Tomorrow (also known as The Tomorrow Show and, after 1980, Tomorrow Coast to Coast) was an American late-night television talk show hosted by Tom Snyder. The show aired on NBC from 1973 to 1982 and featured many prominent guests, including Paul McCartney, "Weird Al" Yankovic (in his first televised appearance), Ayn Rand, John Lennon (in his last televised interview), Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead, Ken Kesey, Charles Manson, The Clash, Johnny Rotten, and U2 (in their first American television appearance). Los Angeles news anchor Kelly Lange, a good friend of Snyder, was the regular substitute guest host.

History and format overview

In fall 1973 NBC's decision to launch a nightly program after the Tonight Show was prompted by the ban on tobacco ads that resulted in a revenue loss for the network. The thinking was that extending the broadcast day by one hour could help recover some of that income.

Established as more of an intimate talk show, Tomorrow differed from the usual late-night fare, with host Tom Snyder conducting one-on-one interviews sans audience, cigarette in hand, alternating between asking hard-hitting questions and offering personal observations that made the interview closer to a genuine conversation. Making the show work financially became a challenge for NBC due to extremely low prices for commercial spots that a program at 1 a.m. could command. Since, according to Snyder, a 30-second spot on the show brought in only US$3,000, the network's primary concern initially was cutting production and distribution costs. As satellite transmission was still not in use, the show was sent from coast to coast over telephone lines and it reportedly took NBC the entire first year of Tomorrow broadcasting before they succeeded in getting lower telephone line usage tariffs.

Bizarre moments included a 1979 appearance by Chicago shock-jock Steve Dahl, and a March 1981 appearance by the punk band, The Plasmatics, during which lead singer Wendy O. Williams sledgehammered a TV in the studio. The explosion disrupted a live broadcast of NBC Nightly News being produced in a studio two floors above. Snyder himself referred to this occurrence on a May 1981 followup appearance in which the Plasmatics blew up a car.

Perhaps the most outrageous interview seen on Snyder's show occurred on Halloween 1979, when the rock band KISS appeared to promote their album, Dynasty. During that 25-minute "interview", the conversation degenerated into a somewhat chaotic exchange between Snyder and a very drunk Ace Frehley, who picked up Snyder's teddy bear, put the wristlets from his costume on the bear, and laughed, "the only Spacebear in captivity! I've got him — he's captured!" When Snyder asked Ace if his costume was that of some sort of spaceman, Frehley quipped, "No, actually I'm a plumber." Snyder shot back, "Well, I've got a piece of pipe backstage I'd like to have you work on." The inebriated Frehley replied "Tell me about it!" and clapped his hands and cackled hysterically at the exchange. Years later, Gene Simmons revealed on his website that he felt "betrayed" by the other band members during this interview. Shortly thereafter, drummer Peter Criss officially left the band and subsequently appeared on the show, making Snyder the first host to have a member of KISS appearing without makeup in public.

Tomorrow Coast to Coast

Following a disastrous experiment with turning Tomorrow into a more typical talk show — renaming it Tomorrow Coast to Coast and adding a live audience and co-host, Rona Barrett (all of which Snyder resented) — the show was cancelled in 1982, to make way for the up-and-coming young comedian, David Letterman. The last first-run show aired on December 17, 1981. Reruns aired until it went off the air on January 28, 1982.

David Letterman and Snyder had a long history together: a 1978 Tomorrow episode hosted by Snyder was almost exclusively devoted to a long interview with up-and-coming new comedy talents Letterman, Billy Crystal and Merrill Markoe. From 1995 to 1999, Snyder hosted another late night talk show, The Late Late Show, produced by Letterman's Worldwide Pants Incorporated.

Scheduling

The show was scheduled at 1 a.m., immediately following The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. The program aired only four nights a week, Monday through Thursday, in order to accommodate the weekly shows The Midnight Special (1973–81) and SCTV Network 90 (1981–82) in that time slot on Fridays. It was originally broadcast from the NBC studios in Burbank, California, but relocated to New York in December 1974 when Snyder took on additional anchor duties for NBC News. In June 1977, the show returned to Burbank until 1979, when Snyder once again began originating from 30 Rockefeller Plaza. On September 16, 1980, when The Tonight Show was shortened to 60 minutes, Tomorrow was scheduled at 12:30 a.m. and lengthened to 90 minutes, a format that lasted until its cancellation 16 months later. Stations began dropping the show, most notably KYW in Philadelphia and WBZ in Boston (at the time both owned by Group W), who had replaced the program with reruns of Hawaii Five-O.

Awards and nominations

The show was nominated for three Emmy Awards: one in 1976 for Outstanding Achievement in Technical Direction and Electronic Camerawork and two in 1981 for Special Classification of Outstanding Program and Individual Achievement.

DVD releases

Three DVD compilations of footage of Tomorrow have been released to date:

The Tomorrow Show - Tom Snyder's Electric Kool-Aid Talk Show

The Grateful Dead

Ken Kesey

Timothy Leary

Tom Wolfe

The Tomorrow Show - Punk & New Wave

Elvis Costello

The Jam

Joan Jett

John Lydon

The Plasmatics

Iggy Pop

The Ramones

Patti Smith

Paul Weller

The Tomorrow Show - John, Paul, Tom & Ringo

Part 1

*John Lennon

*Leon Wildes (Lennon's immigration attorney)

*Lisa Robinson (journalist)

*Jack Douglas

Part 2

*Paul McCartney

*Linda McCartney

*Denny Laine

*Laurence Juber

Part 3

*Ringo Starr

*Barbara Bach

*Angie Dickinson

See also

List of late night network TV programs

References

External links

Category:1970s American television series Category:1980s American television series Category:NBC network shows Category:1973 television series debuts Category:1982 television series endings Category:American television talk shows Category:American variety television series

Name	Paul Newman
Caption	Paul Newman in 1975
Birth name	Paul Leonard Newman
Birth date	January 26, 1925
Birth place	Shaker Heights, Ohio, U.S.
Death date	September 26, 2008
Death place	Westport, Connecticut, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, director, humanitarian, entrepreneur
Years active	1952–2008
Spouse	(divorced) (his death)

Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, and auto racing enthusiast. He won numerous awards, including an Academy Award for best actor for his performance in the 1986 Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money and eight other nominations, three Golden Globe Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, an Emmy award, and many honorary awards. He also won several national championships as a driver in Sports Car Club of America road racing, and his race teams won several championships in open wheel IndyCar racing.

Newman was a co-founder of Newman's Own, a food company from which Newman donated all post-tax profits and royalties to charity. As of August 2010, these donations had exceeded $300 million. and Arthur Samuel Newman, who ran a profitable sporting goods store. Newman's father was Jewish, the son of immigrants from Poland and Hungary; Newman had no religion as an adult, but described himself as "a Jew", stating that "it's more of a challenge". Newman's mother worked in his father's store, while raising Paul and his brother, Arthur, who later became a producer and production manager.

