James Whale (1893-1957) - The Man Who Brought Frankenstein To Life
Created | Updated Dec 27, 2002
Born in the unassuming English mining town of Dudley in 1893, James Whale was a member of a large family - the sixth of seven children. From an early age, he displayed great imagination. Unfortunately, the conditions in which he lived were not conducive to aspiring talent, and he was forced to put his creative impulse on hold for many years.
From the age of sixteen, he worked in a cobbler's shop before moving to a sheet metal factory. This work allowed him to save enough money to pay for tuition at the Dudley School of Arts and Crafts. From here he might have started a conventional career, but the First World War intervened, and at the age of 26 he enlisted with his local regiment.
During his time at war, he was promoted to lieutenant, and was made a prisoner of war at Holzinden, near Hanover. It was here that he began to learn how to produce a play, involving himself in set-production, acting and directing. It has been thought that his experiences of war inspired some of the bleak landscapes he created in some of his films 1.
After the war, Whale moved to London where he worked as an actor, set-designer and stage director. It was here that he met Ernest Thesiger, who would later play Dr. Pretorius in Bride of Frankenstein.
Temporary note-form (x = mentioned in draft (if not already cut from first set of notes))
- Openly homosexual
- After war, worked in London as actor, set designer and stage director. Here he met Ernest Thesiger, who would later act in two of his films
- Director of Journey's End stage production, an anti-war play about life in the trenches. At first with Laurence Olivier in the lead, then Colin Clive (Frankenstein).
- Shortly after arriving in Hollywood, lived for a time with David Lewis (actor and later Irving Thalberg's personal assistant at MGM)
- Directed:
1)Journey's End (1930)
2)Waterloo Bridge (1931)
3)Frankenstein (1931)
4)Impatient Maiden (1932)
5)The Old Dark House (1933)
6)By Candlelight (1933)
7)The Kiss Before The Mirror (1933)
8)The Invisible Man (1933)
9)One More River (1934)
10)Bride Of Frankenstein (1935)
11)Remember Last Night (1935)
12)Show Boat (1936)(Nominated for Oscars for Best Colour Cinematography, and Scoring of a Musical Picture)
13)The Road Back (1937) (After which he left Universal, as sweeping changes were made to this film with which he was not happy)
14)The Great Garrick (1937)
15)Wives Under Suspicion (1938)
16)Sinners in Paradise (1938)
17)Port of Seven Seas (1938)
18)The Man in the Iron Mask (1939)(Nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Score)
19)Green Hell (1940)
20)They Dare Not Love (1941)
21)Hello Out There (1949)
- Frankenstein was an entirely serious horror film, but those which followed had a delightfully camp, tongue-in-cheek humour.
- Spent a year in Europe. Broke up with David Lewis, and lived with Pierre Foegel (a young Frenchman whom he had hired as a chauffeur for a time). He set up Foegel in a filling station business
- Spent much of his time in his later years painting
- Committed suicide in 1957, after suffering several strokes which left him unable to paint or even read a book. He threw himself into his swimming pool, striking his head against the bottom. By his bedside was the book "Don't Go Near the Water".
- Gods and Monsters (1999) summarising the last few years of his life
