By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
Who better to show up at Famous Monster Pizza in Decatur than a Karloff?
Yes, a Karloff came to the downtown eatery last Sunday: Sara Karloff, Boris Karloff’s daughter.
Sara attracted a sold-out crowd. People from Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois were in attendance, owner Max Miller said.
One couple drove some 7 ½ hours from Knoxville, Tennessee, to enjoy the program offered by the daughter of movieland’s most famous monster.
Sara, who Miller says lives in California (actually, Rancho Mirage), showed home movies growing up with her famous father. She held a Q & A session (question and answer), signed autographs and posed for photos with people in the audience.
Ironically, the 85-year-old Sara was born on November 23 – the same date as her father, who died February 2, 1969 at the age of 81.
“Ms. Karloff is a very nice person, very personable and witty,” Miller said.
A widow, Sara has two sons, Michael and David. A grandson accompanied her on her second visit to Famous Monster Pizza; the first was on November 14 of 2022. He is an eye doctor/surgeon spending a year in residency in Indianapolis.
An actress, she has appeared in several films.
Also part of Sunday’s program was Hoosier Film Preservationist Eric Grayson, who shared his story on how he works to save and restore old movies. He also presented portions of the 1929 film serial he has been working on for several years: KING OF THE KONGO, featuring Boris Karloff.
The Frankenstein monster “was the best friend I ever had. He was the thing that made me, that lifted me from wherever I was to wherever I’ve gotten,” William Henry Pratt said many years ago.
Pratt, better known to the world as Boris Karloff — and best known as the Frankenstein monster — was nothing like his film persona.
“Though he was the arch-monster who thrilled and terrified millions of youngsters through three generations, Karloff was a gentle man and thoughtful actor—a monster of discernment who disapproved of modern movie monsters as “dehumanized creatures presented without sympathy,” the Los Angeles Times noted in his obituary.
Who knows, perhaps Boris’ spirit hangs around the Decatur pizza place – which occupies the building which once housed the Cort Theater, where Karloff movies were shown more than a few times!