Karloff

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Boris Karloff was a British actor best known for portraying the monster in classic horror films like Frankenstein
2. The stage name of an English film star who became famous for his chilling role as the creature in 1931's Frankenstein
3. A surname borne by the English actor William Henry Pratt, remembered above all for playing the monster in early horror cinema

Etymology: Born William Henry Pratt in London in 1887, the actor took the stage name Karloff early in his career and kept it for the rest of his life. The surname is not a family name or a word from another language. It was a performer's invention, and it outlasted the name it replaced. The name became famous through the 1931 film "Frankenstein," in which he played the creature. His performance, with its flat-headed makeup and slow, lurching movements, made the monster a fixed image in popular culture. Audiences came to associate the surname with that role so strongly that it now refers to the actor and to the screen monster he defined, and the name is often used to mean a horror-film monster in general.