Boris Karloff Interview:
Cinefania Acknowledgements.
The following interview with an undisputed legend of the horror film was recorded sometime in the '60s, probably in 1963, by Colin Edwards. The tape was discovered in Canada last ten years by D'Arcy More, who gave the magazine MonsterScene. The interview was conducted in Caramel, California and British accent suggests that the interviewer was doing some work for the press in England or Canada (remember that the tape was found in this country). For the interest and knowledge of the interviewer (apparently someone not specialized in horror movies, but interested in learning more about him), we can see the modesty and good humor that manifests Boris each question.
I'm talking to the man who was one of the best known names among the stars of high rank, Mr. Boris Karloff. Mr. Karloff, his name suggests a Russian family, but you're English, is not it?
Karloff: Yes, I'm English. Karloff actually the name is a name of an ancient relative of his mother's side. My real name is William Henry Pratt. When I decided to start working in the theater in 1910, I knew the name Pratt was perhaps not very advantageous for an actor, so ... I decided to use this old mother's maiden name. And the other name, the Christian name of Boris, I confess I just took the name of the air.
and Boris Karloff, both are Russian names.
Karloff: Well, both names have been extremely lucky for me, that's all I can say.
Yes, and a kind of somehow forbidden name, at least for the Anglo-Saxon audience, I guess.
Karloff: No I became forbidden to ... the 30s or so. I had a lot of work ... for nearly twenty years for someone to know me.
Do you find that people associate with the role of Frankenstein almost exclusively?Karloff: Si ... hmmmm, not exclusively. But they always think that. And I think I'm very lucky to do so. I think any man, any actor, to display identified with a character, or none in particular ... as you would ... with a full line of earth ... is a lucky man.
So you're not resentful p 
Karloff: heavens! No, I mean, if, after all, an actor is a seller ... sells its services, does not it? ... OK, now if you do snuff, or if you make shoes or something ... You spend millions of dollars trying to build a trademark that can be accepted. If an actor has a trademark on it in a silver mine is a lucky man.
Yes, of course, many actors are always afraid of being pigeonholed and have always to fall on the same paper ...
"Here you have me, playing an inarticulate creature with a deformed midbrain that just works, but each time starts to run more and more, and still you have to communicate ... with people ... with the other characters in the plot and audience. And the only way I could do was really ... was ... with eyes. "Karloff: Any box is really not it? If you are a young actor, you get typecast in playing young parts. If you get pigeonholed, it is in the roles for which they have greater ability. And if you is classified in a field that is highly restricted ... and you can really get some achievement, I think is very lucky.
Si ... you actually have a fairly wide range of achievements beyond the category of horror, is not it?
Karloff: That's a bad word ... is not the right word ...
What term should be applied to movies you have played?
Karloff: Well, I know ... I think the trick was when, in the first film we did, they thought of a word to express it and chose "horror". But the term "horror" is a connotation of ... revulsion ... you know, really. That's the word that really expresses. While the goal is certainly not reject, or disgust, but lure. Is excitable, is cause for alarm, perhaps excited. I think the word is "thriller", really ... or "shock." But certainly not "horror".
You've had a full line of these films ... The Criminal Type ... that was 
Yes, The Criminal Code. I beg you to forgive me ...
Karloff: Well, one of the first, wow, was I really put on the road ...Now what this was in Hollywood?
Karloff: If I was in the play, on the coast ... for a short time, something like six or eight weeks, then a film version was made by Columbia. It was in the early thirties ... I think it was 1930. And in those days, actors had no contract, there was only a freelance job. Then as I had been in the works, I had the opportunity to play the same character and this was the fact that my luck changed.
How then came Frankenstein?
Karloff: the following year. Vea, hice The Criminal Code en 1930, y entonces comencé a tener montones de trabajos, de todo tipo... nada muy excitante... pero al menos era trabajo, lo cual era la cosa más importante. Y en ese montón de trabajos tuve la oportunidad de realizar una prueba para el papel del monstruo en Frankenstein... y les gustó la prueba y yo tuve el papel. Y esa es la historia.
¿Qué sintió sobre las posibilidades actorales en el papel... con esa tremenda máscara... fue realmente inexpresiva y moviéndose tan lenta y pesadamente...?
