The Protector of Monsters (continued)...and Director James Whale, who had made Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein and The Invisible Man, ended up committing suicide by drowning himself in his Pacific Palisades swimming pool. 
Even Carl Laemmle Jr, the son of Universal founder Carl Laemmle, who had produced the monster films lived out his life as a recluse after his family lost control of their studio in 1936. He never produced another film and died in 1979, 40 years to the day of his father’s passing.
Claude Rains, star of “The Invisible Man” and “The Wolf Man” seems to have escaped this curse. Rains had a long, illustrious career in Hollywood acting in many classic films from Casablanca to Lawrence of Arabia. He was married six times, however, so not everything was idyllic
The same could be said for Boris Karloff who always seemed at peace with The Monster he created. He capped his long career by voicing/narrating the original animated version of Dr Seuss’ The Grinch. Like Claude Rains, he was also married six times.
And the Monster’s Bride, Elsa Lanchester parlayed her star making, albeit brief, role in The Bride of Frankenstein into a long career and was twice nominated for Best Supporting Actress. She died the day after Christmas in 1986 at the age of 84.
Something about these films and the stories I read about the stars and filmmakers took a hold of me at an early age...and it never released its grip! So I decided at an early age that I had to become “The Protector of Monsters.” (To be continued)
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