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Boris Karloff was born in England in 1887. He moved to Canada at 21 and then the U.S., and he was a stage actor who appeared in a large number of silent movies, but with only limited success. In 1931, he was cast as Frankenstein's monster, and his enormous success in that movie over-shadowed the fine performances he turned in on Scarface (1932), The Lost Patrol (1934), and The House of Rothschild (also in 1934). He was typecast as a monster/horror movie star, and with few exceptions, that is all he played the remainder of his career. He had great roles in The Mummy, The Bride of Frankenstein, and many others. He wore a huge amount of make-up in the Frankenstein movies and The Mummy, and he had health issues that made that even more uncomfortable, and so he later mostly played roles that did not require substantial make-up. In 1941 Karloff was offered the stage role of Jonathan Brewster (written specifically for him) in Arsenic and Old Lace, and he received a percentage of the profits. The film rights were sold to Warner Bros, who wanted Karloff to reprise his stage role, but he rightly thought appearing in the movie would hurt the play (and his profits) so he refused (which was a sound business decision, but robbed us of a great film portrayal!). The movie was filmed in late 1941, but the studio had agreed not to release it until the play finished its run, so it was not released until 1944 when the play finally ended after over 1,400 performances! Karloff is also well remembered for his great narration of Chuck Jones' great animated version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. He passed away in 1969 at the age of 81.

Important Added Info: Note that this still has been personally autographed (signed) by Boris Karloff! Also note that the still is an original that dates from the 1930s, but it was likely signed in the 1960s. Finally, note that this still has been trimmed and it now measures 8" x 9 3/4".

About the Collection this Item Comes From
Note that this item (and 40 others we are auctioning this week, each in its own auction) was consigned to us by a man who was a major movie memorabilia dealer in the 1970s and 1980s. During that time, he was approached by an elderly man named Sterling H. Bond, who had collected autographs for many years (starting in the early 1930s), and who sold the dealer his entire collection. Bond had tracked down many important Hollywood celebrities and obtained autographed items (often personalized to him), and he also had autographs from celebrities who were not in the film business (including famous politicians!). The dealer was so impressed with this collection that rather than sell it item by item, he began collecting autographs himself, sending celebrities items by Registered Mail which they then autographed and returned to him! He also purchased a few autographed items from top autograph dealers of the 1970s and 1980s. Now, decades later, the dealer has consigned these autographed items to us. So all of these 41 autographed items we are auctioning were either obtained by long time collector Sterling H. Bond, or were obtained by this memorabilia dealer, and we feel certain that the autograph on this item is authentic! Note that each of the 41 items from this consignor all have this paragraph on them.

Our address for UPS or FedEx only is:
Bruce Hershenson,
306 Washington Avenue, West Plains, MO 65775