Newman showed an early interest in the theater, which his mother encouraged. At the age of seven, he made his acting debut, playing the court jester in a school production of Robin Hood. Graduating from Shaker Heights High School in 1943, he briefly attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where he was initiated into the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. He was sent instead to boot camp and then received further training as a radioman and gunner. Qualifying as a rear-seat radioman and gunner in torpedo bombers, in 1944, Aviation Radioman Third Class Newman was sent to Barber's Point, Hawaii. He was subsequently assigned to Pacific-based replacement torpedo squadrons (VT-98, VT-99, and VT-100). These torpedo squadrons were responsible primarily for training replacement pilots and combat air crewmen, placing particular importance on carrier landings.

After the war, he completed his English degree at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, graduating in 1949.

Career

Early work

Newman made his Broadway theater debut in the original production of William Inge's Picnic with Kim Stanley. He later appeared in the original Broadway productions of The Desperate Hours and Sweet Bird of Youth with Geraldine Page. He would later star in the film version of Sweet Bird of Youth, which also starred Page.

His first movie for Hollywood was The Silver Chalice (1954), followed by The Rack (1956) and acclaimed roles in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), as boxer Rocky Graziano; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), opposite Elizabeth Taylor; and The Young Philadelphians (1959), with Barbara Rush and Robert Vaughn. However, predating all of these above was a small but notable part in an August 8, 1952 episode of the science fiction TV series Tales of Tomorrow entitled "Ice from Space", in which he played Sergeant Wilson, his first credited TV or film appearance.

In February 1954, Newman appeared in a screen test with James Dean, directed by Gjon Mili, for East of Eden (1955). Newman was testing for the role of Aron Trask, Dean for the role of Aron's fraternal twin brother Cal. Dean won his part, but Newman lost out to Richard Davalos. The same year, Newman co-starred with Eva Marie Saint and Frank Sinatra in a live —and color —television broadcast of Our Town, a musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder's stage play with the same name. Newman was a last-minute replacement for James Dean. In 2003, Newman acted in a remake of Our Town, taking on the role of the stage manager.

Major films

Newman was one of the few actors who successfully made the transition from 1950s cinema to that of the 1960s and 1970s. His rebellious persona translated well to a subsequent generation. Newman starred in Exodus (1960), The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963), Harper (1966), Hombre (1967), Cool Hand Luke (1967), The Towering Inferno (1974), Slap Shot (1977), and The Verdict (1982). He teamed with fellow actor Robert Redford and director George Roy Hill for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973).

He appeared with his wife, Joanne Woodward, in the feature films The Long, Hot Summer (1958), Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!, (1958), From the Terrace (1960), Paris Blues (1961), A New Kind of Love (1963), Winning (1969), WUSA (1970), The Drowning Pool (1975), Harry & Son (1984), and Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990). They both also starred in the HBO miniseries Empire Falls, but did not have any scenes together.

In addition to starring in and directing Harry & Son, Newman also directed four feature films (in which he did not act) starring Woodward. They were Rachel, Rachel (1968), based on Margaret Laurence's A Jest of God, the screen version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), the television screen version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Shadow Box (1980), and a screen version of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (1987).

Twenty-five years after The Hustler, Newman reprised his role of "Fast" Eddie Felson in the Martin Scorsese-directed The Color of Money (1986), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He told a television interviewer that winning an Oscar at the age of 62 deprived him of his fantasy of formally being presented with it in extreme old age.

Last works

In 2003, he appeared in a Broadway revival of Wilder's Our Town, receiving his first Tony Award nomination for his performance. PBS and the cable network Showtime aired a taping of the production, and Newman was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie.

His last screen appearance was as a conflicted mob boss in the 2002 film Road to Perdition opposite Tom Hanks, although he continued to provide voice work for films.

In 2005 at age 80, Newman was profiled alongside Robert Redford as part of the Sundance Channel's TV series Iconoclasts.

In keeping with his strong interest in car racing, he provided the voice of Doc Hudson, a retired race car in Disney/Pixar's Cars. Similarly, he served as narrator for the 2007 film Dale, about the life of the legendary NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, which turned out to be Newman's final film performance in any form. Newman also provided the narration for the film documentary The Meerkats, which was released in 2008.

Retirement from acting

Newman announced that he would entirely retire from acting on May 25, 2007. He stated that he did not feel he could continue acting at the level he wanted to. "You start to lose your memory, you start to lose your confidence, you start to lose your invention. So I think that's pretty much a closed book for me."

Philanthropy

With writer A.E. Hotchner, Newman founded Newman's Own, a line of food products, in 1982. The brand started with salad dressing, and has expanded to include pasta sauce, lemonade, popcorn, salsa, and wine, among other things. Newman established a policy that all proceeds, after taxes, would be donated to charity. As of early 2006, the franchise has donated in excess of $250 million.

One beneficiary of his philanthropy is the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a residential summer camp for seriously ill children, which is located in Ashford, Connecticut. Newman co-founded the camp in 1988; it was named after the gang in his film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Newman's college fraternity, Phi Kappa Tau, adopted Hole in the Wall as their "national philanthropy" in 1995. One camp has expanded to become several Hole in the Wall Camps in the U.S., Ireland, France, and Israel. The camps serve 13,000 children every year, free of charge.

On June 1, 2007, Kenyon College announced that Newman had donated $10 million to the school to establish a scholarship fund as part of the college's current $230 million fund-raising campaign. Newman and Woodward were honorary co-chairs of a previous campaign.

Paul Newman was one of the founders of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), a membership organization of CEOs and corporate chairpersons committed to raising the level and quality of global corporate philanthropy. Founded in 1999 by Newman and a few leading CEOs, CECP has grown to include more than 175 members and, through annual executive convenings, extensive benchmarking research, and best practice publications, leads the business community in developing sustainable and strategic community partnerships through philanthropy.

Newman was named the Most Generous Celebrity of 2008 by Givingback.org. He contributed $20,857,000 for the year of 2008 to the Newman's Own Foundation, which distributes funds to a variety of charities.

Upon Newman's death, the Italian newspaper (a "semi-official" paper of the Holy See) L'Osservatore Romano published a notice lauding Newman's philanthropy. It also commented that "Newman was a generous heart, an actor of a dignity and style rare in Hollywood quarters."

Marriages and family

Newman was married twice. He was married to Jackie Witte appeared in the films Breakheart Pass, The Towering Inferno, and the 1977 film Fraternity Row. Paul Newman started the Scott Newman Center for drug abuse prevention in memory of his son.

Susan is a documentary filmmaker and philanthropist and has Broadway and screen credits, including a starring role as one of four Beatles fans in I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978), and also a small role opposite her father in Slap Shot. She also received an Emmy nomination as co-producer of his telefilm, The Shadow Box. Newman had two grandsons.

