Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration

by Gregory William Mank

Dracula and Frankenstein's Monster are horror cinema icons, and the actors most deeply associated with the two roles also shared a unique friendship. Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff starred in dozens of black-and-white horror films, and over the years managed to collaborate on and co-star in eight movies. Through dozens of interviews and extensive archival research, this greatly expanded new edition examines the Golden Age of Hollywood, the era in which both stars worked, recreates the shooting of Lugosi and Karloff's mutual films, examines their odd and moving personal relationship and analyzes their ongoing legacies. Features include a fully detailed filmography of the eight Karloff and Lugosi films, full summaries of both men's careers and more than 250 photographs, some in color.

Genres: Biography, Horror, Film, Nonfiction, History, Biography Memoir, Media Tie In

685 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Son of Frankenstein (1939)

Holy shit, what a book! Highly recommended for fans of Lugosi and/or Karloff, as well as classic horror fans in general, and hell, also for Golden Age of Hollywood junkies, because this thing was positively stuffed to the gills with interesting tidbits on all of these areas and more. The 250 photographs were outstanding too, and really brought to life an already thoroughly researched, thoughtfully written, and ultimately entirely fascinating book. My only (minor) complaint is that the plot summaries of some of the movies were way too detailed, but other than that, this was an absolute treasure trove of engrossing facts and anecdotes, and quite nearly unputdownable! If you aren’t a diehard fan of either actor, however, I would see your point if you argued that some of the information ought to be labelled “minutiae.” I was even tempted to do so myself at times. But! I AM a diehard Lugosi fan, and I tend to really enjoy Karloff as well, so this book was damn near perfect for me, and fuck trying to be objective in your ratings anyway, so yeah, this gets 5 stars even though it’s probably far longer than it technically needed to be. Deal with it. Also, the writing style wasn’t dry, at all, which can definitely be a problem in biographies of this sort, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that even that aspect of the reading experience was actively enjoyable.

Regarding the so-called rivalry between the two actors, the author of the book is of the opinion, and this is based on numerous interviews with various co-stars and friends of the two, that Karloff wasn’t into it at all, and was in fact instead apt to feel sorry for Bela, especially later on (spoiler alert: dude’s life had a tragic end), and frequently even referred to him as “poor Bela.” On Lugosi’s side, however, it does seem that some (frankly understandable) jealousy over Karloff’s major success (not to mention paychecks!) and bitterness were in play. For example, “although Bela enjoyed almost double the screen time Boris did [on The Raven], he got exactly half the salary—and once again was forced to take second billing.” Try simply grinning and bearing stuff like that on a regular basis! Then, too, by all accounts Bela was an emotional, sensitive man in general, “proud and domineering, but also warm, easily hurt, and frequently moved to tears.” Well, of course he was—he was a goddamn actor! If he wasn’t overly in touch with his emotions, what good would he have been? But that kind of temperament certainly doesn’t make repeated rejection and rough handling any easier to deal with. Anyway, for more details on all that, you’ll just have to read the book; it was quite a complicated situation for many reasons, and while in my opinion Lugosi did not get treated fairly by Hollywood, that doesn’t mean that Karloff didn’t deserve to succeed.

The main problem I’m having now is deciding which excerpts to share, because Kindle informs me that I’ve highlighted 65 passages! So, here are the best ones, in my opinion. I’ve put them into different categories in a (presumably vain) attempt to make the sheer volume of them somewhat more manageable:

Regarding the actors personally:

LUGOSI:


Imbecile! Bombastic ignoramus!
—The man himself, Bela Lugosi in the delightfully ridiculous The Devil Bat (1941)

One night in Hollywood during Yuletide of 1932, as Carroll remembered, Bela lost his cavalier cool: We were walking along Hollywood Boulevard, and in those days, the celebration for Christmas meant that every streetlight was decorated with a circle of lights and tinsel, with a star’s picture inside ... Lugosi looked up—and there, in a circle of lights, was a picture of Boris Karloff. And I’ll never forget Lugosi, looking up at that picture of Karloff, glaring at it, taking his cigar from his mouth. I’ll never forget the look on his face. And I’ll never forget the sound he made.... “Grrr ... arrgh!”

