Colin Clive, 1900-1937

Boris Karloff and Colin Clive, when the cameras weren't filming a scene from Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Today marks the birth anniversary of Colin Clive, whose career was cut short due to his heavy drinking that led to his early death. Clive, being British, started his career on the stage in London, eventually making his way to the US in the late 1920s. His voice made him a natural when Hollywood was looking for actors who could deliver lines well and sound good doing it, so he went west with his friend and frequent collaborator, director James Whale. The rest, as they say, is history.

Clive only made 18 films, but some of those roles are quite memorable. Of course, top among those is as Dr. Frankenstein, who created the monster played by Boris Karloff in the 1931 version of Frankenstein, and then reprised the role for Bride of Frankenstein four years later.

But there was other horror as well, when Clive played the pianist who gets a hand transplant that doesn't work out the way he expects in Mad Love. There's also the melodramatic One More River.

Colin Clive was also a descendant of Robert Clive, the British military officer responsible for making India a British colony. Colin actually appears in the 1935 movie Clive of India based on Robert Clive's life, although not as his ancestor.