Karloff: Fue muy interesante a causa de que fue una especie de desafío. Aquí usted me tiene, interpretando una criatura inarticulate with a deformed midbrain that just works, but each time starts to run more and more, and still you have to communicate ... with people ... with the other characters in the plot and audience. And the only way I could do was really ... was ... eyes. And then we had the problem ... if the eyes were alive and normal ... fairly intelligent and I hope (laughs), then we destroy the makeup and destroy the illusion. And that is why we had to put putty on the eyes ... to distort ... so that it deformed a bit, and that they were not very clear ... very clear. It was most interesting! These
were moments ... this was a long time ago ...Karloff: 1931!
Si ... and long time since I saw any of the Frankenstein movies, but as I recall, there were moments when the monster showed traits of kindness ...
Karloff: Of course ...
... emp 
Loff: Actually, the monster ... poor old man, was misunderstood and abused. Actually the monster only became violent when he was attacked by people who was frightened and panicked at the sight. And when they attacked him, he returned the attack, of course ... and being something as big and strong, very dangerous.
You will have formed a kind of sympathy for his character.
Karloff: Well, actually, is a child, returning to the word "horror", you know, the revulsion becomes a meaningless ... any of the letters that children sent me ... and I have him much love ... if they had to say something to put it all, they expressed great sympathy for the monster, which I think is interesting ... because it is a good indication of what is really the character.
Yes, because he was so helpless ...
Karloff: Sure, helpless ... and unable to express themselves in a hostile spoken word rather than cruel ...
There were two sequels ...
Karloff: Oh, there were dozens ...Oh, really, a dozen ...
Karloff: Oh, heavens, yes. But I only went to the first three ... I was in Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein (The Bride of Frankenstein), and The Son of Frankenstein (The Son of Frankenstein). Were in the correct order. They were all very respectable, but the bride was the best!
Not was in Frankenstein's Lair (House of Frankenstein)? Was not there a movie called Frankenstein's Lair?
Karloff: Oh, that was filmed a few years later ... and that was that, I think, I played the role of Frankenstein.
Oh, the scientist?
Karloff: Yes, I did it twice for my punishment ... but three times I played the monster.
Who played the monster in that movie?
Karloff: Uhm ... I think it was Lon Chaney, Jr.Oh, Junior ... the son of ...
Karloff: great Lon Chaney Del!Oh, he was also a "human monster."
Karloff: Well, I would not say "monster man" but that was a brilliant makeup artist, and a m u 
You've had a tremendous amount of makeup on her face. Is that a mask or makeup?
Karloff: No, it was makeup, and took four hours to put it on. A terrible job.How many days were in the studio, with all that post?
Karloff: Well, the film ... I I worked every day of the shoot, and uh, the film took about eight weeks to complete, and there was ... I remember a bad time when she had to be in the makeup backstage at half past three, to be ready and filming on location and uh, we left the sunlight. We were on the shores of the lake to the scene with the girl, the scene of which you spoke before ... and then we had to return to the studio in evening for dinner, and when we were in the field and work all night until five o'clock.
heavens ...
Karloff: I worked for twenty hours. It was a long spin.
And the lights ... lights were as strong as are the foci of the TV?
Karloff: was a different kind of focus ... carbon. It was horrible! Really awful. Roasted eye.
Your body ... made it a little higher, right?
Karloff: Yes, I was up, with huge platforms ... boots weighing about 16 pounds each (seven kilos approx.). Furthermore, the whole costume weighed between 40 and 45 pounds (18 and 20 kilos).
That helped give the Osco and shaky movement.
Karloff: also helped me to lose something like twenty pounds, as I had to wear it in August, in midsummer, and was a really wild (laughs).
So if you lost weight, have had more padding in the suit.
Karloff: Si (polite laughter). More or less ...
heavy boots also increased their weight.
Karloff: If they had huge platforms, you see ... and is filmed with a camera always low. Also with camera angles, which serves to increase its height. It was that kind of tricks.
heavy boots also increased their weight.
Karloff: If they had huge platforms, you see ... and is filmed with a camera always low. Also with camera angles, which serves to increase its height. It was that kind of tricks.
