Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: the expanded story of a haunting collaboration, with a complete filmography of their films together

702 Pages·2009·16.775 MB·English

by  Karloff, Boris;Lugosi, Bela;Mank, Gregory W

Bela Lugosi and
Boris Karloff

Bela Lugosi and
Boris Karloff
The Expanded Story of a
Haunting Collaboration,
with a Complete Filmography
of Their Films Together
G W M
REGORY ILLIAM ANK
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
ALSOBYGREGORYWILLIAMMANK
ANDFROMMCFARLAND
Women in Horror Films, 1940s(1999; softcover 2005)
Women in Horror Films, 1930s(1999; softcover 2005)
Hollywood Cauldron: Thirteen Horror Films
from the Genre’s Golden Age(1994; softcover 2001)
THEPRESENTWORKISAREVISEDEDITIONOF
Karloff and Lugosi: The Story of a Haunting Collaboration, with a
Complete Filmography of Their Films Together(McFarland, 1990)
(A reason for the rearranged title should be obvious to all)
Frontispiece:Monstrous Misfits: Karloff’s Monster and
Lugosi’s Ygor in Son of Frankenstein (Universal, 1939).
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Mank, Gregory W.
[Karloff and Lugosi]
Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff : the expanded story of a haunting
collaboration, with a complete filmography of their films together /
Gregory William Mank.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-3480-0
illustrated case binding : 50# and 70# alkaline papers
1. Karloff, Boris, 1887–1969.
2. Lugosi, Bela, 1882–1956.
3. Motion picture actors and actresses—United States—Biography.
4. Horror films—History and criticism.
I. Title.
PN2287.K25M36 2009 791.4302'80922—dc22 2009006131
British Library cataloguing data are available
©2009 Gregory William Mank. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
On the cover: Boris Karlo› and Bela Lugosi in the ¡934 film The Black Cat
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
For my beloved parents,
Bill and the late Fran Mank,
who always protected me
from real-life monsters
This page intentionally left blank
Table of Contents
Introduction and Acknowledgments 1
1. “I Created My Own Monster!” 7
2. In the Hall of the Mountain King 13
3. The Friendly Panther 22
4. The Strangest Passion 34
5. “A Death Mask of a Monster” 48
6. Jimmy 56
7. Billy 63
8. “I Owe It All to Dr. Frankenstein’s Jolly Old Monster!” 80
9. Booby Prize 97
10. 1932 106
11. KARLOFF the Uncanny in The Mummy 124
12. Wives, Rivals, London, The Screen Actors Guild, John Ford,
Broadway, Walt Disney and Others 135
13. “Improper Faces”—The Black Cat 153
14. The Film Stars Frolic 201
15. Gift of Gab and Other Curiosities 205
Between pages 214 and 215 are 8 color
plates containing 10 photographs
16. 1935: Bride of Frankenstein vs. Mark of the Vampire 215
17. The Rivals 227
18. “Unsubtle Acting”—The Raven 240
19. “They Were Both Totally Darling!”—The Invisible Ray 271
20. Limbo Approaches 303
21. Horrible, Horrible Men 319
22. Monster Eve 327
23. “All the Demons of Hell”—Son of Frankenstein 336
24. Feathering the Nest 376
vii
viii Table of Contents
25. “Stanley Ridges and Karloff”—Black Friday 389
26. “Their Royal Slynesses”: You’ll Find Out 411
27. Arsenic and Old Lace 428
28. “Toneless Voice and Mr. Potato Head Features”: Young Lon 437
29. Universal Production # 1279 447
30. 1943—New Work, New Rivals 460
31. 1944 470
32. The Body Snatcher 481
33. Unholy Three—Bedlam, Genius at Work, and House of Dracula 520
34. 1946–1947 528
35. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein 535
36. 1949–1953 542
37. The Film That Never Was 553
38. “The Greatest Pain in the World” 559
39. The Last Bride of Dracula 562
40. Dracula’s Revenge—and Death 572
41. Karloff’s Last Act 587
42. The Myth and the Rivalry 603
Appendix 1. The Bela Lugosi Career 623
Appendix 2. The Boris Karloff Career 629
Appendix 3. Filmography of Their Films Together 636
Chapter Notes 643
Bibliography 667
Index 671
Introduction and
Acknowledgments
Together, they haunt imaginations, like beloved ogres from the Brothers Grimm...
Thus began the Preface of my 1990 book Karloff and Lugosi: The Story of a Haunting Col-
laboration. The book stayed in print for 12 years or so, came fairly close to becoming a motion
picture and opened the door to more discoveries on each actor. I had given the original work
my very best shot—not realizing at the time that many of the most fascinating interviews,
intriguing finds and exciting research adventures were awaiting me.
“It has been a good game,” says Lugosi to Karloff’s skinned-alive pulp of a body before
blowing himself up in the delirious climax of The Black Cat. The adventures that led to this
revised edition have truly been a “good game” too.
There were the interviews. Marilyn Harris, “Little Maria” of Frankenstein, tenderly speak-
ing of her near life-long love of Karloff’s Monster who drowned her in the mountain lake,
then literally shaking as she recalled the sadism of her real-life “witch” of a mother. Julie
Bishop, screaming heroine of The Black Cat, so into the spirit of that wildly sensual horror
film that—63 years after its shooting and at age 82—she slipped into a black negligee and
high heels, engaged a professional photographer and posed with her pet black cat Tiffany.
Lucille Lund, the exotic Karen of The Black Cat, speaking rapturously of Karloff, kindly driv-
ing my wife and me to the Getty Museum near her home in Malibu—and later profoundly
and touchingly embarrassed by the true horror tale she told me of how the film’s director had
sadistically sexually harassed her.
Carroll Borland of Mark of the Vampire, in love with Lugosi for 65 years, insisting in her
final days that his ghost visited her bedroom every night. Donnie Dunagan of Son of Franken-
stein, boisterously offering his loving memories of “Mr. K.” And the final Mrs. Bela Lugosi,
telling me in intimate detail of the evening she found her husband dead in bed, and the trou-
ble she had getting a neighbor brave enough to confirm her suspicion that Bela Lugosi was
now truly a corpse.
Research trips to Los Angeles... Finding the Whitley Heights aerie (atop 100 steps!) where
Karloff lived at the time of Frankenstein, and the cottage in mid–Hollywood where Lugosi
resided at the time of Dracula... Later homes too, such as, the cliffside hideaway under the
HOLLYWOOD sign where Lugosi hid his mistress in 1932 and the hacienda high in Cold-
water Canyon where Karloff enjoyed his zoo in 1935. Visiting Malibou Lake and standing
where James Whale directed Karloff and Marilyn Harris in the Frankensteinflower game. The
inevitable pilgrimages to Holy Cross Cemetery, where over 50 years ago, Bela Lugosi was laid
to rest in his Dracula cape—and discovering in May of 2008 that some ghoul had defaced the
grave marker with the drawing of a bat.
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