February 3: On This Day in World History … briefly
He spent his retirement in England at his country cottage named Roundabout in the Hampshire village of Bramshott. A longtime heavy smoker, he had emphysema which left him with only half of one lung still functioning.
1969: ‘Frankenstein’s monster’ bows out
William Henry Pratt (November 23, 1887 to February 2, 1969) better known by stage name Boris Karloff , dies aged 82.
He portrayed Frankenstein’s monster in ‘Frankenstein’ (1931), ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ (1935) and ‘Son of Frankenstein’ (1939). He also appeared as ‘Imhotep’ in ‘The Mummy’ (1932) – a film about an ancient Egyptian mummy named Imhotep who is discovered by a team of archeologists and inadvertently brought back to life through a magic scroll. Disguised as a modern Egyptian, the mummy searches for his lost love, whom he believes has been reincarnated into a modern girl.
In non-horror roles, he is best known to modern audiences for narrating and as the voice of Grinch in the animated television special of Dr Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966). For his contribution to film and television, Boris Karloff was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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