Aside from his numerous film roles (174 films), Karloff acted in many live stage plays and appeared on dozens of radio and television programs as well. For his contribution to film and television, Karloff was awarded two stars on theHollywood Walk of Fame on 8 February 1960.[2]
William Henry Pratt was born on 23 November 1887,[3] at 36 Forest Hill Road,Peckham.[4] His parents were Edward John Pratt of theIndian Civil Service (where he worked for thesalt revenue service), and Eliza Sara Millard[5]. Both his parents died when Karloff was young, and he was primarily raised by a half-sister and his elder siblings.[6][7] His brother,Sir John Thomas Pratt, was a British diplomat.[8] Karloff's father Edward John Pratt wasAnglo-Indian, with a British father and Indian mother,[9] meaning that Karloff was at least a quarter Indian, while Karloff's mother also had some Indian ancestry; thus Karloff had a relatively dark complexion that differed from his peers at the time.[10] His mother's maternal aunt wasAnna Leonowens, whose tales about life in the royal court of Siam (nowThailand) were the basis of the novelAnna and the King of Siam. Pratt wasbow-legged, had alisp, and stuttered as a young boy.[11] He learned how to manage his stutter, but not his lisp, which was noticeable throughout his career in the film industry.
Pratt spent his childhood years inEnfield, in the County ofMiddlesex. He was the youngest of nine children, and following his mother's death was brought up by his elder siblings. After first attendingEnfield Grammar School, he received a private education atUppingham School andMerchant Taylors' School. Following this he attendedKing's College London, where he took studies aimed at a career with the British Government's Consular Service. However, in 1909, he left university without graduating and drifted, departing England for Canada, where he worked as a farm labourer, truck driver and did various odd jobs in British Columbia until happening upon stage acting, which led to a later film career.[12]
Pratt began appearing in theatrical performances inCanada in 1911. He was present inRegina, Saskatchewan in June 1912, the day theRegina Cyclone destroyed much of the city. The theatre group he was with gave a benefit performance that night at theRegina Theatre to assist in relief efforts. The next week, appearing inSaskatoon, they donated half of the receipts from their performances to Regina relief.[13]
During this period, he choseBoris Karloff as his stage name.[14] Karloff always said he chose the first name "Boris" simply because it sounded foreign and exotic, and that "Karloff" was a family name. Karloff's daughter, Sara, publicly denied any knowledge of Slavic forebears, "Karloff" or otherwise. It has been speculated by film historians that he took the stage name from amad scientist character named "Boris Karlov" in the novelThe Drums of Jeopardy byHarold MacGrath, but the novel was not published until 1920, at least eight years after Karloff had been using the name on stage and in films. (Warner Oland played "Boris Karlov" in afilm version in 1931.) Another possible influence was thought to be a character in theEdgar Rice Burroughs fantasy novelThe Rider, which features a "Prince Boris of Karlova", but, because the novel was not published until 1915, the influence may be backward, that Burroughs saw Karloff in a play and adapted the name for the character.
One reason for the name change was to prevent embarrassment to the Pratt family.[citation needed] Whether or not his brothers (all dignified members of theBritish Foreign Service) actually considered young William the "black sheep of the family" for having become an actor, Karloff apparently worried they felt that way. He did not reunite with his family until he returned to Britain to makeThe Ghoul (1933), extremely worried that his siblings would disapprove of his new,macabre claim to world fame. Instead, his brothers jostled for position around him and happily posed for publicity photographs upon their reunion with him. After the photo was taken, Karloff's brothers immediately started asking about getting a copy of their own. The story of the photo became one of Karloff's favorites.[15]
Karloff joined theJeanne Russell Company in 1911 and performed in towns includingKamloops (British Columbia) andPrince Albert (Saskatchewan). After the devastating tornado in Regina on 30 June 1912, Karloff, who was in the midst of an engagement at the Regina Theatre, and other performers helped with clean-up efforts.[16][17] He later took a job as a railway baggage handler and joined the Harry St. Clair Company that performed inMinot, North Dakota, for a year in an opera house above a hardware store.
While he was trying to establish his acting career, Karloff had to perform years of manual labour in Canada and the United States to make ends meet. Among this work, he spent one year laying track, digging ditches, shoveling coal, clearing land, and working with surveying parties for theB.C. Electric Railway Company, at the rate of $2.50 per day.[18] From this gruelling work with the BCER and other employers, Karloff was left with back problems for the rest of his life. Because of his health, he did not serve inWorld War I.