In January of 1956, seven months before he died, Bela went to see a revival of The Black Cat in Los Angeles with [his wife] Hope and some of his teenage boy admirers, and couldn’t contain his joy when he watched his own entrance. “Lugosi screams out,” remembered Hope, “so everybody can turn around and see who he is—‘OH, WHAT A HANDSOME BASTARD I WAS!’”

Bela himself later candidly spoke of his last weeks with Lillian and the aftermath: She gave me the shots [of morphine, to which he was addicted]. And she weaned me. Finally, I got only the bare needle. A fake shot, that’s all. I was done with it. Then she left me. She took our son. He was my flesh. I went back on the drugs. My heart was broken.

No work. Loneliness. Anguish over his lost Lillian. Reportedly few visits from Bela Jr. Vampira, who had worked with Bela on The Red Skelton Show, remembered Bela crying because he hadn’t received a card from Bela Jr. on Mother’s Day. That it wasn’t Father’s Day didn’t seem to assuage him. Alcohol. Narcotics. Bela Lugosi’s Hollywood career had become a classical tragedy.

Only a few nights before his death and less than a week before being buried in his Dracula cape, Bela Lugosi—purged of drug addiction, cursed by alcohol, cruelly humbled as few stars before or since—awakens in his Hollywood apartment in the middle of the night. His fifth wife, a 37-year-old blonde fan who had married him a year before and whom he plans (unbeknownst to her) to divorce, wakes up to find her twice-her-age spouse upset, lost, confused. He had been drinking heavily that night. “Karloff!” he tells her in his delirium, preparing to spruce up and dress. “Karloff! He’s in the living room!” In Lugosi’s tormented mind, the Monster he’d created had come to pay a midnight call. Few people ever experienced Karloff-inspired nightmares as did Bela Lugosi.

Lugosi will probably continue to rate more devotion, based on his iconic personality, his aura of Hollywood tragedy, sympathy for the underdog, and—certainly—his formidable talent. If Karloff has the edge in the best films, Lugosi continues to be more watchable in his worst; the Bela bottom-of-the-barrels are always more fun than Boris’s own turkeys.

KARLOFF: (yeah, yeah, the Lugosi section was way longer, and I even bolded his name and shit. While I like Karloff quite a bit, I’m so Team Lugosi it isn’t even funny. I make no apologies for this.)

Shortly after Karloff’s death, Christopher Lee—not an effusive man—wrote a letter that might have served as Karloff’s eulogy: Boris Karloff will truly never die. The impact that he made on the history of the cinema will last as long as films are made.... He had a tremendous sincerity and belief in what he was doing in front of the camera—he was a magnificently gifted actor with a very great range of emotions at his command. He was never cynical, never bitter and always grateful for every opportunity that came his way.... The two things that most impressed me about him as a person were his gentleness and his sense of humor.... Boris Karloff’s manners were impeccable and he was a man of very considerable moral and physical strength.... When one considers that for the last years of his life he was in constant pain from severe arthritis and could hardly walk, and could hardly breathe properly, due to the deterioration of the lungs, it never ceases to be amazing that this man could summon up the indomitable courage to make light of it all and continue working so willingly as he did….

Regarding their films:

Over the years, thousands of children wrote, expressing compassion for the great, weird creature who was so abused by its sadistic keeper that it could only respond to violence with violence. These children saw beyond the makeup and really understood.
—Boris Karloff

The true charm of Son of Frankenstein, its most classic feature, is that Karloff’s Monster, long separated from the holy Hermit of Bride of Frankenstein, has found in Bela Lugosi’s evil Ygor an almost perfect friend. True, Ygor cruelly uses the Monster for vengeance, yet they exist in the same fantastic, fairy tale realm: both horrific to the eye, both despised, both bitter, and—most of all—both children. With his merry eyes, gallows humor and that Hungarian baby talk (“ I scare him to death! I don’t have to kill him to death!”), scruffy old Ygor is an ideal companion for the lonely, unhappy, forlorn Monster who loves him. And this makes the most powerful scene of Son of Frankenstein, the Monster howling over Ygor’s dead body, all the more emotional—and heartbreaking.

