Editing Boris Karloff (section)

=== Final roles and work ===
[[File:The Terror (1963).webm|thumb|thumbtime=20:15|start=20:11|end=20:54|Boris Karloff acting with a young [[Jack Nicholson]] in a scene from the 1963 film ''[[The Terror (1963 film)|The Terror]]'']]
Karloff went to Italy to appear in ''[[Black Sabbath (film)|Black Sabbath]]'' (1963) directed by [[Mario Bava]]. He made ''[[The Raven (1963 film)|The Raven]]'' (1963) for [[Roger Corman]] and [[American International Pictures]] (AIP). When ''The Raven'' had successfully wrapped shooting with time left in Karloff's contract, Corman conscribed a new story with the same sets to feature Karloff in ''[[The Terror (1963 film)|The Terror]]'' (1963), with [[Jack Nicholson]] in the leading role and Karloff playing a baron who murdered his wife. He made a cameo in AIP's ''[[Bikini Beach]]'' (1964) and had a bigger role in that studio's ''[[The Comedy of Terrors]]'' (1964), directed by [[Jacques Tourneur]], and travelled to England to make ''[[Die, Monster, Die!]]'' (1965) co-starring Nick Adams. British actress [[Suzan Farmer]], who played his daughter in the film, later recalled Karloff was aloof during production "and wasn't the charming personality people perceived him to be", probably because he was in such intense pain in the 1960s.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2017/10/04/suzan-farmer-stalwart-hammer-films-obituary/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2017/10/04/suzan-farmer-stalwart-hammer-films-obituary/ |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Suzan Farmer, stalwart of Hammer films – obituary|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=4 October 2017|access-date=25 October 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In 1966, Karloff also appeared with [[Robert Vaughn]] and [[Stefanie Powers]] in the spy series ''[[The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.]]'', in the episode "The Mother Muffin Affair", Karloff performing in drag as the titular character. That same year, he also played an Indian [[Maharajah]] on the installment of the adventure series ''[[The Wild Wild West]]'' titled "The Night of the Golden Cobra". Karloff's last film for AIP was ''[[The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini]]'' (1966).

In 1967, he played an eccentric Spanish professor who believes himself to be [[Don Quixote]] in a whimsical episode of ''[[I Spy (1965 TV series)|I Spy]]'' titled "Mainly on the Plains", which he filmed in Spain. ''[[Cauldron of Blood]]'', shot in [[Spain]] around the same time, and co-starring [[Viveca Lindfors]], was only released in 1970 after Karloff's death.

In the mid-1960s, he enjoyed a late-career surge in the United States when he narrated the made-for-television animated film of [[Dr. Seuss]]' ''[[How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (TV special)|How the Grinch Stole Christmas]]'', and also provided the voice of the [[Grinch]], although the song "[[You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch]]" was sung by the American voice actor [[Thurl Ravenscroft]]. The film was first broadcast on [[CBS-TV]] in 1966. Karloff later received a [[Grammy Award]] for "[[Grammy Award for Best Album for Children|Best Recording For Children]]" after the recording was commercially released.<ref name=grammy>{{cite web|title=Past Winners Search for "grinch"|url=http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search?artist=&field_nominee_work_value=grinch&year=All&genre=All|publisher=Grammy.com|access-date=26 December 2013}}</ref> Because Ravenscroft (who never met Karloff in the course of their work on the show)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cartoonician.com/hes-grrrrreat-the-thurl-ravenscroft-interview/ |title="He's Grrrrreat! The Thurl Ravenscroft Interview," ''Hogan's Alley'' No. 14, 1998 |access-date=11 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322133421/http://cartoonician.com/hes-grrrrreat-the-thurl-ravenscroft-interview/ |archive-date=22 March 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> was uncredited for his contribution to ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas!'', his performance of the song was at times misattributed to Karloff.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Brundage |first1=David |title=Tony the Tiger, not Frankenstein, sang 'You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch' |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1851977422 |access-date=20 December 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 24, 2016 |id={{ProQuest|1851977422}} |ref=GrinchSinger}}</ref>

He appeared in ''[[Mad Monster Party?]]'' (1967) and went to England to star in the second feature film of the British director [[Michael Reeves (director)|Michael Reeves]], ''[[The Sorcerers]]'' (1967).

Karloff starred in ''[[Targets]]'' (1968), the first feature film directed by [[Peter Bogdanovich]], featuring two separate plotlines that converge into one. In one, a disturbed young man kills his family, then embarks on a killing spree. In the other, a famous horror-film actor confirms his retirement, agreeing to one last appearance at a drive-in cinema. Karloff starred as the retired horror film actor, Byron Orlok, a thinly disguised version of himself; Orlok (named both for Karloff himself and [[Count Orlok]]) was facing an end-of-life crisis, which he resolves through a confrontation with the crazed gunman at the drive-in cinema.

Around the same time, he played the occult expert Professor Marsh in a British production titled ''The Crimson Cult'' (''[[Curse of the Crimson Altar]]'', also 1968), which was the last Karloff film to be released during his lifetime.

He ended his career by appearing in four low-budget [[Mexico|Mexican]] horror films: ''[[Isle of the Snake People]]'', ''[[The Incredible Invasion]]'', ''[[Fear Chamber]]'' and ''[[House of Evil]]''. This was a package deal with Mexican producer [[Luis Enrique Vergara]]. Karloff's scenes for all four films were directed by [[Jack Hill]] and shot back-to-back within one month in Los Angeles in the spring of 1968. The films were later completed in Mexico and theatrically released in the early 1970s. Karloff was originally slated to travel to Mexico to shoot the films, but he had emphysema and crippling arthritis. Only half of one lung was still functioning and he required oxygen between takes, so Hill arranged for Karloff to film his scenes in California.<ref>Jacobs, Stephen (2011). ''Boris Karloff: More Than A Monster''. Tomahawk Press. p. 504. ISBN 978-0-9557670-4-3.</ref>

Due to the unexpected sudden death of the producer Vergara, all four Mexican films were embroiled for a while in legal actions and were only released posthumously in 1971, with the last, ''The Incredible Invasion'', not released until 1972, more than two years after Karloff's death.