Newman married actress Joanne Woodward on February 2, 1958. They had three daughters: Elinor "Nell" Teresa (1959), Melissa "Lissy" Stewart (1961), and Claire "Clea" Olivia (1965). Newman directed Elinor (stage name Nell Potts) in the central role alongside her mother in the film The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.

The Newmans lived away from the Hollywood environment, making their home in Westport, Connecticut. Paul Newman was well known for his devotion to his wife and family. When asked about infidelity, he famously quipped, "Why go out for hamburger when you have steak at home?"

Political activism

in 1968]] For his support of Eugene McCarthy in 1968 (and effective use of television commercials in California) and his opposition to the War in Vietnam, Newman was placed nineteenth on Richard Nixon's enemies list, which he claimed was his greatest accomplishment.

Consistent with his work for liberal causes, Newman publicly supported Ned Lamont's candidacy in the 2006 Connecticut Democratic Primary against Senator Joe Lieberman, and was even rumored as a candidate himself, until Lamont emerged as a credible alternative. He donated to Chris Dodd's presidential campaign.

He attended the first Earth Day event in Manhattan on April 22, 1970. Newman was also a vocal supporter of gay rights, including same-sex marriage.

Newman was concerned over global warming and supported nuclear energy development as a solution.

Auto racing

Newman was an avid auto racing enthusiast, and first became interested in motorsports ("the first thing that I ever found I had any grace in") while training at the Watkins Glen Racing School for the filming of Winning, a 1969 film. Newman's first professional event was in 1972, in Thompson, Connecticut, and he was a frequent competitor in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) events for the rest of the decade, eventually winning four national championships. He later drove in the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans in Dick Barbour's Porsche 935 and finished in second place. Newman reunited with Barbour in 2000 to compete in the Petit Le Mans.

From the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, he drove for the Bob Sharp Racing team, racing mainly Datsuns (later rebranded as Nissans) in the Trans-Am Series. He became closely associated with the brand during the 1980s, even appearing in commercials for them. At the age of 70 years and 8 days, he became the oldest driver to be part of a winning team in a major sanctioned race, winning in his class at the 1995 24 Hours of Daytona. Among his last races were the Baja 1000 in 2004 and the 24 Hours of Daytona once again in 2005.

Newman initially owned his own racing team, which competed in the Can-Am series, but later co-founded Newman/Haas Racing with Carl Haas, a Champ Car team, in 1983. The 1996 racing season was chronicled in the IMAX film Super Speedway, which Newman narrated. He was also a partner in the Atlantic Championship team Newman Wachs Racing. Newman owned a NASCAR Winston Cup car, before selling it to Penske Racing, where it now serves as the #12 car.

Newman was inducted into the SCCA Hall of Fame at the national convention in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 21, 2009.

Illness and death

Newman was scheduled to make his professional stage directing debut with the Westport Country Playhouse's 2008 production of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, but he stepped down on May 23, 2008, citing health issues.

In June 2008 it was widely reported that Newman, a former chain smoker, had been diagnosed with lung cancer and was receiving treatment at Sloan-Kettering hospital in New York City. Photographs taken of Newman in May and June showed him looking gaunt. Writer A.E. Hotchner, who partnered with Newman to start the Newman's Own company in the 1980s, told the Associated Press that Newman told him about the disease about eighteen months prior to the interview. Newman's spokesman told the press that the star was "doing nicely," but neither confirmed nor denied that he had cancer. In August, after reportedly finishing chemotherapy, Newman told his family he wished to die at home.

He died on September 26, 2008, aged 83, surrounded by his family and close friends. His remains were subsequently cremated after a private funeral service near his home in Westport.

Filmography, awards, and nominations

As actor

As director or producer

Additional awards and honors

In addition to the awards Newman won for specific roles, he received an honorary Academy Award in 1986 for his "many and memorable and compelling screen performances" and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his charity work in 1994.

He received the Golden Globe New Star of the Year — Actor award for ''The Silver Chalice (1957), the Henrietta Award World Film Favorite — Male in 1964 and 1966 and the Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1984.

Newman won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for The Long, Hot Summer and the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for Nobody's Fool.

In 1968, Newman was named "Man of the Year" by Harvard University's performance group, the Hasty Pudding Theatricals.

Newman Day has been celebrated at Kenyon College, Bates College, Princeton University, and other American colleges since the 1970s. In 2004, Newman requested that Princeton University disassociate the event from his name, due to the fact that he did not endorse the behaviors, citing his creation of the Scott Newman Centre in 1980, which is "dedicated to the prevention of substance abuse through education".

Posthumously, Newman was inducted into the Connecticut Hall of Fame, and was honored with a nature preserve in Westport named in his honor. He was also honored by the United States House of Representatives following his death.

Published work

Newman, Paul; Hotchner, A.E. Newman's Own Cookbook. Simon & Schuster, 1998. ISBN 0684848325.

Newman, Paul; Hotchner, A.E. Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good. Doubleday Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0385508026.

See also

Newman Day

List of select Jewish racing drivers

Notes

References

Demers, Jenifer. Paul Newman: the Dream has Ended!. Createspace, 2008. ISBN 1440433232

Lax, Eric. Paul Newman: a Biography. Turner Publishing, Incorporated, 1999. ISBN 1-57036-286-6.

Morella, Joe; Epstein, Edward Z. Paul and Joanne: A Biography of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Delacorte Press, 1988. ISBN 0440500044.

O'Brien, Daniel. Paul Newman. Faber & Faber, Limited, 2005. ISBN 057121987X.

Oumano, Elena. Paul Newman. St. Martin's Press, 1990. ISBN 0-517-05934-7.

Quirk, Lawrence J. The Films of Paul Newman. Taylor Pub., 1986. ISBN 0-8065-0385-8.

Thomson, Kenneth. The Films of Paul Newman. 1978. ISBN 0-912616-87-3.

Further reading

External links

Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing

Newman's Own

Newman's Own Foundation

Paul Newman bio at h2g2

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Name	Veronica Lake
Caption	circa 1952
Birth date	November 14, 1922
Birth place	Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Death date	July 07, 1973
Death place	Burlington, Vermont, U.S.
Birth name	Constance Frances Marie Ockelman
Other names	Constance Keane, Connie Keane
Spouse	John S. Detlie (1940–1943; 2 children)André De Toth (1944–1952; 2 children)Joseph A. McCarthy (1955–1959)Robert Carleton-Munro (1972–1973) (her death)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1939–1970

Veronica Lake (November 14, 1922 – July 7, 1973) was an American film actress and pin-up model. She received both popular and critical acclaim, most notably for her femme fatale roles in film noir with Alan Ladd during the 1940s, and was well-known for her peek-a-boo hairstyle. Her success did not last; she had a string of broken marriages and long struggles with mental illness and alcoholism until she died of hepatitis.