What he saw was the reaction to the film Frankenstein? Did you meet to receive many letters from fans?
Karloff: Oh, yeah! Sure. You always get. Have letters of fans. Say ... They usually ask for photographs, "I saw him in his film, do not send me a picture autographed ?..." But the interesting thing about all this, and the most fortunate thing for me about this movie, especially what it meant to me, was the affection he had for the kids. All they could see through makeup and understand the tragedy of this poor figure ... and expressed great sympathy for him. I always feel grateful for this.
Have you received letters from people who mistakenly saw the movie and the monster?
Karloff: Oh, sure, you always get nasty letters. All received. Sure ... "You should be ashamed, scaring small children, but what garbage! I do not scare small children, they scare me (both laugh for a moment).
You made a movie that was a comedy Delusions of Grandeur (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty) with Danny Kaye.
Karloff: Oh, yes ... I did my old job there, you know ... I had to scare Danny, played a psychiatrist, something ...
Tell me about other actors who were in the business of monster movies ... if you like to remember ... Bela Lugosi ... and Lon Chaney ... Will knew well? Was next to any of them?
Karloff: Well, no ... I met ... I worked with Bela Lugosi in, oh, three or four films, but otherwise we did not meet much. You know, in a place as large as California. You may make a movie with someone, and their paths do not cross again for a year. It also depends on their individual tastes.simliaridad Then the paper not aligned?
Karloff: No, no. Good God no! I spent my free time playing cricket. For years. I did not think that he could have called Bela.
is very sad that it died ... in poverty.
Karloff: Yes it is. It was a very tragic life. Really. I felt very sad for him. In a way he was his own worst enemy. He was a brilliant actor, a remarkable technical ... brilliant technician in the full meaning of the word, but he did not move with the times. He was a lover, I think, in the theater, I think of Budapest, where he spent his youth ... with an elegant kind of reputation ... but he was unable to move with the times. When he came to America, did not learn the language as well as he could. I fear that such things were harmful to him.
This is merely ...
Karloff: Right. Unhappy man .... life unhappy.What was his real name? "Bela Lugosi?
Karloff: Yes, I think, I think so.Other names that come to mind are those of Lon Chaney ... and Lon Chaney, Jr.
Karloff: Si.Father and son.
Karloff, Lon Chaney was a wonderful man, father. And a great actor. He did his own makeup.
really was a master ...
Karloff: When I was at the top ... Live ... on deck ... this was before the makeup departments of studies have now day ... and the actor had to do all your makeup ... and he designed and executed all of its own makeup.
Some players still do ... Hal Holbrook, who plays "Mark Twain Tonight" ... he is a great friend, he spends three or four hours less than this.
Karloff: Yes, yes ... but in the movies, you know ... the camera is so accurate that some experts do today ... and save a lot of time and money. Matter of economics.
You made Fu Manchu, is not it? In one of these films ...
Karloff: Yes, I did it once ... I Universal hired by MGM. And we did Fu Manchu.
You spoke in Chinese in this film?
Karloff: Santo Cielo!not have because I was wondering if a dialogue ...
Karloff: No (laughs) Dida Chinese advisor?
Karloff: Good God, no! It was ridiculous. I will never forget ... for about four weeks before starting ... I asked for a script ... and I found myself laughing out loud at the idea of \u200b\u200bwhat would be the script ... morning and went to the studio to shoot, and went to the dressing room make-up and work for a couple of hours until the makeup was done, a really bad makeup. Fu Manchu was ridiculous. And, as I was in the makeup chair, a gentleman came and gave me the hand about four sheets of paper, which formed a long dialogue. This was what he should say in the opening shots of the film ... and what I was seeing there first. And everything that was written, was in impeccable English. And I said ... "This is absolutely nonsense ... I can not learn this in so little time ..." and he said, "Oh, okay." Entonctes I wore makeup ... and on the road between the clubhouse and someone intercepted the set and grabbed me pages and took them away, giving me different ones that were written in a language half annoying (both laugh). They had about five writers in the film ... and this happened throughout the film.
Many hands spoil the dish ...