During this period, Karloff worked in various theatrical stock companies across the U.S. to hone his acting skills. Some acting companies mentioned were the Harry St. Clair Players and the Billie Bennett Touring Company. By early 1918 he was working with the Maud Amber Players inVallejo, California, but because of theSpanish flu outbreak in the San Francisco area and the fear of infection, the troupe was disbanded. He was able to find work with the Haggerty Repertory for a while (according to the 1973 obituary ofJoseph Paul Haggerty, he and Boris Karloff remained lifelong friends).
Once Karloff arrived in Hollywood, he appeared in small roles in dozens ofsilent films, but the work was sporadic and he often had to take up manual labour such as digging ditches or delivering construction plaster to make ends meet. (According to Karloff, his first film was aFrank Borzage picture atUniversal for which he received $5 as an extra; the title of this film has never been traced.)[19][20]
While one day sitting at the bus stop in the pouring rain,Lon Chaney Sr., 'The Man of a Thousand Faces', spotted Karloff and offered him a ride. Chaney told him "to find something different that will set you apart and is different from anything someone else has done or is willing to do and do it better".[citation needed]
A film which brought Karloff recognition wasThe Criminal Code (1931), a prison drama directed byHoward Hawks in which he reprised a dramatic part he had played on stage. In the same period, Karloff had a supporting role as a mob boss in Hawks'gangster filmScarface starringPaul Muni andGeorge Raft, but the film was not released until 1932 because of censorship problems.
Another significant role in the autumn of 1931 saw Karloff play a key supporting part as an unethical newspaper reporter inFive Star Final with Edward G. Robinson, a film about tabloid journalism which was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Picture.
Karloff acted in eighty-one films before being discovered byJames Whale and cast inFrankenstein (1931). Karloff's role asFrankenstein's monster was physically demanding – it necessitated a bulky costume with four-inch platform boots – but the costume and extensive makeup produced an iconic image. The costume was a job in itself for Karloff with the shoes weighing 11 pounds (5.0 kg) each, which further aggravated his back problems.[21] Universal Studios quickly copyrighted the makeup design for the Frankenstein monster thatJack P. Pierce had created.
Back at Universal, he was cast asImhotep who is revived to life inThe Mummy (1932), an original story inspired by the unsealing ofTutankhamun's tomb, conceived to continue the success of theDracula andFrankenstein adaptations.The Mummy was as successful at the box-office as his other two films and Karloff was now established as a star of horror films. LikeFrankenstein,The Mummy would spawn a line of sequels, although Karloff would not reprise the iconic 1932 role.
Karloff returned to England to star inThe Ghoul (1933), then made a non-horror film forJohn Ford,The Lost Patrol (1934), for which his performance was highly acclaimed.
Horror had become Karloff's primary genre, and he gave a string of lauded performances inUniversal's horror films, including several withBela Lugosi, his main rival as heir toLon Chaney's status as the leading horror film star. While the long-standing, creative partnership between Karloff and Lugosi never led to a close friendship, it produced some of the actors' most revered and enduring productions, beginning withThe Black Cat (1934) and continuing withGift of Gab (1934), in which both had cameos. Karloff reprised the role of Frankenstein's monster inBride of Frankenstein (1935) for James Whale. Then he and Lugosi were reunited forThe Raven (1935). Billed only by his last name during this period, Karloff hadtop billing above Lugosi in all their films together despite Lugosi having the larger role inThe Raven.
Because theMotion Picture Production Code (known as the Hays Code) began to be seriously enforced in 1934, horror films declined in the second half of the 1930s. Karloff worked in other genres, making two films in Britain,Juggernaut (1936) andThe Man Who Changed His Mind (1936) which was released in the U.S. asThe Man Who Lived Again.
Karloff went toMonogram to play the title role of a Chinese detective inMr. Wong, Detective (1938), which led to a series. Karloff's portrayal of the character is an example of Hollywood's use ofyellowface and its portrayal of East Asians in the earlier half of the 20th century. He had another heroic role inDevil's Island (1939).
