Being able to know and work with Sara Jane Karloff on this project has been a highlight of my career. Hopefully this book is the most thorough, accurate and entertaining chronicle of her father, Boris Karloff''s, fascinating life. Perhaps a few Karloff mysteries have been solved.—Scott Allen Nollen
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: "To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die" Comment: "Boris Karloff: A Gentleman's Life" is one of a myriad of books on the late artist, but makes up for its later presence by being very intricate - it was written with the cooperation of Karloff's only child, daughter Sara Jane - and well done, offering a few insights in his life that have not been discussed as in depth in other biographies.
Although Karloff's English childhood (spent under the name of William Henry Pratt) does not get as much attention as one might hope, it gives an otherwise deft account of his family and ancestry, including his previous-to-now somewhat glossed over Indian heritage. The book is rather succint in the beginning, covering his early steps in Canadian theater, silent films, and Hollywood talkies up to the obvious mile marker, Frankenstein, in 1931. It is after that film that a lot of the book's detail kicks in - relationship with the SAG, that to his daughter, his latter two wives, Dorothy and Evelyn, that of Evelyn and Sara Jane, his disregard of the ever-increasing accolades (he had his Grammy award used as a doorstop) and a great deal of detail on his performance in and the history of Arsenic and Old Lace (he got the job when he promised to not "to eat the baby in the last act"), even his impish sense for pranks. The persons involved are shown as genuine people with their own issues, especially Evelyn I think, something not done as much as in the otherwise stellar "Dear Boris" by Cynthia Lindsay. The book is illustrated with photos that are a bit grainy at times but are of a great variety, as is the appendices on Karloff's roles.
Grateful to have work and delighted for it to be something he loved, Karloff was the quintessential English country gentleman who, as his daughter once said, "made a living scaring children and little old ladies." Although it his role as the Frankenstein Creature that made him a star, it was truly Karloff's patience, dedication, talent and kindness that endeared him to so many.
Customer Rating: Summary: A very well researched portrait of the gentle craftsman Comment: The author has done a most commendable job researching and developing his central thesis: That Mr. Karloff was indeed not only a fine actor who was truly dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in his craft, but also a concerned and active gentleman who pursued a dignified union to protect the profession he loved. This book is highly reccomended for not only the existing fans (who will already know much of the information present in this volume) but also to the new Karloff fans as well as anyone interested in the history of acting and Hollywood. The author also makes a strong case that Karloff needs to be rightly placed along side the other greats of Hollywood and Broadway history. A good entertaining and enlightening read. Customer Rating: Summary: This is what BIOGRAPHY should be! Comment: I long have been a fan of the great actor Boris Karloff, but I now have an entirely different perspective of him as a HUMAN BEING after reading Scott Allen Nollen's BORIS KARLOFF: A GENTLEMAN'S LIFE. One always thought of such stories as rumor, but Nollen's book PROVES what a WONDERFUL man Karloff was, while simultaneously scaring the hell out of us! Anyone interested in the power of film should read this book. What a fascinating life, as well as film career! Customer Rating: Summary: Revealing the man beneath the makeup. Comment: Much has been written about Boris Karloff in terms of the characters he played. Until now,very few have known, much less understood, Karloff's passion for the craft and vocation of acting, his profound work ethic, and the dedication, depth and humanity he brought to even his least celebrated roles. Until now, virtually nothing was known about the man's personal life and loves.
Scott Allen Nollen fills a deep gap in the legacy left to us by the distinguished British actor, who was instrumental in the establishment of the horror genre of film, the Screen Actors Guild, and even the popularization of television as an entertainment medium. And he does it beautifully.
"Boris Karloff: A Gentleman's Life" takes us behind the outlandish makeup jobs, the B-movie schtick and the "official" histories, to the place from which the essential humanity of Frankenstein's "creature" comes. It reveals a truly gentle - and genteel - soul, whose love for the theatre and for film was the source of both his greatest joys, and greatest sorrows.
This is a very important book for Karloff fans, film buffs, and readers who appreciate solid biography tastefully done. A breakthrough book for an emerging author whose time has come.
