In April 1932, Warner Bros. Pictures and First National Pictures put out a movie titled “It’s Tough to Be Famous” starting Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Mary Brian. Based on the novel “The Goldfish Bowl,” the movie offers excitement and a lesson in what life is like living under a constant spotlight. The movie did well at the box office and it helped both actors improve their careers. The movie also offered lessons that can be applied to today’s culture.
Actor Tony Todd and I have a lot in common. We were both at Tom Devlin’s Monster Museum on Oct. 6. He was there promoting his latest movie, “Hell Fest” (in theaters now), and I was there watching horror fans pour into the Boulder City-based business to get autographs and selfies with the Broadway-trained actor. Todd, who is known for his many roles in horror films, was raised in Connecticut, which is the other thing the actor and I have in common.
Before he played Baron Victor von Frankenstein for Allied Artists International’s 1958 independent film “Frankenstein 1970,” William Henry Pratt aka Boris Karloff was living in Boulder City seeking a divorce from his wife, Dorothy Stein. According to the book “Boris Karloff: A Bio-Bibliography” by Beverley Bare Buehrer, Karloff married Stein, a librarian, years earlier when he was a bit actor. With fame rising, and a girlfriend on the side, Karloff headed to Nevada for a quickie divorce.
