James Whale: Encyclopedia II - James Whale - Hollywood career

James Whale - Hollywood career

Whale was best known for his work in the horror genre, making such momentous and iconic pictures as Frankenstein, where he was the first director ever to move the camera through the shot, Bride of Frankenstein, and The Invisible Man. Universal Pictures owed its stellar success in the 30s much in part to the huge box-office receipts of these three blockbusters. Further, these pictures established the screen careers of Gloria Stuart, Colin Clive, Elsa Lanchester, Boris Karloff, Una Merkel, and Claude Rains, to name just a few; most of whom Whale had known previously in England and had personally selected for their roles in his films. Whale was also responsible for such major films as Waterloo Bridge, Show Boat, and The Man in the Iron Mask. Whale directed The Road Back in 1937, starring Richard Cromwell and Noah Beery, Jr. It was the ill-fated remake to All Quiet on the Western Front. Much to Whale's protest, The Road Back was re-cut and shortened to the studio's liking before it was released, and then when it (not surprisingly) fared poorly at the box-office, Universal declined to renew Whale's contract.

Whale is the subject of the novel Father of Frankenstein by Christopher Bram, which was the basis for the 1998 film Gods and Monsters. The film, which won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, starred Ian McKellen as Whale. Biographies of Whale have been written by Mark Gatiss ( 'James Whale: A Biography', or 'James Whale: the would-be gentleman') and James Curtis (James Whale: A New World of Gods and Monsters).

In his later days, Whale experienced difficulty with his memory due to a debilitating stroke. He became lonely and suffered from depression and had difficulty putting the war behind him. He committed suicide by drowning himself in his swimming pool on May 29, 1957 at the age of 67. As his suicide note was originally withheld (and first published in James Curtis's biography of the director), circumstances of his death were not known until years later.

A memorial statue was erected for Whale in 2002 in the grounds of a new multiplex cinema of his home town, Dudley, England. The statue depicts a roll of film with the face of Frankenstein's monster engraved into the cells and the names of his most famous films etched into the film-tin shaped base-stone.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Hollywood career", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki