Thought it was about time for a deep, meaningful question to be posed. Okay, it's just for fun.

Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Vincent Price, the Chaneys, etc.

Of all the various actors who have created memorable roles in the
horror/sci-fi field, whom would you pick to be the one and only poster child for the genre and why?

I'm going with Boris Karloff - iconic face, voice and characters.

But one could make a case for each of the actors listed. Especially Lon Chaney.

In character/make up or not?

I actually thought of a stark B/W image of Max Schreck...

Karloff The Uncanny.

I have a lot of affection for Price. I'm sure I've seen him in more horror films that I loved than karloff even made.

gotta love Vincent Price . immediately recognizeable voice too . not to say Karloff didn't also have both . but Price was my fave . i remember House on Haunted Hill just scarin' the living bejeezus outta me when i was a kid .
hb

I have a lot of affection for Price. I'm sure I've seen him in more horror films that I loved than karloff even made.

To quote Lucy Van Pelt: "Has he ever appeared on a postage stamp? He can't be very important if he's never appeared on a postage stamp!"

Karloff has.
:p

Whit Bissel was in more horror & sci-fi films than all those guys put together!

Ol' Whit kept busy, that's for sure. Karloff and Lugosi's accents alone have become inextricably linked with the characters that first made them famous but Lugosi's unfortunate descent into drug addiction pulled him out of the public eye relatively early and he didn't live to see the "Monster Craze" of the 1960s - without which none of us would be having this discussion. Lon Chaney Jr suffered a similar fate with alcohol and was relegated for the most part to grade "Z" movies by the 1960s . Karloff managed a real resurrection in the Sixties with the Corman films, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Bobby "Boris" Pickett's "The Monster Mash", "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" and Peter Bagdonovich's "Targets". Price lived long enough to achieve true icon-hood in the Eighties on Jackson's "Thriller" and in Burton's "Edward Scissorshands" - but he was never a "star" of the magnitude that Karloff and Lugosi had been in the 1930s. I really think Karloff gets it hands down as the one who prevailed as an icon and in the public's affection most constantly over several generations.

Vincent Price in The Tingler. Scared the heck out of me when I was a kid and saw it.

I like the Dr. Phibes movies. Bizarre, elaborate murders followed by a James Bond death pun. Killed by a catapulted unicorn's horn: "He got the point." Then they have to decide which way to unscrew him. :freak: Fun stuff.

Ya' Know You'd expect me to Say LON BUT I'd Have to say Boris and here's why, Ya see Lon Chaney was of course a Pioneer of the Art of Make-Up Arts BUT as Well Known and Loved as his Horror Portrayls are STILL ,Lon Sr. Actually Got Great Reviews for his NON-Horror Work as Well AND Further His Own Favorite Role was The Drill Sargent in "Tell It To The Marines" 1928/29 if I recall,Where Karloff on the Other Hand Was BEST known as The Monster. Frankly Just My Opinion But I think The TRUE "Face Of Universal Horror" Should be JACK PIERCE Let's Face it, For the most part Jack gave the Universal Monsters THEIR FACE! right? But that's just me Lon was Such a Complicated Artist that worked on SO many Levels that I don't think it would be Fair to "Pidgeon Hole him to Simply ONE Genre.
LONFAN/JOHN

I also have to go with Vincent Price. My favorites were the movies where he played a witch hunter. Now if I could just remember those titles.

I also have to go with Vincent Price. My favorites were the movies where he played a witch hunter. Now if I could just remember those titles.
If you can't find them here, you're in trouble:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001637/

The Price film where he played a witch hunter was the Witch Finder General (AKA Conquerer Worm in the USA to capitalize on Price's association with the Poe tales.) I have a European DVD of the film that takes several prints and some video footage to construct the complete print. There were so many different versions of this film floating around that none were complete. The Brits had thieir version. We had our version and the European mainland had their version. The DVDs pic quality is a bit uneven with the video footage, but I enjoyed it thuroughly.

For me all of those are iconic in their own way. I think it would be hard to pick just one as the face of horror. Boris was truly great and certainly as Frankenstein's monster has achieved true iconic status. But, so did Bela with Dracula and Lon Sr with the Phantom of the opera. Price on the other hand, as entertaining as he was, did not have that one role that would propell him into iconic status. I feel that it would have to be Boris' title because he managed to continue to draw audiences in the twilight of his career.

Jeff

Bela Lugosi

He IS Dracula.
He was the one that frightened the heck out of me as a child.

Zorro - Boris did not do "How the grinch" check into it. Price was also on Alice Cooper's "Welcome To My Nightmare" album (The Black Widow).

I can't decide! They all scarred me in their own special way~ THANKS!

Zorro - Boris did not do "How the grinch" check into it.

HUH!? :confused:

FJIMI-NOT TO BE AN A$$hole BUT I'm Willing to bet MY SPLEEN ON the Fact that Boris preformed the ENTIRE "Grinch" Animated Special.Except of Course the Song 'You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch" That Ditty was preformed by the Deep Voiced Guy who is Instantly Recognizeable as "Tony The Tiger" in those Frosted Flake ad's! I can Prove ALL of this lol
JOHN/LONFAN

Thought it was about time for a deep, meaningful question to be posed. Okay, it's just for fun.

Of all the various actors who have created memorable roles in the
horror/sci-fi field, whom would you pick to be the one and only poster child for the genre and why?

For my money, Rosanne Barr....imagine having to wake up to that every morning.:freak:

Keep your spleen man:-) He narrated but didn't sing it (Thurl Ravenscroft)

... so why did you say Karloff didn't "do" How The Grinch Stole Christmas?

because I had it bassackwards-thats why!

... good answer.:)

BTW - I just caught Karloff in one of the first color episodes of the Wild Wild West. Good stuff!