Early life and career

Lake was born as Constance Frances Marie Ockelman in Brooklyn, New York. Her father, Harry E. Ockelman, of Danish-Irish descent, worked for an oil company aboard a ship. Her father died in an industrial explosion in Philadelphia in 1932 when she was ten. Her mother, née Constance Charlotta Trimble (1902–1992), (listed as "Veronica F." on the 1920 census), married family friend Anthony Keane, a newspaper staff artist, a year later, and Lake began using his last name.

Lake was sent to Villa Maria, an all-girls Catholic boarding school in Montreal, Canada, from which she was expelled. The Keane family later moved to Miami, Florida. Lake attended Miami Senior High School in Miami, where she was known for her beauty. She had a troubled childhood and was, according to her mother, diagnosed as schizophrenic.

In 1938 Lake moved with her mother and stepfather to Beverly Hills, where her mother enrolled her in the Bliss-Hayden School of Acting. Her first appearance on screen was for RKO, playing a small role among several coeds in the 1939 film, Sorority House. Similar roles followed, including All Women Have Secrets and Dancing Co-Ed. During the making of Sorority House director John Farrow first noticed how her hair always covered her right eye, creating an air of mystery about her and enhancing her natural beauty. She was then introduced, while still a teenager, to the Paramount producer Arthur Hornblow, Jr.. He changed her name to Veronica Lake because the surname suited her blue eyes.

Her contract was subsequently dropped by RKO. She married art director John S. Detlie, 14 years her senior, in 1940. A small role in the comedy, Forty Little Mothers, brought unexpected attention. In 1941 she was signed to a long-term contract with Paramount Pictures. On August 21, 1941, she gave birth to her first child, Elaine Detlie.

1940s icon

Her breakthrough film was I Wanted Wings in 1941, a major hit in which Lake played the second female lead and was said to have stolen scene after scene from the rest of the cast. This success was followed by Hold Back the Dawn later that year. She had starring roles in more popular movies, including Sullivan's Travels, This Gun for Hire, I Married a Witch, The Glass Key, and So Proudly We Hail!. Looking back at her career years later, Lake remarked, "I never did cheesecake; I just used my hair."

For a short time during the early 1940s Lake was considered one of the most reliable box office draws in Hollywood. She became known for onscreen pairings with actor Alan Ladd. At first, the couple was teamed together merely out of physical necessity: Ladd was just 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m) tall and the only actress then on the Paramount lot short enough to pair with him was Lake, who stood just 4 feet 11½ inches (1.51 m). They made four films together.

A stray lock of her shoulder-length blonde hair during a publicity photo shoot led to her iconic "peekaboo" hairstyle, which was widely imitated. During World War II, she changed her trademark image to encourage women working in war industry factories to adopt more practical, safer hairstyles.

Although popular with the public, Lake had a complex personality and acquired a reputation for being difficult to work with. Eddie Bracken, her co-star in Star Spangled Rhythm was quoted as saying, "She was known as 'The Bitch' and she deserved the title." In that movie, Lake took part in a song lampooning her hair style, "A Sweater, A Sarong and a Peekaboo Bang", performed with Paulette Goddard and Dorothy Lamour. Joel McCrea, her co-star in Sullivan's Travels, reputedly turned down the co-starring role in I Married a Witch, saying, "Life's too short for two films with Veronica Lake."

Lake's career stumbled with her unsympathetic role as Nazi spy Dora Bruckman in 1944's The Hour Before the Dawn. During filming, she tripped on a lighting cable while pregnant and began hemorrhaging. She recovered, but her second child, William, was born prematurely on July 8, 1943, dying a week later from uremic poisoning. By the end of 1943 her first marriage ended in divorce. Meanwhile, scathing reviews of The Hour Before Dawn included criticism of her unconvincing German accent.

Nonetheless, Lake was earning $4,500 per week under her contract with Paramount. She had begun drinking more heavily during this period and people began refusing to work with her. Paramount cast Lake in a string of mostly forgotten films. A notable exception was The Blue Dahlia (1946), in which she again co-starred with Ladd. During filming, screenplay writer Raymond Chandler referred to her as "Moronica Lake". Paramount decided not to renew her contract in 1948.

She married film director Andre De Toth in 1944 and had a son, Andre Anthony Michael De Toth, known as Michael De Toth (October 25, 1945 - February 24, 1991), and a daughter, Diana De Toth (born October 16, 1948). Lake was sued by her mother for support payments in 1948.

Lake earned her pilot's license in 1946 and was able to fly solo between Los Angeles and New York.

Later years

After a single film for 20th Century Fox, Slattery's Hurricane (1949), her career collapsed. By the end of 1951 she had appeared in one last film (Stronghold, which she later described as "a dog"), filed for bankruptcy, and divorced de Toth. The IRS seized the remainder of her assets for unpaid taxes. Lake turned to television and stage work and in 1955 married songwriter Joseph A. McCarthy.

After breaking her ankle in 1959, Lake was unable to continue working as an actress. She and McCarthy divorced, after which she drifted between cheap hotels in Brooklyn and New York City and was arrested several times for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct. A New York Post reporter found her working as a barmaid at the all-women's Martha Washington Hotel in Manhattan. At first, Veronica claimed that she was a guest at the hotel and covering for a friend. Soon afterward, she admitted that she was employed at the bar. The reporter's widely distributed story led to some television and stage appearances. In 1966, she had a brief stint as a TV hostess in Baltimore, Maryland, along with a largely ignored film role in Footsteps in the Snow.

Her physical and mental health declined steadily. By the late 1960s Lake was in Hollywood, Florida, apparently immobilized by paranoia (which included claims she was being stalked by the FBI).

When Veronica: The Autobiography of Veronica Lake (Bantam, 1972) was published, she promoted the book with a memorable hour-long interview on The Dick Cavett Show. With the proceeds, she co-produced and starred in her last film, Flesh Feast (1970), a very low budget horror movie with a Nazi-myth storyline. She then moved to the UK, where she had a short-lived marriage with an "English sea captain", Robert Carleton-Munro, before returning to the U.S. in 1973, having filed for divorce.

Lake was immediately hospitalized. Although she had made a cheerful and positive impression on the nurses who cared for her, she was apparently estranged from her three surviving children, particularly her daughters. Elaine Detlie became known as Ani Sangge Lhamo after becoming a member of the Subud faith in New Zealand. Diana became a secretary for the US Embassy in Rome in the 1970s. A rumor persists that she died in Montreal and was smuggled across the border to Vermont.

Her ashes were scattered off the coast of the Virgin Islands as she had requested. In 2004 some of Lake's ashes were reportedly found in a New York antique store. Her son Michael died on February 24, 1991, aged 45, in Olympia, Washington.

Lake has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6918 Hollywood Boulevard for her contributions to the motion picture industry.

Quotes

"I wasn't a sex symbol, I was a sex zombie."

"You could put all the talent I had into your left eye and still not suffer from impaired vision."

"I've reached a point in my life where it's the little things that matter... I was always a rebel and probably could have got much further had I changed my attitude. But when you think about it, I got pretty far without changing attitudes. I'm happier with that." (1970)

References in popular culture

Barry Smolin's song "Veronica Lake" is about an irresolute sighting of a homeless Veronica Lake at Union Station in Los Angeles.

