloff and Lugosi in it). But of course, no one would have thought of awarding an Oscar for a performance in a B movie. AIUI, Karloff was so tired of the typecasting that was forced upon him after "Frankenstein" that he was planning to give up on movie acting, but Val Lewton's offer of more substantial roles ("The Body Snatcher," "Isle of the Dead," and "Bedlam").
Their movies playing 24/7 this time of year, And I watch over and over
One distinctive, easily recognisable voice talking about another
The two most often imitated, for better or worse, in the world
Son of Frankenstein is an underrated gem.
Both Lugosi and Karloff are incredible,
If you haven't seen it, I recommend you give it a watch.
It's my favorite Frankenstein film.
I've actually never seen it, strangely enough. Or only part. I'll take note.
Don't forget Lionel Atwill, and Basil Rathbone of course. Yes, I love that film. Ygor is a wonderfully sinister character who gets bizarrely overlooked in pop culture. When most people refer to and imitate "Igor" they almost always reference Fritz, from the first Frankenstein film, played by Dwight Frye. Lugosi takes the performance of Ygor seriously, with subtext and the way he delivers lines when Ygor is hiding something.
@@WaterShowsProd I'd like to see a colourized version of all the Classic Horror films including The Old Dark House and Jamaica Inn and others in that vein.
I think I have most of them on two 100 movie Horror packs I bought at a DVD store ( when there still was such a thing ).
In my heart, Mr. Karloff's home will always be on top of Mount Crumpet. 🛷
I love the photos of the two of them
I came across this video late at night, No chance of any sleep now it's stirred up childhood memories of their movies ..... 🐯
My dear, close friend Forrest J Ackerman wrote the script for this album, An Evening with Boris Karloff. Forry was thrilled to work with Karloff, and who wouldn’t be?
@@GrantTarredus Lucky you!! How did you get to be close friends with Forrest J Ackerman?
@@garykass114 Well yes, I WAS lucky, but then Forry had countless friends. My friendship with him began when I was 15 and he was 60, and he printed a letter from me in Famous Monsters of Filmland #127. I started writing to him, and he always wrote back. After we’d been pen pals for a while (and he’d printed another letter from me, in #130), we began calling each other once or twice each year (I lived in Ga. and he was in LA, and long distance was expensive in those days). Then in 1993 we finally met face to face, at a DragonCon in Atlanta. We met at a few other conventions, and in ‘97 he dedicated Ackermanthology to me, an anthology he edited of vintage science fiction stories. I had never been able to visit the Ackermansion (his home / museum), so in 2000 he paid my airfare both ways, and had me as a houseguest for 9 days and nights. I could go on and on; there’s a lot more, but I’ve bragged too much. None of this says anything about me, though; it only speaks of Forry, and of what an impossibly wonderful man he was. I’ll love him forever.
@ Well yes, I WAS lucky, but then Forry had countless friends. My friendship with him began when I was 15 and he was 60, and he printed a letter from me in Famous Monsters of Filmland #127. I started writing to him, and he always wrote back. After we'd been pen pals for a while (and he'd printed another letter from me, in #130), we began calling each other once or twice each year (I lived in Ga. and he was in LA, and long distance was expensive in those days). Then in 1993 we finally met face to face, at a DragonCon in Atlanta. We met at a few other conventions, and in '97 he dedicated Ackermanthology to me, an anthology he edited of vintage science fiction stories. I had never been able to visit the Ackermansion (his home / museum), so in 2000 he paid my airfare both ways, and had me as a houseguest for 9 days and nights. I could go on and on; there's a lot more, but l've bragged too much. None of this says anything about me, though; it only speaks of Forry, and of what an impossibly wonderful man he was. l'll love him forever.
@@garykass114 Well yes, I WAS lucky, but then Forry had countless friends. My friendship with him began when I was 15 and he was 60, and he printed a letter from me in Famous Monsters of Filmland #127. I started writing to him, and he always wrote back. After we'd been pen pals for a while (and he'd printed another letter from me, in #130), we began calling each other once or twice each year (I lived in Ga. and he was in LA, and long distance was expensive in those days). Then in 1993 we finally met face to face, at a DragonCon in Atlanta. We met at a few other conventions, and in '97 he dedicated Ackermanthology to me, an anthology he edited of vintage science fiction stories. I had never been able to visit the Ackermansion (his home / museum), so in 2000 he paid my airfare both ways, and had me as a houseguest for 9 days and nights. I could go on and on; there's a lot more, but l've bragged too much. None of this says anything about me, though; it only speaks of Forry, and of what an impossibly wonderful man he was. l'll love him forever.
@@garykass114Dr. Acula! Famous Monsters of Filmland made me who I am today.
Masters of their craft.
I met Sara Karloff, Boris’ daughter, at a conference some years ago. She showed us home movies that showed what a sweet man her father was. His screen persona as a scary monster is a tribute to his acting skills. Both he and Bela Lugosi had performed on stage for years before entering films.
Boris Karloff was an inimitable cultural icon of the times. What a voice!
It‘s so nice to hear William Henry Pratt talk so in favour of Bela…
Apparently worked as a farm hand in Southern Ontario, Canada.
Mr. Karloff was an excellent actor even in non-horror roles.
Lugosi was a terrific actor,only played Dracula twice and with no fangs! Just tremendous acting! These classics were made for Halloween 🦇! Happy Haunting!😮😮
He only played Dracula twice but he did play a vampire on other occasions, including “The Return of the Vampire” (1943) and “Mark of the Vampire” (1935).
I remember this album so vividly. Karloff goes on an audio tour of his own movies and others in the Universal canon. I’m pretty sure it was on MCA or Decca.