There’s a superb gallows humor, and a fascinating fire of self-hatred in Karloff’s Body Snatcher, that boils in his final taunt to MacFarlane. It’s all there—Karloff is the Hyde to MacFarlane’s Jekyll, with dabs of Poe and Lovecraftian evil that make his classic, climactic apparition all the more horrific.

Bela Lugosi, after a false start of shooting in late 1954, was portraying Dr. Eric Vornoff in Edward D. Wood’s Bride of the Monster, his final starring role. For many, this is Bela’s finest hour. Frighteningly gaunt and drawn, he mixes his familiar flamboyance with a very profound bitterness that is almost painful to watch. An Ed Wood revamp of Alex Gordon’s The Atomic Monster (Gordon received no credit), the film has long been one of the darlings of the “Worst Films” crowd, with its rubber octopus whose limp tentacles the victims must pull around themselves, its feeble supporting cast (e.g., heroine Loretta King, who landed the female lead after investing money in the film, and hero Tony McCoy, whose father had taken over the financing) and the hulking, bald-domed presence of the “Super Swedish Angel,” Tor Johnson, as Bela’s servant Lobo.

A list of the 8 films that feature both Lugosi and Karloff:

The Black Cat (1934)
Gift of Gab (1934)
The Raven (1935)
The Invisible Ray (1936)
Son of Frankenstein (1939)
Black Friday (1940)
You’ll Find Out (1940)
The Body Snatcher (1945)

And I just gotta let my homeboy get the last word in all this:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0cE1fzf...

[Jason Reeser · Rating 4 out of 5]

First and foremost, this book will thrill die-hard fans of the 'Golden Age' of Hollywood. Even if you are not the biggest fan of either actor, this book is so filled to overflowing with anecdotes and production notes of actors and directors and film studios that you cannot but be fascinated by it all.
As long as this book was, and it is very long, I enjoyed every bit of it. I knew very little about either Karloff or Lugosi before I started this, and now know more about them than most actors. Mank has a streamlined tone, rattling off salaries, movie budgets, and shooting schedules. This might get tedious, save for the fact he can insert a few profound and even poetic observations when he needs to. He is able to follow both men's careers, showcasing their contrasts and similarities as the two careers intermingle then eventually veer away from each other.
I was fortunate to find many of the movies that Mank discusses in such detail abailable at Netflix, and have watched some of them, and am waiting for the others to arrive. It has renewed my interest in such classics, and given me a new perspective on them.
Lugosi's sad, tragic end is detailed without ghoulish relish; I found his last few years more horror-filled than any of his movies. And though Karloff's end was more successful, it had a certain frenetic pace that was just as chilling. Mank does a fine job of drawing this lengthy documentary into a sobering finish. Adding his personal views to it in a child-like wonder and admiration of the two stars, Mank helps to relieve the gloom that had settled over the book.
I don't think most casual fans of moviedom would enjoy this book, as it is so weighted down with detail. Yet, for those who have the time to sift through it, they will find plenty of golden nuggets to make it worth their while.

[Matthew Walls · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fabulous book. Lots of research went into this one, and the length of the book was suitable to provide a thorough writing on the subject. The writing style made for an easy read. Recommended.

[Jim Dooley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although they only starred in eight films together, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi were Hollywood's Masters of Menace. This book explores the film lives of the twosome, giving their appearances together special attention.

Stories have been ripe through the years of Lugosi detesting Karloff, an assertion vehemently denied by Bela Lugosi, Jr. This book doesn't lay the rivalry question to rest, but it does give a balanced presentation, especially through interviews.

