Who played the monster in the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein?

Boris Karloff played Frankenstein’s monster in the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein.

Karloff had already made the role iconic in James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931), and he returned for the first film’s sequel. Bride of Frankenstein gives the monster more dialogue and emotional range than the earlier movie, including his attempts to communicate with a blind hermit and his painful response when the Bride rejects him.

The film was directed by James Whale and stars Colin Clive as Henry Frankenstein. Elsa Lanchester plays Mary Shelley in the framing sequence and the newly created Bride, while Ernest Thesiger plays Doctor Pretorius, who pressures Henry into making a mate for the monster.

A common confusion comes from the many actors who later portrayed the creature. Lon Chaney Jr. played the monster in The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), while Bela Lugosi was associated with several Universal horror roles but did not play the monster in Bride. Christopher Lee portrayed the creature in Hammer’s The Curse of Frankenstein (1957).