Universal found reissuingDracula andFrankenstein led to success at the box-office and began to produce horror films again starting withSon of Frankenstein (1939). Karloff reprised his role, with Lugosi also starring as Ygor and top-billedBasil Rathbone as Dr. Frankenstein. This was Karloff's first Universal film since the originalFrankenstein in which Karloff was not top billed as "KARLOFF", a custom that the studio had used for eight films in a row while Karloff was at the height of his career. Basil Rathbone held top billing forSon of Frankenstein, and since Rathbone, Karloff and Lugosi were all billed above the title, billing Basil, Boris and Bela was hard to resist. Karloff was never billed by simply his last name again. RegardingSon of Frankenstein, the film's directorRowland V. Lee said his crew let Lugosi "work on the characterization; the interpretation he gave us was imaginative and totally unexpected ... when we finished shooting, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that he stole the show. Karloff's monster was weak by comparison."[23]
Karloff appeared at a celebrity baseball game as Frankenstein's monster in 1940, hitting a gag home run and making catcherBuster Keaton fall into an acrobatic dead faint as the monster stomped into home plate.
An enthusiastic performer, he returned to the Broadway stage in the original production ofArsenic and Old Lace in 1941, in which he played a homicidal gangster enraged to be frequently mistaken for Karloff.Frank Capra castRaymond Massey in the1944 film, which was shot in 1941, while Karloff was still appearing in the role on Broadway. The play's producers allowed the film to be made conditionally: it was not to be released until the production closed. (Karloff reprised his role on television in the anthology seriesThe Best of Broadway (1955), and withTony Randall andTom Bosley in a1962 production on theHallmark Hall of Fame. He also starred in a radio adaptation produced by Screen Guild Theatre in 1946.)
In 1944, he underwent a spinal operation to relieve a chronic arthritic condition.[24]
Karloff returned to film roles inThe Climax (1944), an unsuccessful attempt to repeat the success ofPhantom of the Opera (1943). More liked wasHouse of Frankenstein (1944), marking Karloff's "retirement" from playing the Monster, where instead, he comes full circle to play the villainous Dr. Niemann, a mad scientist fixated on life-experiments much like Henry Frankenstein, and pass the torch to actorGlenn Strange, who would play the Monster in subsequent films.
In a 1946 interview with Louis Berg of theLos Angeles Times, Karloff discussed his arrangement with RKO, working with Lewton and his reasons for leaving Universal. Karloff left Universal because he thought the Frankenstein franchise had run its course; the entries in the series afterSon of Frankenstein were B-pictures. Berg wrote that the last installment in which Karloff appeared—House of Frankenstein—was what he called a " 'monster clambake,' with everything thrown in—Frankenstein, Dracula, a hunchback and a 'man-beast' that howled in the night. It was too much. Karloff thought it was ridiculous and said so." Berg explained that the actor had "great love and respect for" Lewton, who was "the man who rescued him from the living dead and restored, so to speak, his soul."[25]
Horror films experienced a decline in popularity after the war, and Karloff found himself working in other genres.
For theDanny Kaye comedyThe Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), Karloff appeared in a brief but starring role as Dr. Hugo Hollingshead, a psychiatrist. DirectorNorman Z. McLeod shot a sequence with Karloff in the Frankenstein monster make-up, but it was deleted from the finished film.
Karloff had his own weekly children's radio show "Boris Karloff's Treasure Chest" onWNEW, New York, in 1950. He played children's music and told stories and riddles. Although the programme was meant for children, Karloff attracted many adult listeners as well.
During this period, Karloff was a frequent guest on radio programmes, whether it was starring inArch Oboler's Chicago-basedLights Out productions (including the episode "Cat Wife") or spoofing his horror image withFred Allen orJack Benny. In 1949, he was the host and star ofStarring Boris Karloff, a radio and television anthology series for theABC broadcasting network.
Boris Karloff as Captain Hook in Peter Pan (1950)Karloff played a foreign scientist who hoped to gain defence secrets from Cookie the Sailor (Skelton) onThe Red Skelton Show in 1954.Karloff playeddetectiveColonel March onColonel March of Scotland Yard in 1955.
During the 1950s, he appeared on British television in the seriesColonel March of Scotland Yard, in which he portrayedJohn Dickson Carr's fictional detective Colonel March, who was known for solving apparently impossible crimes.Christopher Lee appeared alongside Karloff in the episode "At Night, All Cats are Grey" broadcast in 1955.[26] A little later, Karloff co-starred with Lee in the filmCorridors of Blood (1958).