I was particularly impressed with the "feel" of Hollywood generated by the writer. There were many instances when the descriptions were so vivid that it made me feel as if I could walk down the boulevard and identify the sites.

The book is well written and easy to follow. The intended audience is definitely fans of Karloff, Lugosi and classic horror. For those readers, the book is well worth the read. However, I do feel that readers interested in Hollywood during the Golden Age will find much to enjoy here, too.

And there are those delightful photographs!

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite simply the best biographical book I've had the pleasure of reading. The rivalry between the two stars is vividly told in all it's detail. Sad to read about the decline of the once great Bela Lugosi compared with the meteoric rise of Boris Karloff. A riveting read you won't be able to put down once you've started!

[Lance Lumley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This huge book follows the careers of the two horror icons, along with several interviews from those that knew them. The book focuses on the Lugosi life and his opinions on Karloff's rise to fame as the horror star at Universal. This is a great read. There are a few parts that contradict the opinion of the author towards the end of the book, but this is still a nice collection for horror fans. (although my book had pages coming out of it towards the end of the book, like the gluing didn't stick.
For an in-depth read, go to : https://lancewrites.wordpress.com/201...

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are times when this books becomes so detailed and covers so much minutiae that the experience becomes overwhelming. Luckily, it's a feeling that makes the reader want to dive in even further into early 1930s Hollywood, and the rise of the creepy/horror film genre that is now (to pardon a production pun) universally famous and rightly praised. This is a deep dive not only into two fascinating personalities, but also into a world that exists in living memory yet simultaneously feels like a long-past ancient epoch. One final irritant: did this book have to be a nearly coffee-table sized hardcover? Its ungainly ergonomic design is an unnecessary drawback.

[Marc Bohm-Klotzek · Rating 5 out of 5]

ich würde auch die doppelte anzahl sterne vergeben wenn das möglich wäre ! wie grossartig wäre es ,wenn jeder schauspieler ,regisseur ,studio oder genre einen biografen wie Mank hätte. sein buch ' Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff ' gehört definetiv zu den 5 besten büchern im bereich film & biografie ,die ich bisher gelesen habe. viel zu müssig wäre es , die details über Lugosi & Karloff zu erwähnen ,die Mank in seinem Buch erzählt ; von den einzelnen produktionen bis hin zu informationen über die karrieren aller ,die mit Lugosi & Karloff gearbeitet haben : nichts bleibt unerwähnt oder unentdeckt. a work of art and a labor of love. unbedingt lesen !

[Ryan Hannay · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the cover I thought this was a children's book, but it turned out to be one of the best Hollywood biographies I've read. It's not only a full biography of Karloff and Lugosi but also a detailed history of the golden age of monster movies and beyond. A big plus is the many photos and posters throughout the book, as well as exclusive interviews. It's obvious the author has a real respect and reverence for old Hollywood, and the amount of research that went into this book is impressive and much appreciated.

[Makayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at about 200 pages. The author spent way too much time giving entire plot summaries of every movie Lugosi and Karloff have ever been in. I was looking more for a book about the actors not their movies.

[Alison Gulley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this. The book is meticulously researched and the author discusses each of the actors' film at length, with special focus on the films they did together. It's a great depiction of Hollywood and pop culture history.

[Margret · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book. Lots of film and anecdotes from the movies that both actors work together. The writing style made for an easy read. Very interesting and highly recommended.

[Zachary H.B. Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

My two cinematic heroes. I couldn’t love this more and that’s all I have to say. When you’re in LA, go lay a rose on Bela’s grave. I’m team Bela all day BTW.

