Editing Boris Karloff (section)

===Professional expansion and further success===
[[File:Doomed to Die (1940) 1.jpg|thumb|L–R: [[Marjorie Reynolds]], Boris Karloff (seated), [[Raymond Hatton]] and [[Grant Withers]] in ''[[Doomed to Die]]'' (1940) ]]An enthusiastic performer, he returned to the Broadway stage in the original production of ''[[Arsenic and Old Lace (play)|Arsenic and Old Lace]]'' in 1941, in which he played a homicidal gangster enraged to be frequently mistaken for Karloff. [[Frank Capra]] cast [[Raymond Massey]] in the [[Arsenic and Old Lace (film)|1944 film]], which was shot in 1941, while Karloff was still appearing in the role on Broadway. The play's producers allowed the film to be made conditionally: it was not to be released until the production closed. (Karloff reprised his role on television in the anthology series ''[[The Best of Broadway]]'' (1955), and with [[Tony Randall]] and [[Tom Bosley]] in a [[Arsenic & Old Lace|1962 production]] on the ''[[Hallmark Hall of Fame]]''. He also starred in a radio adaptation produced by Screen Guild Theatre in 1946.)

In 1944, he underwent a spinal operation to relieve a chronic arthritic condition.<ref>{{cite news |title=Karloff Undergoes Operation |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1944/07/25/archives/karloff-undergoes-operation.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=25 July 1944 }}</ref>

Karloff returned to film roles in ''[[The Climax (1944 film)|The Climax]]'' (1944), an unsuccessful attempt to repeat the success of ''[[Phantom of the Opera (1943 film)|Phantom of the Opera]]'' (1943). More liked was ''[[House of Frankenstein (1944 film)|House of Frankenstein]]'' (1944), marking Karloff's "retirement" from playing the Monster, where instead, he comes full circle to play the villainous Dr. Niemann, a mad scientist fixated on life-experiments much like Henry Frankenstein, and pass the torch to actor [[Glenn Strange]], who would play the Monster in subsequent films.

Karloff made three films for producer [[Val Lewton]] at RKO: ''[[The Body Snatcher (1945 film)|The Body Snatcher]]'' (1945), his last teaming with Lugosi, ''[[Isle of the Dead (film)|Isle of the Dead]]'' (1945) and ''[[Bedlam (1946 film)|Bedlam]]'' (1946).

In a 1946 interview with Louis Berg of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', Karloff discussed his arrangement with RKO, working with Lewton and his reasons for leaving Universal. Karloff left Universal because he thought the Frankenstein franchise had run its course; the entries in the series after ''Son of Frankenstein'' were B-pictures. Berg wrote that the last installment in which Karloff appeared—''House of Frankenstein''—was what he called a " 'monster clambake,' with everything thrown in—Frankenstein, Dracula, a hunchback and a 'man-beast' that howled in the night. It was too much. Karloff thought it was ridiculous and said so." Berg explained that the actor had "great love and respect for" Lewton, who was "the man who rescued him from the living dead and restored, so to speak, his soul."<ref>{{cite news |author=Louis Berg |title=Farewell to Monsters |url=http://www.whiskeyloosetongue.com/articles/history/karloff.pdf |work=The Los Angeles Times |page=F12 |date=12 May 1946 |access-date=7 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090920151215/http://www.whiskeyloosetongue.com/articles/history/karloff.pdf |archive-date=20 September 2009 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Horror films experienced a decline in popularity after the war, and Karloff found himself working in other genres.

For the [[Danny Kaye]] comedy ''[[The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947 film)|The Secret Life of Walter Mitty]]'' (1947), Karloff appeared in a brief but starring role as Dr. Hugo Hollingshead, a psychiatrist. Director [[Norman Z. McLeod]] shot a sequence with Karloff in the Frankenstein monster make-up, but it was deleted from the finished film.

Karloff appeared in a film noir, ''[[Lured]]'' (1947), and as an Indian in ''[[Unconquered (1947 film)|Unconquered]]'' (1947). He had support roles in ''[[Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome]]'' (1947), ''[[Tap Roots]]'' (1948), and ''[[Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff]]'' (1949).