Karloff, along withH. V. Kaltenborn, was a regular panelist on theNBCgame show,Who Said That? which aired between 1948 and 1955. Later, as a guest on NBC'sThe Gisele MacKenzie Show, Karloff sang "Those Were the Good Old Days" fromDamn Yankees whileGisele MacKenzie performed the solo, "Give Me the Simple Life". OnThe Red Skelton Show, Karloff guest starred along with actorVincent Price in a parody of Frankenstein, withRed Skelton as "Klem Kadiddle Monster". He served as host and one of the stars of the anthology seriesThe Veil (1958), a 12-episode Hal Roach TV series which was never broadcast at all due to financial problems at the producing studio; the complete series was later rediscovered in the 1990s and eventually released on DVD.
Karloff was credited for editing several horror anthologies, commencing withTales of Terror (Cleveland and NY: World Publishing Co, 1943) (compiled with the help of Edmond Speare).[31] This wartime-published anthology went through at least five printings to September 1945. It has been reprinted recently (Orange NJ: Idea Men, 2007). Karloff's name was also attached toAnd the Darkness Falls (Cleveland and NY: World Publishing Co, 1946); andThe Boris Karloff Horror Anthology (London: Souvenir Press, 1965; simultaneous publication in Canada - Toronto: The Ryerson Press; US pbk reprint NY: Avon Books, 1965 retitled asBoris Karloff's Favourite Horror Stories; UK pbk reprints London: Corgi, 1969 and London: Everest, 1975, both under the original title), though it is less clear whether Karloff himself actually edited these.
Tales of the Frightened (Belmont Books, 1963), though based on the recordings by Karloff of the same title, and featuring his image on the book cover, contained stories written byMichael Avallone; the second volume,More Tales of the Frightened, contained stories authored byRobert Lory. Both Avallone and Lory worked closely with Canadian editor and book packager Lyle Kenyon Engel, who also ghost-edited a horror story anthology for horror film starBasil Rathbone.
Karloff went to Italy to appear inBlack Sabbath (1963) directed byMario Bava. He madeThe Raven (1963) forRoger Corman andAmerican International Pictures (AIP). WhenThe Raven had successfully wrapped shooting with time left in Karloff's contract, Corman conscribed a new story with the same sets to feature Karloff inThe Terror (1963), withJack Nicholson in the leading role and Karloff playing a baron who murdered his wife. He made a cameo in AIP'sBikini Beach (1964) and had a bigger role in that studio'sThe Comedy of Terrors (1964), directed byJacques Tourneur, and travelled to England to makeDie, Monster, Die! (1965) co-starring Nick Adams. British actressSuzan Farmer, who played his daughter in the film, later recalled Karloff was aloof during production "and wasn't the charming personality people perceived him to be", probably because he was in such intense pain in the 1960s.[32]
In 1967, he played an eccentric Spanish professor who believes himself to beDon Quixote in a whimsical episode ofI Spy titled "Mainly on the Plains", which he filmed in Spain.Cauldron of Blood, shot inSpain around the same time, and co-starringViveca Lindfors, was only released in 1970 after Karloff's death.
In the mid-1960s, he enjoyed a late-career surge in the United States when he narrated the made-for-television animated film ofDr. Seuss'How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and also provided the voice of theGrinch, although the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" was sung by the American voice actorThurl Ravenscroft. The film was first broadcast onCBS-TV in 1966. Karloff later received aGrammy Award for "Best Recording For Children" after the recording was commercially released.[33] Because Ravenscroft (who never met Karloff in the course of their work on the show)[34] was uncredited for his contribution toHow the Grinch Stole Christmas!, his performance of the song was at times misattributed to Karloff.[35]
Karloff starred inTargets (1968), the first feature film directed byPeter Bogdanovich, featuring two separate plotlines that converge into one. In one, a disturbed young man kills his family, then embarks on a killing spree. In the other, a famous horror-film actor confirms his retirement, agreeing to one last appearance at a drive-in cinema. Karloff starred as the retired horror film actor, Byron Orlok, a thinly disguised version of himself; Orlok (named both for Karloff himself andCount Orlok) was facing an end-of-life crisis, which he resolves through a confrontation with the crazed gunman at the drive-in cinema.