[Bea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This terrific book is the product of decades of interviews and correspondence by the author with the families, friends, and colleagues of Lugosi and Karloff. While the focus of the book is on the films the two actors made together and the so-called "rivalry" between the two, you get so much more. There is more or less a complete biography of both men with at least a mention of every film by each made after they catapulted to stardom in 1931. Some of the key solo films (Dracula, Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, etc.) and all the co-starred films get detailed coverage. When I say detailed, I mean anecdotes from every cast member the author could interview, budget details, salary details, and how the film was publicized. While this might sound dry, I can guarantee it is anything but. Just try out the stories about how openly gay director James Whale revealed an unexpected interest in the costuming of ladies' undies during the making of Bride of Frankenstein! In addition, in the course of describing the actors' social lives and their publicity activities, we get a wide perspective on Golden Age Hollywood.

It's pretty clear that Karloff never saw Lugosi as a rival or bore him any ill will. Lugosi, on the other hand, barely disguised a seething resentment at the fact that Karloff worked constantly and became a millionaire while he was bankrupt by October 1932 and struggled almost constantly after that working for peanuts in whatever came his way.

The author never comes to a definite cosclusion but others told him several times that one of Lugosi's biggest handicaps was his failure to master English. His thick accent simply wouldn't work for many parts. I wonder if his lack of fluency contributed to his persistent failure to stand up for himself.

Another strike against him, I think, was his age. Lugosi was 49 when Dracula was made (Karloff was 42 the same year). For an actor whose appeal, even in his "monster" role, was matinee idol looks, this was a late date to be starting a movie career. Karloff who was essentially a character actor had no such disadvantage. Finally, I think Karloff was simply a finer and more versatile actor. To be fair, however, Lugosi was a major star on the Hungarian stage and we will never know how he would have fared in his native tongue.

One anecdote provided by Ray Walston (who played Renfield in a stage revival of Dracula) - Lugosi's wife said "Well, you know, he was the John Barrymore of the Budapest stage!" And with that, Lugosi spoke up in alllll seriousness and said, "No, no. I was the Clark Gable of the Budapest stage!"

[Paul Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly in-depth and touching biography/career overview on the two "Kings of Horror." As someone who has seen most of their classic works, I knew very little about the men's personal lives, especially of note was their role in creating the Screen Actors Guild, which was prompted heavily by Whale's abuse of Karoff in the original Frankenstein (he made Karloff urinate in a bucket and carry Colin Clive up a hill multiple times out of spite. What a dick!)

Universal horror was probably my first "nerd" hobby, where I collected the VHS releases and postage stamps, so these movies will always be special to me. Every so often I get the urge to re-watch the classics, and they get better each time, especially Karloff's cadaverous performance (which was never topped) in the first Frankenstein. Always been a Karloff man, myself, but the book offered new appreciation for Lugosi and his tragic downfall in Hollywood.

My only complaints are the the book may be TOO long. Much of the text is dedicated to plot synopses of the movies, which bores those who have seen the movies and spoils those who haven't. However, it's one of the best Hollywood biographies I've ever read.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bela Lugosi is Dracula and Boris Karloff is Frankenstein. Together they haunt imaginations till today. In this volume you'll see all their major movies they made together with many fantastic photos, movie posters and marvelous background descriptions. Universal City in 1931, The Black Cat (1934), Bride of Frankenstein (1936), The Raven, The Invisible Ray, Son of Frankenstein, Black Friday, You'll Find Out, the war years, The Body Snatchers (1945) and the decline between 1945 to 1955. Karloff as Rasputin, Lugosi as drug addict. Lugosi's death in 1956, Karloff's last act, the myth and rivalry, their careers in full detail. This book offers everything you'll need and want to know. Highly recommended!

[Kyle Burley · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best film-books I've read in recent years. More of an overview of two highly contrasting careers than a conventional biography. Best of all, it is very generous in it's treatment Of Bela Lugosi, an extraordinary actor who is, too often, dismissed as a tragic hack. As for Karloff, everybody knows that he was one of the best character actors in the history of movies and this work just confirms this assessment. An interesting book all around and a joy for fans.

[Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is full of some really great personal information about Bela and Boris and thier suppolsed "Feud" though the years. if you are a Fan or even just a horror movie fan, this is a great and gratifying read by someone who put a LOT of work into it, this is no mere trifle.