Karloff: Some scenes were written in beautiful English at Oxford, and others were written in God knows what! (Both laugh again.)
knew what was the reaction of the Chinese here ... you know ... the image they created ...
Karloff: Oh, I'm not sure! I ...Do you think it took seriously?
Karloff: They have laughed, for sure.Because there were few minorities who were sensitized a little ...
Karloff: Yeah, well, that's pretty stupid ... I think it's totally stupid.
What do you think about horror films today? Karloff: Well, frankly, I ... I ... I have not seen any! And do not normally go to the movies. Particular sounds, but somehow or other, I have little time. I have a thought that I, this may sound like envy, but I keep thinking how to take ... I think they make a terrible mistake in movies you see today ... I have seen one or two ... perhaps, I can not remember ... but shock, horror, and I mean real horror in the sense of revulsion, just because of the shock. This is not based in history. No one can show blood ... and things ... and say, look! This is horrible. Well, yes, but this does not make history. Does it?
No. .. Karloff
: You must leave the story ...No substitutes. Karloff
: After all, things were made. I mean the story of Frankenstein ... is an old legend. And all these stories, um, they have all rooted in the folklore of all races in the world, is not it? And all the love. They love to believe that there is someone behind the door. They know that no one, but it's fun pretending.
In modern cinema, it seems that there is an increase of sadism ... in action ... in violence. Karloff
: It's shocking ... Well, not really shocking and, it is ridiculous ... We sympathizethe horrific aspect of this ... really. Karloff
: Yeah, well, if not always the case. I ... I ... I think it is a "reductio ad absurdum, I mean, the fights on the screen today These days are so violent, but one can only laugh.
A new type of monster that has been appearing in several films and plays in recent years, and is a kind of psychological monster. It's kind of monster we've seen in the film The Bad Seed (The Bad Seed, 1956). Have you seen? Karloff : Yes!Tell me. Of all these great monsters that you played ... Karloff
: I played only one, you know!Just one? What about The Haunted Strangler (1958) and things like that? Karloff
: That's not was a monster! Heavens, no!A villain? Karloff
: No! No! Certainly not. It was not a villain at all. It was the same pattern of a whole series of stories that I shot years ago for Columbia. A kind of man who was in the way of a discovery of something he believes he can be good for humanity. Maybe something scientific, you see. And this goes wrong ... and when it goes wrong, he becomes evil. And in the last act, much to my regret, we must destroy. It is as if one were to shoot his own dog that has become angry.
Yes, I see.
Karloff : Well, this was not a monster ... but a man who began a good idea, this was The Haunted Strangler. If I remember correctly, he was a writer, right? And I felt that there was some injustice. He felt that there was much injustice, because there were poor men convicted of crimes, of which perhaps they were innocent ... but they had no courage to stand alone.
If he had a note about this sociological interest ... Karloff
: YesDo any of the characters that you played, once a woman tried to violently? Or is this something that has been introduced in the movies of recent years? Karloff
: Well, in these boring gangster films. I did not do anything about it. Not yet! Youwas actually born in England, right? Karloff
: I was born in Dulwich.Does your family enjoys them as much as anyone, right? Karloff
: YesNow, you did a series in which he played another type of character ... and was on television ... Detective ... Karloff
: Oh, yeah, it was the Colonel March of Scotland Yard. We did it in England during the winter of 1953 and 1954.Was made to the American audience? Karloff
: It was made for the American market.has been a great pleasure talking to you, Mr. Karloff, or should I call you Mr. Pratt? Karloff
: Whatever.
You're known as Mr. Pratt yet? Karloff
: No, I'm better known as Mr. Karloff as I use this name for everything except legal documents, passports and more. So, I use both!Do you find yourself walking down the street and people recognize him and greet him? Karloff
: Oh, yeah, yeah ... thank God!Is it more prevalent now with TV series or earlier? Before you were so covered with makeup. Karloff
: Well, not so much in movies and on television. Is very broad. It's every week. Is enormous. One reaches a huge audience.Thank you, Mr. Karloff for telling us about his life and his career. Karloff
: Not at all. Thank you!KARLOFF BACK TO WALL
0 comments:
Post a Comment