They were Legendary and another one missing from here is Lon Chaney..
Senior or Junior?
I had this record when I was a kid and I have it now!!
I'm pretty sure I have this record album "An evening with Boris Karloff and Friends".
They both scared me to death when i was a kid such great actorswere they
Wonderful, thank you. "And so, Igor is dead!"
Congrats! Great interview!! You may not have gone to journalism school, but you asked the questions all us fans want to know!! 👏🏼
Black cat one of the best films of any genre
It is such strange and dark film. It's truly disturbing.
Yes necrophiliacs and horror fans well entertained
Never will be any greater!!
Well done!
the gods of fright
NOT ANY MORE, IT'S THE DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS. DONALD J.TRUMP HE'S A BUSINESSMAN. MAN-MADE DESTRUCTION BY POLITICIANS DJT ☆M☆A☆G☆A☆.
How well you him.xxx
I love this LP!
Lugosi might have been typecast and didn't get the roles he should have, but he has immortality as a legend of the genre , that kind of thing money can't buy.
The masters. No one, & I mean no one can or ever will top them.
Borax Karoff, contestant in a Warner Brothers drag derby, playing the dark horse. And again, narrating "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". A fascinating man. Would love to learn more about him.....
In a biography about Lugosi … I read there was one time he played Christ and the book showed a photo of him to prove it; but this was a play, not a movie that he did in Hungary
in the 1910s …
Legends.
One of my favorite scenes in _Ed Wood_ is when Wood and the cast for Plan 9 from Outer Space are at the Baptist church that Wood has convinced to finance the movie in exchange for them all being baptized. Wood (Johnny Depp) points out to Bunny Breckenridge (Bill Murray) the man he has gotten to double for the long-dead Bela Lugosi by holding his cape up to hide his face. The man, who looks nothing like Lugosi, says "I want to suck your blood!" and Breckenridge replies, "Let's hear you call Boris Karloff a cocksucker."
It’s really nice to hear Karloff speaking well of Lugosi particularly with all the rumors, myths and legends of their feuding and animosity.
How nice it would have been to see them (along with other horror legends) in a true casual hang out.
My understanding is that while they weren't great friends, they were not enemies. I don't know if Bela said some unkind things later in life, as his fortunes were collapsing. But the idea that they were enemies is without foundation.
Bela Lugosi's dead...undead, undead, undead
like Joey Bishop said - 'He'll be back. He'll be back'
Bauhaus
THAT'S GREAT!!!!!
In photos out of character he was quite a handsome man
True Masters of the Craft.
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
He was talking about Dracula.
I have a copy of a photo of peter lorre, karloff, vincent price and basil rathbone all relaxing in coffins and reading papers.
Lugosi should have received the Oscar for Dracula.
I had forgotten Bela Lugosi was a heroin addict. But, he had spent time in rehab and was clean before he died.
Bela Lugosi and his Morphine addition was iatrogenic, caused by a medical doctor for pain. He publicly went to a detox clinic, but there was a doubt if this was permanent. Any role he undertook was sheer genius at work.
Bela unfortunately was type-cast after "Dracula"; if you see him in earlier movies like the first Charlie Chan picture......theBlack Camel.....you can see how talented he really was. Also, his agents and producers tried to get him to have speech lessons to tone down his accent just a little, but he didn't, which hampered his choice of roles.
My two favorite Bela Lugosi roles were "The Sayer of The Law" and as the villian in "White Zombie".
Karloff? Sidekick?
Boris Karloffs real name was William Henry Pratt. Couldn´t be more british - could it? His mothers family had indian roots.
*Transylvania* is a historical and cultural region (not a city) in Central Europe, encompassing *central Romania* . To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mts.
Transylvania is a multiethnic region that is comprised of Romanians, Hungarians, and Germans - Dracula was Romanian & Lugosi is Hungarian, born & bred.
The Treaty of Trianon (1920) made Transylvania part of Romania. Hungary gained control of northern Transylvania (1940), but it was returned to Romania after World War II.
According to Bela's son (Bela George) an American attorney, Karloff, whose real name is William Pratt, points a finger at Boris for ruining his father'a career by sidelining Lugosi, using his influence. Bela Jr. whose legal actions in *Lugosi v. Universal Pictures* led to the creation of the California Celebrities Rights Act.
"Bela and Dracula, one and the same"? Get real! One was an actor and the other a fictional monster. One a real person and the other a make-believe fairy tale.
He was not suggesting that they were one and the same, rather that they have become linked in popular culture. Think of Dracula and Lugosi comes to mind, likewise when Lugosi is mentioned one immediately thinks of Dracula. That sort of thing. 😊
"Transylvania where he [Lugosi] was born..." Tut tut, Boris. That's a pretty tall fib.
I'm a little disappointed; Karloff could probably tell a few good anecdotes about Lugosi but in this clip he's apparently reading a studio brochure.
Dude, Bela Lugosi was born in Transylvania?
HE WAS! Egészség! But even after becoming an American citizen Lugosi held to his roots. He even financed a Magyar soccer club in Los Angeles (which HAD TO have been intimidating for the opposing teams)
Not sure if it's Boris Karloff on Bela Lugosi, sounds like it was scripted for him by someone else.
In the movie Ed Wood Lugosi supposedly said about Boris Karloff that Lyme c*ck sucker but they worked well together 👍
Karloff's daughter said that was baloney. They were not enemies, just working actors.
...an neither one *born* American... I must investigate this "American" channel, and see what other secrets it may reveal... Heh heh heh..... 🙀
I wonder if they had access to drugs back then.
Lugosi was addicted to morphine during his ed wood years
Totally addicted……he went to Rehab….but died soon after that.