The Archie Comics character Veronica Lodge was partially named after Veronica Lake, who was in the midst of her early celebrity when the comic book character was introduced in the spring of 1942.

In 1997, the Academy Award-winning film L.A. Confidential paid homage to Lake's image and manner through Kim Basinger's starring role in an adaptation of James Ellroy's crime novel set in early 1950s Los Angeles. Basinger won an Oscar for her performance, which required her to deliberately resemble Lake. A scene included an image of Lake from This Gun for Hire screening in the background.

Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit was modeled on Veronica Lake and Rita Hayworth. Jessica also sports Lake's trademark peekaboo hairstyle.

The character of Ronnie Lake in the hit CBS drama is named after her.

Her character in Sullivan's Travels inspired "Miss Lake," a song on London-based French songwriter Louis Philippe's 2007 album, An Unknown Spring.

Billy Wilder's comedy The Major and the Minor has a scene in which the students of a girl's school - and their headmistress - all have peekaboo hairstyles. The boys in the scene mention "The girls at the school have an epidemic...They all think they're Veronica Lake".

In Alfred Hitchcock's suspense film Shadow of a Doubt (1943), the young daughter named Ann says her prayers before going to sleep... "God bless Mama, Papa, Captain Midnight, Veronica Lake, and the President of the United States."

Hellacopters recorded a tribute song called "Veronica Lake" on their latest album, Head Off! The song was originally written by the New Bomb Turks.

The spider in Bob Clampett's cartoon Eatin' on the Cuff puts on a Veronica Lake wig.

The Bugs Bunny cartoon A-Lad-In His Lamp features a lake called Veronica Lake.

Clips of Veronica Lake were used in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, a 1982 spoof of film noir starring Steve Martin.

In the 2009 video game Still Life 2, a sequel to the 2005 game, Veronica Lake is the favourite actress of the game's villain. He is obsessed with her movies, especially The Blue Dahlia.

In 2010 Jack White III added a new girl to his acoustic guitar collection named Veronica Lake. It is a custom white Gretsch Rancher with a gold double pickguard and a picture of Veronica Lake on the back. He is currently playing Veronica with his band The Dead Weather.

In the Three Stooges short subject, "Higher Than A Kite", Larry Fine impersonates Veronica Lake, calling himself, "Moronica".

In Manhattan the Woody Allen character tells his young girlfriend that he's going to take her to see a Veronica Lake movie. She then jokingly confuses her with Rita Hayworth.

In Heavenly Creatures, Juliet (Kate Winslet) and Pauline (Melanie Lynskey) are overheard apparently taking publicity photographs for a planned trip to Hollywood. Juliet says she'll lean back and put her hair on one shoulder and "look just like Veronica Lake".

In The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, Veronica Lake is the location of the island Moosylvania.

In the Woody Woodpecker cartoon The Barber of Seville Woody styles his hair in a peek-a-boo and says, "Looks like Harmonica Lake."

In an episode of Are You Being Served?, Mrs. Slocombe remarks that she has been told that from the front she looks like Veronica Lake. Mr. Lucas replies that from the back she looks like Windermere Lake.

Filmography

References

Further reading

Oderman, Stuart, Talking to the Piano Player 2. BearManor Media, 2009. ISBN #1-59393-320-7.

External links

Photographs and literature

Category:American expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:American film actors Category:American people of Danish descent Category:Deaths from hepatitis Category:Deaths from renal failure Category:American people of Irish descent Category:People from Brooklyn Category:Female aviators Category:1922 births Category:1973 deaths Category:Alcohol-related deaths in Vermont Category:20th-century actors

Name	Jim Nabors
Caption	Nabors in 2007
Birth name	James Thurston Nabors
Birth date	June 12, 1930
Birth place	Sylacauga, Alabama, U.S.
Years active	1954–present

James Thurston "Jim" Nabors (born June 12, 1930) is an American actor and singer. Born and raised in Sylacauga, Alabama, Nabors moved to Southern California due to his asthma. While working at a Santa Monica nightclub, The Horn, he was discovered by Andy Griffith and later joined The Andy Griffith Show, playing Gomer Pyle, a gas station attendant that some described as dim-witted. Nabors himself has stated that the Gomer character was not so much dim-witted; he just wanted to see the good in people. The character proved popular, and Nabors was given his own spin-off show, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

Though best known for his portrayal of Gomer Pyle, Nabors became a popular guest on variety shows in the 1960s and 1970s (including two specials of his own in 1969 and 1974) after revealing a rich baritone voice. He subsequently recorded numerous albums and singles, most of them containing romantic ballads.

Biography

Early life and career

Nabors was born to Mavis and Fred Nabors in Sylacauga, Alabama, where he sang for his high school and church. He attended the University of Alabama, where he began acting in skits. After graduating, he moved to New York, where he worked as a typist for the United Nations; after a year, he moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he got his first job in the television industry as a film cutter. Due to his asthma, he moved to Los Angeles and worked as a film cutter for NBC. He moonlighted at a Santa Monica tavern, The Horn, singing and acting in cabaret theater. His act featured him as a character similar to the Gomer Pyle character he would later portray: he would sing in a baritone and sometimes his higher-pitched voices and speak in a higher-pitched voice. At the club, comedian Bill Dana saw Nabors' act and invited him to appear on The Steve Allen Show. Nabors signed on to the show, but it was soon canceled.

Breakthrough and popularity

It was at The Horn where Nabors was discovered by Andy Griffith and was hired to play a one-shot role of Gomer Pyle, an "" gas station attendant, on The Andy Griffith Show. Nabors's character (based on his act at The Horn) became so popular that he was made a regular on the show and was later given his own show, the spin-off Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., in which his character joined the United States Marine Corps. The show, which placed Nabors's "bumbling" and "naive" character opposite Sergeant Vince Carter (Frank Sutton), also proved popular. Despite its airing during the Vietnam War, a time of "profound disillusionment with war and the military", Gomer Pyle remained popular because it avoided war-related themes and instead focused on the show's rural roots and the relationship between Pyle and Sgt. Carter. Nabors quit Gomer Pyle after five seasons because he desired to move to something else, 'reach for another rung on the ladder, either up or down'.

Nabors revealed his rich baritone voice first on the February 24, 1964 episode of The Andy Griffith Show and, then, on April 8, 1964 on The Danny Kaye Show and subsequently capitalized on it with numerous successful records and live performances. Most of the songs were romantic ballads, though he also sang pop, gospel, and country songs. Despite poor critical reception, the show proved popular. After the cancellation of The Jim Nabors Hour, Nabors embarked on a nation-wide roadshow.

