[Commlist] Boris Karloff: The Many Faces of a Film Icon – A Critical Symposium

Boris Karloff: The Many Faces of a Film Icon – A Critical Symposium

30th October 2020, Plymouth College of Art, UK

Boris Karloff was born William Henry Pratt in 1887, in the then-small 
village of Camberwell, Surrey (now part of South London). Most often 
remembered as the star of Frankenstein (dir. James Whale, 1931) and two 
of its sequels (Bride of Frankenstein in 1935 and Son of Frankenstein in 
1939), Karloff’s career spanned more than half a century, from the 
silent era to New Hollywood where he worked with Peter Bogdanovich on 
the highly experimental film Targets (1968), in what proved to be one of 
his final feature performances. In addition to Whale and Bogdanovich, 
Karloff worked under a number of significant directors over the course 
of his career, including Mario Bava, Roger Corman, Michael Curtiz, John 
Ford, Howard Hawks, Michael Reeves, Douglas Sirk, Jacques Tourneur, and 
Robert Wise. For many, Karloff was and remains “one of the screen’s 
greatest madmen” (Darryl Jones, 2002). While Karloff’s star image is 
mostly intertwined with the horror genre, this dedicated symposium hopes 
to invite both new perspectives on some of the actor’s most iconic 
roles, as well as draw attention to the many other faces of Boris 
Karloff, both on- and off-screen. It is our aim to demonstrate that 
Karloff was more than the sum of his most famous parts; that the 
mercurial man who gave a “profoundly sympathetic performance” (Jones) as 
Frankenstein’s infamous monster was an actor with impressive range that 
is demonstrated by a rich and expansive filmography.

Boris Karloff: The Many Faces of a Film Icon will take place at Plymouth 
College of Art on 30 October 2020 where we hope to draw together a range 
of speakers and attendees all interested in various aspects of Karloff’s 
life and career.
In correspondence with this event, we will showcase archival materials 
hitherto unseen that relate to Karloff’s career. The event is being 
organised in collaboration with the Plymouth Arts Cinema who will be 
providing an evening programme which includes screenings of some of 
Karloff’s feature films. More information regarding the event, as well 
as the keynote speakers, will be announced in due course. Boris Karloff: 
The Many Faces of a Film Icon has already attracted the attention of a 
publisher. Our hope is that this symposium will lead to a peer-reviewed 
publication, providing an opportunity for some of the speakers to expand 
their work into full chapters in an edited collection.
Topics for chapters may include, but are not limited to:

Any of Karloff’s feature films
Karloff and his collaborators (co-stars, directors, producers, etc.) 
Karloff in Hollywood
Marketing Karloff Karloff and film stardom, or uses of his star image
Karloff’s performances, including as a silent film star through to his 
late-career performances
Karloff and franchises
Karloff as a horror icon
Karloff as a transnational star
Karloff and masculinity
Karloff and race
Karloff and monstrosity
Archival work on Karloff
Writing on Karloff, including biographies
Your own suggested idea

Submission details

We would like to invite abstracts for 20 minute papers of approximately 
250 words, accompanied by a short biographical statement. The deadline 
for proposals is Friday 29th May 2020 (with confirmation to follow in 
the weeks following that). Please address any inquiries to Dr Eddie 
Falvey at (efalvey /at/ pca.ac.uk) who will reply on behalf of the organising 
panel. Abstracts should be emailed to (boriskarloff /at/ pca.ac.uk).


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