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

Call for abstracts: Boris Karloff: The Many Faces of a Film Icon – A 
Critical Symposium (Plymouth College of Art, 1st April 2022)

Hosted by Plymouth College of Art, UK. To take place at Plymouth College 
of Art’s Tavistock Place location on 1st April 2022.

Keynotes to include: Dr. Alison Pierse (University of Leeds), author of 
After Dracula: The 1930s Horror Film (2013) and editor of Women Make 
Horror (2020). Stephen Jacobs, author of Boris Karloff: More Than a 
Monster (2010; second edition forthcoming) and The Karloff Compendium 
(forthcoming, 2022), as well as guest in and historical consultant on 
the documentary Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster (dir. Thomas 
Hamilton, 2021).
Other symposium attractions to include:
A full day academic symposium with panel discussions on various aspects 
of Karloff’s life and career. Associated screenings of Karloff features 
to take place on the evenings of Thursday 31st March and Friday 1st 
April at the Plymouth Arts Cinema, located at our main site (film titles 
TBC). Examples of practice-based approaches to Karloff’s life and work 
with accompanying discussions.
A display of new archival materials relating to Karloff.
Lunch and refreshments on the day (delegate fees TBC in due course).

Boris Karloff was born William Henry Pratt in 1887, in the village of 
Camberwell, Surrey (now 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, 
though no less impressive, feature performances. Beside Whale and 
Bogdanovich, Karloff traversed a range of industry contexts where he 
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.

After several delays relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, this revamped 
event will take place on Friday 1st April 2022 at the Plymouth College 
of Art. With keynote speakers Dr. Alison Pierse (Unversity of Leeds) and 
Stephen Jacobs (acclaimed author of Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster) 
confirmed, we hope that the day will draw together a range of additional 
speakers, both new and established, who are interested in various 
aspects of Karloff’s life and career. In correspondence with this event, 
we will showcase a selection of archival materials relating to Karloff 
and his career and will offer accompanying screenings of some of his 
feature films.
It is our hope that this symposium will lead to publication 
opportunities for some of its speakers. Though we are still in early 
discussions at this point, Boris Karloff: The Many Faces of a Film Icon 
has already attracted the attention of a publisher interested in 
attending and optioning an edited collection following the event.
Topics for presentations 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 papers proposals for 20 minute presentations of 
approximately 250 words, accompanied by a short biographical statement. 
The deadline for proposals is Friday 14th January 2022 (with 
confirmation to follow shortly after). Please address proposals and/or 
any inquiries to the dedicated mailbox at (boriskarloff /at/ pca.ac.uk) under 
the subject heading “Boris Karloff Symposium”, and/or cc in Dr. Eddie 
Falvey at (efalvey /at/ pca.ac.uk), who will reply to any questions on behalf 
of the organising panel.
Disclaimer: Due to the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, this event has seen 
several delays. This re-launch comes with a revised date, which we hope 
will attract a number of new speakers and attendees. The organisers have 
kept records of previous correspondence and will personally re-invite 
those who expressed interest in and/or submitted abstracts for the 
original event. For further information, do not hesitate to contact the 
organisers whose information is available above.

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