Later career

Typecast from his role as Gomer Pyle, Nabors found his subsequent roles mostly comedic. In the 1970s, he appeared in the children's television programs Krofft Supershow and Buford and the Galloping Ghost. He also appeared in every season premiere of The Carol Burnett Show because Burnett considered him a "good-luck charm". However, on a 1973 episode of The Rookies, he played his first "serious" role, a man called on to be an assassin after the death of his sister. From 1977 to 1978, Nabors hosted another variety show, The Jim Nabors Show. Though the show only lasted one season, Nabors was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Host or Hostess in a Talk, Service or Variety Series. However, Sid and Marty Krofft persuaded Nabors to star in the television show The Lost Saucer, a show about two bumbling androids, Fi (Ruth Buzzi) and Fum (Nabors), who travel through time with two children. Nabors, whose character was described as a "Gomer Pyle in outer space", sang in a few of the episodes.

In the 1980s, at the request of his friend Burt Reynolds, Nabors appeared in three feature-length films which starred Reynolds. In The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), about a sheriff (Reynolds) who falls in love with a brothel madam (Dolly Parton), Nabors played Deputy Fred, a character similar to Gomer Pyle. Though the film was given mostly unfavorable reviews, Nabors garnered some praise for his performance. However, not only was 1983's Stroker Ace (about a race car driver [Reynolds] who fights a fried-chicken chain entrepreneur) panned, Nabors earned a Golden Raspberry Award for his performance as the title character's mechanic. Like Reynolds's previous two films, Cannonball received mostly negative reviews. In 1986, Nabors returned to television, reprising his role as Gomer Pyle in the television movie Return to Mayberry, in which the cast of The Andy Griffith Show reunited. In 1986, Nabors starred in the half-hour comedy pilot "Sylvan in Paradise" as the title character, Sylvan Sprayberry, an accident-prone bell captain at a Hawaiian hotel. The series was not picked up by NBC.

After moving to Hawaii from Bel Air, California in 1976, he launched a show, "The Jim Nabors Polynesian Extravaganza", at the Hilton Hawaiian Village; it ran for two years. Nabors eventually experienced "bright light burnout" and disappeared from the stage save for an occasional performance. In 1984, after a five-year hiatus, Nabors returned to performing, starring in the "Moulin Rouge" show at the Las Vegas Hilton and other shows in Reno and Las Vegas. He made his theatrical debut as Harold Hill in The Music Man with Florence Henderson at the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theatre.

. For over 30 years, Nabors has sung "Back Home Again in Indiana" before the start of the race.]] In 1994, Nabors suffered from a near-fatal case of hepatitis B. According to Nabors, he contracted the disease while traveling in India; he shaved with a straight razor and "whacked [his] face all up". The disease caused liver failure, and Nabors was not given a hopeful prognosis; however, his friend Carol Burnett made an arrangement with the transplant division of UCLA and secured Nabors a transplant. Nabors later became involved in the American Liver Foundation as a result of his experience. Shortly after recovering from his liver transplant, Nabors embarked on another tour, with stops in Phoenix, St. Louis, and Washington. From 1997 to 2006, Nabors starred in the Burton White-produced A Merry Christmas with Friends and Nabors, a live performance at the Hawaii Theatre Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. The production, featuring local and national artists, ran for forty performances and was directed by Tom Hansen until his death in 2006. The final performance run was directed by John Rampage and dedicated to Hansen. For over 30 years, he has sung "Back Home Again in Indiana" with the Purdue All-American Marching Band before each Indianapolis 500.

Personal life

Nabors's successes have earned him accolades. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991. "Gomer Pyle" received an honorary promotion to Lance Corporal from the Commandant of the Marine Corps James L. Jones in 2001, and on September 25, 2007, he was promoted from Lance Corporal to Corporal by Lt. General John F. Goodman. The Hawaii Pacific University awarded Nabors the Fellow of the Pacific Award for his "outstanding leadership, service, and dedication to the community". In 2006, he was inducted into the Alabama Stage and Screen Hall of Fame. He received honors from the University of Alabama on September 2, 2006, before a football game against the University of Hawaii. Nabors, along with U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye, was honored on January 19, 2007, at "A Night of American Heroes," a yearly dinner held in benefit of the Battleship Missouri Memorial at Pearl Harbor. U.S. Highway 280 in Talladega County, Alabama, was named "Jim Nabors Highway" in honor of the Sylacauga native. In the 1970s, a rumor began circulating that Nabors and then-closeted actor Rock Hudson were to marry. Though supposedly intended as a joke (with the punchline being that Hudson would then be known as "Rock Pyle"), the rumor was picked up by media and spread across the country. Nabors was "horrified" by the rumor, as he felt that it hindered his ability to portray himself as something other than a comedic character.

Nabors began vacationing in Hawaii in the 1960s, and in 1976, moved from Bel Air, California to Honolulu, Hawaii. For 25 years, he owned a macadamia nut plantation on Maui before selling it to the National Tropical Botanical Gardens, a conservationist organization (he still retains farming rights to the land and owns a second home on the property).

Selected discography

Nabors has recorded twenty-eight albums and numerous singles; the albums listed have either been certified gold or platinum by the RIAA.

1966: Jim Nabors Sings Love Me With All Your Heart (Gold)

1968: Jim Nabors Sings The Lord's Prayer (Gold)

1980: The Heart Touching Magic Of Jim Nabors (Platinum)

1990: Jim Nabors Christmas Album (Gold)

Partial filmography

{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin:1em 1em 1em 0; background:#f9f9f9; border:1px #aaa solid; border-collapse:collapse; font-size:90%;" |- bgcolor="#B0C4DE" align="center" !colspan="4"|Television |- ! Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes |- | 1961 || The Steve Allen Show || Himself ||   |- | 1963 || The Danny Kaye Show || Himself ||   |- | rowspan="2"|1964 || The Andy Griffith Show || Gomer Pyle ||   |- | Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. || Gomer Pyle ||   |- | 1966 || The Lucy Show || Pvt. Gomer Pyle || One-shot role |- | 1969 || The Jim Nabors Hour || Himself (host) || Was nominated for a Golden Globe (Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy) |- | rowspan="3"|1976 || The Carol Burnett Show || Himself ||   |- | The Lost Saucer || Fum ||   |- | The Muppet Show || Himself || Episode number 1.06 originally aired 27 September in New York, and 2 October in L.A. |- | 1978 || The Jim Nabors Show || Himself (host) || Nominated for a Daytime Emmy (for Outstanding Host or Hostess in a Talk, Service or Variety Series) |- | 1986 || Return to Mayberry || Gomer Pyle || Television movie |} {| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin:1em 1em 1em 0; background:#f9f9f9; border:1px #aaa solid; border-collapse:collapse; font-size:90%;" |- bgcolor="#B0C4DE" align="center" !colspan="4"|Films |- ! Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes |- | 1982 ||The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas ||Deputy Fred || Feature-film debut |- | 1983 ||Stroker Ace||Lugs Harvey || Won a Golden Raspberry Award for his role. |- | 1984 || Cannonball Run II||Pvt. Homer Lyle ||   |}

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Official Website

Discography at CMT.com

Biography at HollywoodUpClose.com

When Jim Nabors Sings

Category:1930 births Category:Living people Category:Actors from Alabama Category:American comedians Category:American film actors Category:American male singers Category:American television actors Category:Honorary United States Marines Category:Indianapolis 500 Category:Organ transplant recipients Category:People from Talladega County, Alabama

Category:University of Alabama alumni

Name	Boris Karloff
Birth name	William Henry Pratt
Birth date	November 23, 1887
Birth place	East Dulwich, London, England, UK
Death date	February 02, 1969
Death place	Midhurst, Sussex, England, UK
Years active	1909–1969
Occupation	Actor
Spouse	Grace Harding (1910-1913)Olive de Wilton (m. 1915)Helene Vivian Soule (1924-1928)Dorothy Stine (1928-1946)Evelyn Hope Helmore (1946-1969)

Boris Karloff (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), whose real name was William Henry Pratt, was an English-born actor who emigrated to Canada in 1909.