Around the same time, he played the occult expert Professor Marsh in a British production titledThe Crimson Cult (Curse of the Crimson Altar, also 1968), which was the last Karloff film to be released during his lifetime.
He ended his career by appearing in four low-budgetMexican horror films:Isle of the Snake People,The Incredible Invasion,Fear Chamber andHouse of Evil. This was a package deal with Mexican producerLuis Enrique Vergara. Karloff's scenes for all four films were directed byJack Hill and shot back-to-back within one month in Los Angeles in the spring of 1968. The films were later completed in Mexico and theatrically released in the early 1970s. Karloff was originally slated to travel to Mexico to shoot the films, but he had emphysema and crippling arthritis. Only half of one lung was still functioning and he required oxygen between takes, so Hill arranged for Karloff to film his scenes in California.[36]
Due to the unexpected sudden death of the producer Vergara, all four Mexican films were embroiled for a while in legal actions and were only released posthumously in 1971, with the last,The Incredible Invasion, not released until 1972, more than two years after Karloff's death.
Upon returning to Britain to live in 1959, his address was 43Cadogan Square, London. In 1966, he bought 25 Campden House (at 29 Sheffield Terrace), Kensington W8, and Roundabout Cottage in theHampshire village ofBramshott. A longtime heavy smoker, he hademphysema, which left him with only half of one lung still functioning.[37] He contractedbronchitis in late 1968 and was hospitalised at University College Hospital.[38][39] He died ofpneumonia at King Edward VII Hospital,Midhurst, inSussex, on 2 February 1969, at the age of 81.[40][3]
His body wascremated following a requested modest service atGuildford Crematorium,Godalming,Surrey, where he is commemorated by a plaque in the Garden of Remembrance. A memorial service was held atSt Paul's, Covent Garden ("the Actors' Church"), London, where there is also a plaque.
Karloff married six times. His wives included stage actress Grace Harding (married from 1910 to 1913),[41] actress Olive de Wilton (from 1916 to 1919),[41] musician Montana Laurena Williams (from 1920 to 1922) and actress Helen Vivian Soule (from 1924 to 1928).[42][43][44]
His fifth marriage to Dorothy Stine lasted from 1930 until 1946. This union resulted in Karloff's only child, daughter Sara Karloff, born on November 23, 1938 (Karloff's own 51st birthday).[45]
His sixth and final marriage, to Evelyn Hope Helmore, was in April 1946, immediately after his fifth divorce.[46] They were happily married 23 years at the time of his death.[47][48]
In 1958, Karloff's niece Diana Bromley was charged with murdering her 10-year-old and 13-year-old sons in Haslemere, England but was found insane and unfit to plead. She was the daughter of Karloff's brother Sir John Thomas Pratt.[49]
Beginning in 1940, Karloff dressed asFather Christmas every Christmas to hand out presents to physically disabled children in aBaltimore hospital.[50]
He never legally changed his name to "Boris Karloff". He signed official documents "William H. Pratt, a.k.a. Boris Karloff".[51]
He was a charter member of theScreen Actors Guild, and he was especially outspoken due to the long hours he spent in makeup while playing Frankenstein's Monster and the Mummy.[52] He was an early member of theHollywood Cricket Club.
During the run ofThriller, Karloff lent his name and likeness to acomic book forGold Key Comics based upon the series. AfterThriller was cancelled, the comic was retitledBoris Karloff's Tales of Mystery. An illustrated likeness of Karloff continued to introduce each issue of this publication for more than a decade after his death (he was not involved however in writing or drawing the stories); the comic book lasted until the early 1980s. (A Gold Key comic book series based uponThe Twilight Zone that ran concurrently with Karloff's did the same thing with hostRod Serling's likeness after his death.) In 2009,Dark Horse Comics began publishing reprints ofBoris Karloff's Tales of Mystery in a hardcover edition.
For his contribution to film and television, Karloff was awarded two stars on theHollywood Walk of Fame, at1737 Vine Street for motion pictures, and6664 Hollywood Boulevard for television.[53] He was featured by the U.S. Postal Service as Frankenstein's Monster and the Mummy in its series "Classic Monster Movie Stamps" issued in September 1997.[54] In 1998, anEnglish Heritageblue plaque was unveiled in his hometown in London. The British film magazineEmpire in 2016 ranked Karloff's portrayal as Frankenstein's monster the sixth-greatest horror movie character of all time.[55]
A street called Karloff Way, nearRochester, England, is named in his honour.
