Editing Boris Karloff (section)

=== Early Hollywood career ===
{{further|Boris Karloff filmography}}

[[File:Boris Karloff in The Mask of Fu Manchu.jpg|thumb|Karloff as [[Fu Manchu]] in ''[[The Mask of Fu Manchu]]'' (1932).]]
[[File:FrankensteinLobbyCardKarloffandClive.png|right|thumb|219px|[[Colin Clive]] and Karloff in ''Frankenstein'' (1931)]]
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   | footer    = Top photo: Karloff in ''[[Bride of Frankenstein]]'' (1935)<br/>Center photo: [[Colin Clive]], [[Elsa Lanchester]], Karloff and [[Ernest Thesiger]] in ''Bride of Frankenstein''<br/>Bottom photo: Karloff, [[Basil Rathbone]] and [[Bela Lugosi]] in ''[[Son of Frankenstein]]'' (1939)
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Once Karloff arrived in Hollywood, he appeared in small roles in dozens of [[silent film]]s, but the work was sporadic and he often had to take up manual labour such as digging ditches or delivering construction plaster to make ends meet. (According to Karloff, his first film was a [[Frank Borzage]] picture at [[Universal Pictures|Universal]] for which he received $5 as an extra; the title of this film has never been traced.)<ref>Beverley Bare Buehrer. 'Boris Karloff: A Bio-bibliography'. Greenwood Press: Westport, Connecticut (1993), pages 5–6.</ref><ref>Scott Allen Nollen, "Boris Karloff: A Gentleman's Life". 2018. BearManor Media. Pages 20-23.</ref>

His first certain screen role was in a film serial, ''[[The Lightning Raider]]'' (1919) with [[Pearl White]]. He was in another serial that same year, ''[[The Masked Rider (1919 film)|The Masked Rider]]'' (1919), the earliest of his film appearances that has survived. Karloff could also be seen in ''[[His Majesty, the American]]'' (1919) with [[Douglas Fairbanks]], ''[[The Prince and Betty (film)|The Prince and Betty]]'' (1919), ''[[The Deadlier Sex]]'' (1920) with [[Blanche Sweet]], and ''[[The Courage of Marge O'Doone]]'' (1920). He played an Indian in ''[[The Last of the Mohicans (1920 American film)|The Last of the Mohicans]]'' (1920) with [[Wallace Beery]] and he would often be cast as an Arab or Indian in his early films.

Karloff's first major role came in a film serial, ''[[The Hope Diamond Mystery]]'' (1920). He was Indian in ''[[Without Benefit of Clergy]]'' (1921) and an Arab in ''[[Cheated Hearts (film)|Cheated Hearts]]'' (1921) and villainous in ''[[The Cave Girl (film)|The Cave Girl]]'' (1921). He was a maharajah in ''[[The Man from Downing Street]]'' (1922), a Nabob in ''[[The Infidel (1922 film)|The Infidel]]'' (1922) and had roles in ''[[The Altar Stairs]]'' (1922), ''[[Omar the Tentmaker (film)|Omar the Tentmaker]]'' (1922) (as an Imam), ''[[The Woman Conquers]]'' (1922), ''[[The Gentleman from America]]'' (1923), ''[[The Prisoner (1923 film)|The Prisoner]]'' (1923) and the serial ''[[Riders of the Plains]]'' (1923).

Karloff did a Western, ''[[The Hellion (1924 film)|The Hellion]]'' (1923), and a drama, ''[[Dynamite Dan (film)|Dynamite Dan]]'' (1924). He could be seen in ''[[Parisian Nights]]'' (1925), ''[[Forbidden Cargo (1925 film)|Forbidden Cargo]]'' (1925), ''[[The Prairie Wife]]'' (1925) and the serial ''[[Perils of the Wild]]'' (1925). Karloff went back to bit part status in ''[[Never the Twain Shall Meet (1925 film)|Never the Twain Shall Meet]]'' (1925), directed by [[Maurice Tourneur]], but he had a good support part in ''[[Lady Robinhood]]'' (1925) starring [[Evelyn Brent]] in the titular role.