Karloff starred as Frankenstein's monster in Universal's Frankenstein film series, and as the Chinese detective Mr. Wong.

Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and Son of Frankenstein (1939). His popularity following Frankenstein was such that for a brief time he was billed simply as "Karloff" or "Karloff the Uncanny". His best-known non-horror role is as the Grinch in the television special of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Early years

Karloff was born at 36 Forest Hill Road, East Dulwich, London, SE22, England, where a blue plaque can now be seen. His parents were Edward John Pratt, Jr. and Eliza Sarah Millard. His paternal grandparents were Edward John Pratt, an Anglo-Indian, and Eliza Julia (Edwards) Pratt, a sister of Anna Leonowens (whose tales about life in the royal court of Siam (now Thailand) were the basis of the musical The King and I.) The two sisters were also of Anglo-Indian heritage.

Karloff was brought up in Enfield. He was the youngest of nine children, and following his mother's death was raised by his elder siblings. He later attended Enfield Grammar School before moving to Uppingham School and Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood, and went on to attend King's College London where he studied to go into the consular service. He dropped out in 1909 and worked as a farm labourer and did various odd jobs until he happened into acting. His brother, Sir John Thomas Pratt, became a distinguished British diplomat. Karloff was bow-legged, had a lisp, and stuttered as a young boy. He conquered his stutter, but not his lisp, which was noticeable all through his career.

Career

In 1909, Pratt travelled to Canada and began appearing in stage shows throughout the country; and some time later changed his professional name to "Boris Karloff". Some have theorized that he took the stage name from a mad scientist character in the novel The Drums of Jeopardy called "Boris Karlov". However, the novel was not published until 1920, at least eight years after Karloff had been using the name on stage and in silent films (Warner Oland played "Boris Karlov" in a movie version in 1931). Another possible influence was thought to be a character in the Edgar Rice Burroughs fantasy novel H.R.H. The Rider which features a "Prince Boris of Karlova", but as the novel was not published until 1915, the influence may be backward, that Burroughs saw Karloff in a play and adapted the name for the character. Karloff always claimed he chose the first name "Boris" because it sounded foreign and exotic, and that "Karloff" was a family name. However, his daughter Sara Karloff publicly denied any knowledge of Slavic forebears, "Karloff" or otherwise. One reason for the name change was to prevent embarrassment to his family. Whether or not his brothers (all dignified members of the British foreign service) actually considered young William the "black sheep of the family" for having become an actor, Karloff himself apparently worried they did feel that way. He did not reunite with his family until 1933, when he went back to England to make The Ghoul, extremely worried that his siblings would disapprove of his new, macabre claim to world fame. Instead, his elder brothers jostled for position around their "baby" brother and happily posed for publicity photographs with him.

Karloff joined the Jeanne Russell Co. in 1911 and performed in towns like Kamloops, BC and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. After the devastating Regina, Saskatchewan, Regina Cyclone of June 30, 1912, Pratt and other performers helped with cleanup efforts. He later took a job as a railway baggage handler and joined the Harry St. Clair Co., that performed in Minot, North Dakota, for a year, in an opera house above a hardware store.

Due to the years of difficult manual labour in Canada and the U.S. while trying to establish his acting career, he suffered back problems for the rest of his life. Because of his health, he did not fight in World War I.

Hollywood

Once Karloff arrived in Hollywood, he made dozens of silent films, but work was sporadic, and he often had to take up manual labor such as digging ditches and driving a cement truck to earn a living. His role as Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein (1931) made him a star. A year later, he played another iconic character, Imhotep in The Mummy.

The 5'11" (1.8 m) brown-eyed Karloff played a wide variety of roles in other genres besides horror. He was memorably gunned down in a bowling alley in the 1932 film Scarface. He played a religious World War I soldier in the 1934 John Ford epic The Lost Patrol. Karloff gave a string of lauded performances in 1930s Universal horror movies, including several with his main rival for heir to Lon Chaney, Sr.'s horror throne, Béla Lugosi. Karloff was chosen over Lugosi for the role of the monster in Frankenstein, making his subsequent career possible. Karloff played Frankenstein's monster in two other films, Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Son of Frankenstein (1939), which also featured Lugosi. Karloff would revisit the Frankenstein mythos in film several times afterward. The first would be as the villainous Dr. Niemann in House of Frankenstein (1944), where Karloff would be contrasted with Glenn Strange's portrayal of the Monster.

Karloff returned to the role of the "mad scientist" in 1958's Frankenstein 1970, as Baron Victor von Frankenstein II, the grandson of the original inventor. The finale reveals that the crippled Baron has given his own face (i.e. Karloff's) to the Monster. The actor appeared at a celebrity baseball game as the Monster in 1940, hitting a gag home run and making catcher Buster Keaton fall into an acrobatic dead faint as the Monster stomped into home plate. Norman Z. McLeod filmed a sequence in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty with Karloff in the Monster make-up, but it was deleted. Karloff donned the headpiece and neck bolts for the final time in 1962 for a Halloween episode of the TV series Route 66, but he was playing "Boris Karloff," who, within the story, was playing "the Monster."

While the long, creative partnership between Karloff and Lugosi never led to a close mutual friendship, it produced some of the actors' most revered and enduring productions, beginning with The Black Cat. Follow-ups included Gift of Gab (1934), The Raven (1935), The Invisible Ray (1936), Black Friday (1940), You'll Find Out (also 1940), and The Body Snatcher (1945). During this period, he also starred with Basil Rathbone in Tower of London (1939).

From 1945 to 1946, Karloff appeared in three films for RKO produced by Val Lewton: Isle of the Dead, The Body Snatcher, and Bedlam. In a 1946 interview with Louis Berg of the Los Angeles Times, Karloff discussed his three-picture deal with RKO, his reasons for leaving Universal Pictures and working with producer Lewton. Karloff left Universal because he thought the Frankenstein franchise had run its course. The latest installment was what he called a "'monster clambake,' with everything thrown in—Frankenstein, Dracula, a hunchback and a 'man-beast' that howled in the night. It was too much. Karloff thought it was ridiculous and said so." Berg continues, "Mr. Karloff has great love and respect for Mr. Lewton as the man who rescued him from the living dead and restored, so to speak, his soul."