Karloff acted in 13 episodes of the "Starring Boris Karloff" anthology TV/ radio series in 1949: this show was broadcast as both a TV show and a radio show simultaneously[77]
^Louis Berg (12 May 1946)."Farewell to Monsters"(PDF).The Los Angeles Times. p. F12. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 20 September 2009. Retrieved7 November 2009.
^Johnson, Tom (2009).The Christopher Lee Filmography: All Theatrical Releases, 1948–2003. p. 79. McFarland.
^Buehrer, Beverley Bare (1993).Boris Karloff: A Bio-bibliography. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 137.ISBN978-0313277153.
^The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll, read by Boris Karloff, Saland Publishing / IODA, 2008
^Mike Ashley and William G. Contento (eds)The Supernatural Index: A Listing of Fantasy, Supernatural, Occult, Weird and Horror Anthologies. Westport CT and London: Greenwood Press, 1995, p. 26.
^abNollen, Scott Allen. Boris Karloff: A Gentleman's Life. Midnight Marquee & BearManor Media.
^Mank, Gregory William (2009). Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: the expanded story of a haunting collaboration, with a complete filmography of their films together. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., Publishers. p. 343. ISBN 978-0786434800.
^Mank, Gregory William (2009). Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: the expanded story of a haunting collaboration, with a complete filmography of their films together. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., Publishers. ISBN 978-0786434800.
^Mank, Gregory William (2009).Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff : the expanded story of a haunting collaboration, with a complete filmography of their films together. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., Publishers. p. 281. ISBN 978-0786434800.
^Mank, Gregory William (2009).Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: the expanded story of a haunting collaboration, with a complete filmography of their films together. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., Publishers. p. 312. ISBN 978-0786434800.
^abcdefgJacobs, Stephen (2011).Boris Karloff: More Than A Monster. Tomahawk Press. p. 548. ISBN 978-0-9557670-4-3.
^abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwNollen, Scott Allen (1991).Boris Karloff: A Critical Account of His Screen, Stage, Radio, Television, and Recording Work. McFarland & Company. p. 415. ISBN 978-0-89950-580-0.
^abcdeJacobs, Stephen (2011).Boris Karloff: More Than A Monster. Tomahawk Press. p. 549. ISBN 978-0-9557670-4-3.
^abcdefNollen, Scott Allen (1991).Boris Karloff: A Critical Account of His Screen, Stage, Radio, Television, and Recording Work. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-89950-580-0.
^abcdeNollen, Scott Allen (1991).Boris Karloff: A Critical Account of His Screen, Stage, Radio, Television, and Recording Work. McFarland & Company. p. 416. ISBN 978-0-89950-580-0.
^abcdefghiJacobs, Stephen (2011). Boris Karloff: More Than A Monster. Tomahawk Press. p. 549. ISBN 978-0-9557670-4-3.
^Jacobs, Stephen (2011). Boris Karloff: More Than A Monster. Tomahawk Press. p. 548. ISBN 978-0-9557670-4-3.
^Nollen, Scott Allen (1991).Boris Karloff: A Critical Account of His Screen, Stage, Radio, Television, and Recording Work. McFarland & Company. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-89950-580-0.
^abcNollen, Scott Allen (1991).Boris Karloff: A Critical Account of His Screen, Stage, Radio, Television, and Recording Work. McFarland & Company. p. 417. ISBN 978-0-89950-580-0.
^Jacobs, Stephen (2011). Boris Karloff: More Than A Monster. Tomahawk Press. p. 552. ISBN 978-0-9557670-4-3.
^Mank, Gregory William (2009). Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: the expanded story of a haunting collaboration, with a complete filmography of their films together. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., Publishers. p. 349. ISBN 978-0786434800.
^"8:30 p.m.--Lights Out (WENR): returns to the air with Boris Karloff.", Wisconsin State Journal, 16 July 1947
^abNollen, Scott Allen (1991). Boris Karloff: A Critical Account of His Screen, Stage, Radio, Television, and Recording Work. McFarland & Company. p. 417. ISBN 978-0-89950-580-0.
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