Hi There
I don’t know to whom I am sending this but I just wanted to say what a super website it is.
I am a British fan of Boris Karloff and have to say that I am also an angry fan, as I feel the Entertainment Industry in the U.K. have always brushed his talent under the carpet. I don’t think there has ever been a British Documentary about this incredibly talented man despite the fact he has a great many British fans. I think he should a given a posthumous BAFTA award by Britain for outstanding contribution to the Fantasy Genre. My latest acquisition to my book collection is Dear Boris which is fantastic.
My first viewing of one of Boris’ films was “The Curse Of The Crimson Cult” on TV on a cold winter’s night in 1976 when I was 13. I was staying the night with some friends of mine the Masters Brothers. It wasn’t the greatest film ever made but Boris made the film a great deal better than it would have been without him.
From that time on I was hooked. When I first saw “The Bride Of Frankenstein” I was transfixed and I have never seen a Karloff film or television piece that I have not enjoyed.
The father of my friends the Masters Brothers is Tony Masters, a Production Designer and Art Director who worked on “The Corridors Of Blood” and played several games of cricket with Boris. Sadly Tony died in 1990 but his three sons Adam, Giles and Dominic are all doing well in the creative side of the Film Industry. I work for the British Board Of Film Classification. We classify videos for release on the UK market and every now and again one of Boris’ works is submitted.
I was educated at Kings College School in Wimbledon which is part of Kings College University in the Strand where Boris studied and I think was chucked out for not doing enough work. My friend Ed went to same school as Boris, Enfield Grammar School.
I have read somewhere that Boris was not a great star and I think that’s nonsense. An actor who can create a variety of roles with the range that he could is a great star. I always think it’s sad that so much talent going into the Universal Horror series was British and yet the films were very badly treated by the British Distributors when they were made, although we can rejoice that the Fantasy Genre is gaining more respect all over the World with the passing of each decade and yes it’s getting better even in the UK.
Best Wishes To You All.
Duncan Moss