Karloff went on to be in ''[[The Greater Glory]]'' (1926), ''[[Her Honor, the Governor]]'' (1926), ''[[The Bells (1926 film)|The Bells]]'' (1926) (as a mesmerist), ''[[The Nickel-Hopper]]'' (1926) with [[Mabel Normand]], ''[[The Golden Web (1926 film)|The Golden Web]]'' (1926), ''[[The Eagle of the Sea]]'' (1926), ''[[Flames (1926 film)|Flames]]'' (1926), ''[[Old Ironsides (film)|Old Ironsides]]'' (1926) with Wallace Beery and [[Esther Ralston]], ''[[Flaming Fury (1926 film)|Flaming Fury]]'' (1926), ''[[Valencia (1926 film)|Valencia]]'' (1926), ''[[The Man in the Saddle (1926 film)|The Man in the Saddle]]'' (1926) with [[Hoot Gibson]], ''[[Tarzan and the Golden Lion (film)|Tarzan and the Golden Lion]]'' (1927) (as an African), ''[[Let It Rain (1927 film)|Let It Rain]]'' (1927), ''[[The Meddlin' Stranger]]'' (1927), ''[[The Princess from Hoboken]]'' (1927), ''[[The Phantom Buster]]'' (1927) with [[Buddy Roosevelt]], and ''[[Soft Cushions]]'' (1927).

Karloff had roles in ''[[Two Arabian Knights]]'' (1927), ''[[The Love Mart]]'' (1927) with [[Noah Beery|Noah Beery Sr.]], ''[[The Vanishing Rider]]'' (1928) (a serial), ''[[Burning the Wind]]'' (1928), ''[[Vultures of the Sea]]'' (1928), and ''[[The Little Wild Girl]]'' (1928).

He was in ''[[The Devil's Chaplain]]'' (1929), ''[[The Fatal Warning]]'' (1929) for Richard Thorpe, ''[[The Phantom of the North]]'' (1929), ''[[Two Sisters (1929 film)|Two Sisters]]'' (1929), ''[[Anne Against the World]]'' (1929), ''[[Behind That Curtain (film)|Behind That Curtain]]'' (1929) with [[Warner Baxter]], and ''[[The King of the Kongo]]'' (1929), a serial directed by Thorpe.

While one day sitting at the bus stop in the pouring rain, [[Lon Chaney]] Sr., 'The Man of a Thousand Faces', spotted Karloff and offered him a ride. Chaney told him "to find something different that will set you apart and is different from anything someone else has done or is willing to do and do it better".{{Citation needed|date=January 2022}}

Karloff had an uncredited bit part in ''[[The Unholy Night]]'' (1930) directed by [[Lionel Barrymore]], and bigger parts in ''[[The Bad One]]'' (1930),''[[The Sea Bat]]'' (1930) starring [[Charles Bickford]] and directed by Lionel Barrymore and [[Wesley Ruggles]], and ''[[The Utah Kid (1930 film)|The Utah Kid]]'' (1930) directed by Thorpe.

A film which brought Karloff recognition was ''[[The Criminal Code]]'' (1931), a prison drama directed by [[Howard Hawks]] in which he reprised a dramatic part he had played on stage. In the same period, Karloff had a supporting role as a mob boss in Hawks' [[gangster film]] ''[[Scarface (1932 film)|Scarface]]'' starring [[Paul Muni]] and [[George Raft]], but the film was not released until 1932 because of censorship problems.

He did another serial for Thorpe, ''[[King of the Wild]]'' (1931), then had support parts in ''[[Cracked Nuts (1931 film)|Cracked Nuts]]'' (1931) with [[Wheeler and Woolsey]], ''[[Young Donovan's Kid]]'' (1931) with [[Jackie Cooper]], ''[[Smart Money (1931 film)|Smart Money]]'' (1931) with [[Edward G. Robinson]] and [[James Cagney]] in their only film together, ''[[The Public Defender]]'' (1931) with [[Richard Dix]], ''[[I Like Your Nerve]]'' (1931) with [[Douglas Fairbanks Jr.]] and [[Loretta Young]], and ''[[Graft (1931 film)|Graft]]'' (1931) with [[Regis Toomey]] and future agent [[Sue Carol]].

Another significant role in the autumn of 1931 saw Karloff play a key supporting part as an unethical newspaper reporter in ''[[Five Star Final]]'' with Edward G. Robinson, a film about tabloid journalism which was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Picture]].

He could also be seen in ''[[The Yellow Ticket (1931 film)|The Yellow Ticket]]'' (1931) with [[Elissa Landi]], [[Lionel Barrymore]] and [[Laurence Olivier]] during Olivier's memorable first round in Hollywood, ''[[The Mad Genius]]'' (1931) with [[John Barrymore]], ''[[The Guilty Generation]]'' (1931) with [[Robert Young (actor)|Robert Young]] and ''[[Tonight or Never (1931 film)|Tonight or Never]]'' (1931) with [[Gloria Swanson]].