Here's a photo of GLENN STRANGE as the FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER and BORIS KARLOFF as Dr. GUSTAV NIEMANN from the 1944 UNIVERSAL movie, The HOUSE Of FRANKENSTEIN. Strange was the tallest Frankie monster ever (certainly at that time), as (sans built-up boots) he towered over Karloff in real life. Often you'll see articles about Karloff's portrayal of the monster illustrated by photos of Strange, so it makes a nice change to see the two of them together.
Glenn Strange may be better known for Westerns than for horror movies, but he played Frankenstein's monster in three feature films. That's more than Chaney, Lugosi, Lee, or anyone else except Karloff himself. He was also in the 1949 Bowery Boys comedy "Master Minds," whose premise was an unofficial remake of Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein.
ReplyDeleteRe: Strange's picture being used in articles about Karloff, that even happened with Karloff's obituary in the New York Times.
I read somewhere that Strange's image was used in Frankenstein merchandise (toys, model kits, masks) more than Karloff's, although that may be debatable. The original Aurora model kit itself looked more like Karloff, but the picture on the box looked more like Strange. The "Big Frankie" kit didn't resemble either of them much facially, IMHO, but the box art again looked more like Strange than Karloff, although the model looks more like Karloff than Strange. Later models and action figures (like the 1971 "Monster Scenes" sets) may have been based on the general design, rather than a specific actor.
The Aurora models were definitely based on Karloff's monster as he looked in The Bride of Frankenstein - even the 'Big Frankie' kit (although it has a slight cartoon appearance). The box art on Big Frankie was definitely Strange, and although the box art on the first Frankenstein kit was based on a photo of Strange, for some reason the monster has the spikes or 'horns' that were only ever seen in Karloff's test make-up, not any of his movies. The Marx Frankenstein figure was based on Strange, but apart from one of the 12 or 13 inch articulated figures by Sideshow a number of years ago, that's the only one I can think of that was. Most of the masks were, I think, based on Strange, but it's hard to be certain, as there's usually always a hint of Karloff about them as well. I've seen photos of Strange that were lit in such a way that it's understandable why they were mistaken for Karloff, so there's a bit of an amalgam of both actors going on a lot of the time.
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