During this period, Karloff was also a frequent guest on radio programs, whether it was starring in Arch Oboler's Chicago-based Lights Out productions (most notably the episode "Cat Wife") or spoofing his horror image with Fred Allen or Jack Benny.

An enthusiastic performer, he returned to the Broadway stage in the original production of Arsenic and Old Lace in 1941, in which he played a homicidal gangster enraged to be frequently mistaken for Karloff. Although Frank Capra cast Raymond Massey in the 1944 film, which was shot in 1941, while Karloff was still appearing in the role on Broadway, Karloff reprised the role on television with Tony Randall and Tom Bosley in a 1962 production on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. Somewhat less successful was his work in the J. B. Priestley play The Linden Tree. He also appeared as Captain Hook in the play Peter Pan with Jean Arthur. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his work opposite Julie Harris in The Lark, by the French playwright Jean Anouilh about Joan of Arc, which was also reprised on Hallmark Hall of Fame.

In later years, Karloff hosted and acted in a number of television series, most notably Thriller, Out of This World, and The Veil, the latter of which was never broadcast and only came to light in the 1990s. In the 1960s, Karloff appeared in several films for American International Pictures, including The Comedy of Terrors, The Raven, and The Terror. the latter two directed by Roger Corman, and Die, Monster, Die!. He also featured in Michael Reeves' second feature film The Sorcerers (1966).

During the 1950s Karloff appeared on British TV in the series Colonel March of Scotland Yard, in which he portrayed John Dickson Carr's fictional detective Colonel March who was known for solving apparently impossible crimes.

As a guest on The Gisele MacKenzie Show, guest star Karloff sang "Those Were the Good Old Days" from Damn Yankees, while Gisele MacKenzie performed the solo, "Give Me the Simple Life". On The Red Skelton Show, Karloff guest starred along with horror actor Vincent Price in a parody of Frankenstein, with Red Skelton as the monster "Klem Kadiddle Monster." In 1966 Karloff also appeared with Robert Vaughn and Stefanie Powers in the spy series The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., in the episode "The Mother Muffin Affair." Karloff performed in drag as the titular Mother Muffin. That same year he also played an Indian Maharajah on the adventure series The Wild Wild West ("The Night of the Golden Cobra"). In 1967, he played an eccentric Spanish professor who thinks he's Don Quixote in a whimsical episode of I Spy ("Mainly on the Plains").

In the mid-1960s, Karloff gained a late-career surge of American popularity when he narrated the made-for-television animated film of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and also provided the voice of the Grinch, although the song, "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" was sung by American voice actor Thurl Ravenscroft. Karloff later received a Grammy Award in the spoken word category after the story was released as a record. (Because Ravenscroft was uncredited for his contribution to How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, his performance of the song was often mistakenly attributed to Karloff.)

In 1968 he starred in Targets, a movie directed by Peter Bogdanovich about a young man who embarks on a spree of killings carried out with handguns and high powered rifles. The movie starred Karloff as retired horror film actor, Byron Orlok, a thinly disguised version of himself—facing an end of life crisis, resolved through a confrontation with the shooter.

Karloff ended his career appearing in a trio of low-budget Mexican horror films that were shot shortly before his death; all were released posthumously, with the last, The Incredible Invasion, not released until 1971, two years after Karloff's death.

Spoken word

Karloff recorded the title role of Shakespeare's Cymbeline for the Shakespeare Recording Society (Caedmon Audio). The recording was originally published in 1962. It is very rare today, although a download of it is available from audible.com.

Records Karloff made for the children's market included Three Little Pigs and Other Fairy Stories, Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories and, with Cyril Ritchard and Celeste Holm, Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes, and Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark.

Personal life

In contrast to the sinister characters he played on screen, Karloff was known in real life as a very kind gentleman who gave generously, especially to children's charities. Beginning in 1940, Karloff dressed up as Santa Claus every Christmas to hand out presents to physically disabled children in a Baltimore hospital.

Karloff was genuinely superstitious - once, he refused to appear on the radio program Information Please because the episode would be broadcast on Friday the 13th.

Despite living and working in the United States for many years, Karloff never became a naturalized American citizen, and he never legally changed his name to "Boris Karloff." He signed official documents "William H. Pratt, a.k.a. Boris Karloff."

Karloff was also a charter member of the Screen Actors Guild, and was especially outspoken regarding working conditions on sets that actors were expected to deal with in the mid-1930s, some of which were extremely hazardous. He married six times and had one child, daughter Sara Karloff, by his fifth wife.

In 1931, Boris Karloff took out insurance against premature aging that might be caused by his fright make-up.

Boris Karloff lived out his final years at his cottage, 'Roundabout,' in the Hampshire village of Bramshott. After a long battle with arthritis and emphysema, he contracted pneumonia, succumbing to it in King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst, Sussex, England, on February 2, 1969. He was cremated, following a requested low-key service, at Guildford Crematorium, Godalming, Surrey, where he is commemorated by a plaque in the Garden of Remembrance. A memorial service was held at St Paul's, Covent Garden (The Actors' Church), London, where there is also a plaque.

However, even death could not put an immediate halt to Karloff's media career. Four Mexican films for which Karloff shot his scenes in Los Angeles were released over a two-year period after he had died. They were dismissed, by critics and fans alike as undistinguished efforts. Also, during the run of Thriller, Karloff lent his name and likeness to a comic book for Gold Key Comics based upon the series. After Thriller was cancelled, the comic was retitled Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery. An illustrated likeness of Karloff continued to introduce each issue of this publication for nearly a decade after the real Karloff died; the comic lasted until the early 1980s.

Legacy

For his contribution to film and television, Boris Karloff was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1737 Vine Street for motion pictures, and 6664 Hollywood Boulevard for television.

Karloff was featured by the U.S. Postal Service as Frankenstein's Monster and the Mummy in its series "Classic Monster Movie Stamps" issued in September 1997.

In 2010, writer and actor Mark Gatiss interviewed Sara Karloff about her father's career for his BBC documentary series A History of Horror.

Filmography

References

External links

Karloff's birthplace

Vertlieb's Views: Boris Karloff

Literature on Boris Karloff

Category:1887 births Category:1969 deaths Category:Alumni of King's College London Category:Deaths from emphysema Category:English expatriates in Canada Category:English expatriates in the United States Category:English film actors Category:English people of Indian descent Category:English silent film actors Category:English stage actors Category:Former pupils of Enfield Grammar School Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Old Merchant Taylors Category:Old Uppinghamians Category:People from East Hampshire (district) Category:People from Enfield Category:People from Peckham Category:People from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Category:People of Anglo-Indian descent