[[File:Boris Karloff radio show WNEW 1950.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Karloff had his own weekly children's radio show "Boris Karloff's Treasure Chest" on [[WBBR|WNEW]], New York, in 1950. He played children's music and told stories and riddles. Although the programme was meant for children, Karloff attracted many adult listeners as well.]]
During this period, Karloff was a frequent guest on radio programmes, whether it was starring in [[Arch Oboler]]'s Chicago-based ''[[Lights Out (radio show)|Lights Out]]'' productions (including the episode "Cat Wife") or spoofing his horror image with [[Fred Allen]] or [[Jack Benny]]. In 1949, he was the host and star of ''[[Starring Boris Karloff]],'' a radio and television anthology series for the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] broadcasting network.

He appeared as the villainous [[Captain Hook]] in ''[[Peter Pan (1950 musical)|Peter Pan]]'' in a 1950 stage musical adaptation which also featured [[Jean Arthur]].

Karloff returned to horror films with ''[[The Strange Door]]'' (1951) and ''[[The Black Castle]]'' (1952).

He was nominated for a [[Tony Award]] for his work opposite [[Julie Harris (American actress)|Julie Harris]] in ''[[L'Alouette (The Lark)|The Lark]],'' by the French playwright [[Jean Anouilh]], about [[Joan of Arc]], which he reprised years later on TV's ''Hallmark Hall of Fame.''

[[File:Boris Karloff Captain Hook Peter Pan.jpg|thumb|150px|Boris Karloff as Captain Hook in Peter Pan (1950)]]
[[File:Red Skelton Boris Karloff Red Skelton Show 1954.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Karloff played a foreign scientist who hoped to gain defence secrets from Cookie the Sailor (Skelton) on ''The Red Skelton Show'' in 1954.]]
[[File:"Colonel March of Scotland Yard".jpg|thumb|right|150px|Karloff played [[detective]] [[Colonel March]] on ''Colonel March of Scotland Yard'' in 1955.]]

During the 1950s, he appeared on British television in the series ''[[Colonel March of Scotland Yard]],'' in which he portrayed [[John Dickson Carr]]'s fictional detective Colonel March, who was known for solving apparently impossible crimes. [[Christopher Lee]] appeared alongside Karloff in the episode "At Night, All Cats are Grey" broadcast in 1955.<ref>Johnson, Tom (2009). ''The Christopher Lee Filmography: All Theatrical Releases, 1948–2003''. p. 79. McFarland.</ref> A little later, Karloff co-starred with Lee in the film ''[[Corridors of Blood]]'' (1958).

Karloff appeared in ''[[Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]'' (1952) and visited Italy for ''[[The Island Monster]]'' (1954) and then returned to Hollywood to appear in ''[[Sabaka]]'' (1954).

Karloff, along with [[H. V. Kaltenborn]], was a regular panelist on the [[NBC]] [[game show]], ''[[Who Said That?]]'' which aired between 1948 and 1955. Later, as a guest on NBC's ''The [[The Gisele MacKenzie Show|Gisele MacKenzie]] Show'', Karloff sang "Those Were the Good Old Days" from ''[[Damn Yankees]]'' while Gisele MacKenzie performed the solo, "Give Me the Simple Life". On ''[[The Red Skelton Show]],'' Karloff guest starred along with actor [[Vincent Price]] in a parody of Frankenstein, with [[Red Skelton]] as "Klem Kadiddle Monster". He served as host and one of the stars of the anthology series ''[[The Veil (American TV series)|The Veil]]'' (1958), a 12-episode Hal Roach TV series which was never broadcast at all due to financial problems at the producing studio; the complete series was later rediscovered in the 1990s and eventually released on DVD.

Karloff made some horror films in the late 1950s: ''[[Voodoo Island]]'' (1957), ''[[The Haunted Strangler]]'' (1958), ''[[Frankenstein 1970]]'' (1958) (this time as the Baron), and ''[[Corridors of Blood]]'' (1958). Karloff donned the Frankenstein Monster make-up for the last time in 1962 for a Halloween episode of the TV series ''[[Route 66 (TV series)|Route 66]]'', which also featured [[Peter Lorre]] and [[Lon Chaney Jr.]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Buehrer |first=Beverley Bare |date=1993 |title=Boris Karloff: A Bio-bibliography |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |page=137 |isbn=978-0313277153}}</ref>

During this period, he hosted and acted in a number of television series, including ''[[Thriller (U.S. TV series)|Thriller]]'' and Britain's ''[[Out of This World (UK TV series)|Out of This World]]''.