
Acting
Dwight Frye
Born 1899-02-22 · Salina, Kansas, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Dwight Iliff Frye (February 22, 1899 – November 7, 1943) was an American stage and screen actor, noted for his appearances in the classic horror films Dracula, Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. Frye was born in Salina, Kansas. Nicknamed "The Man with the Thousand-Watt Stare," and "The Man of a Thousand Deaths," he specialized in the portrayal of mentally unbalanced characters, including his signature role, the madman Renfield in Tod Browning's 1931 version of Dracula. Later that same year he also played the hunchbacked assistant in the film Frankenstein. (This character, named Fritz, is often mistakenly referred to as Ygor, a character originated by Béla Lugosi in the later film Son of Frankenstein.) Frye had a prominent role in the 1933 horror film The Vampire Bat, starring Lionel Atwill, Melvyn Douglas, and Fay Wray, in which he played Herman, a half-wit suspected of being a killer. He also had a memorable role in the classic Bride of Frankenstein, in which he played Karl. The part of Karl was originally much longer and many extra scenes of Frye were shot as a sub plot but were edited out of the final version to shorten the running time as well as to appease the censor boards. The most memorable of these "cut scenes" was that of Karl killing the Burgomaster portrayed by E. E. Clive. No known prints of these scenes survive today, but photographs of the scene were used to illustrate the scene's synopsis and are included in the recent Universal DVD release of the film. During the early 1940s, Frye alternated between film roles and appearing on stage in a variety of productions ranging from comedies to musicals, as well as appearing in a stage version of Dracula. In 1924 he played the Son in a translation of Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author.[1] There was a Dwight Frye Fan Club at one time,[2] but it is currently dormant. He also made a contribution to the war effort by working nights as a tool designer for Lockheed Aircraft. Frye's strong resemblance to former Secretary of War Newton D. Baker helped land him what would have been a substantial role in the biographical film Wilson, based on the life of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, but he died of a heart attack while riding on a bus in Hollywood a few days before filming was to have begun. Frye was interred in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery. Description above from the Wikipedia article Dwight Frye, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Acting credits
7.5Henry Frankenstein pieces together body parts in the hope of bringing a human-like creature to life. The mad scientist’s dreams are shattered by his monstrous creation awakening with rage to a world that hates and fears him.
Frankenstein
1931
7.2A British estate agent travels to Transylvania to meet the mysterious Count Dracula, who is interested in leasing a London castle. After Dracula enslaves the agent and drives him to insanity, the pair return to London together, where Dracula, a secret bloodsucker, begins preying on socialites.
Dracula
1931
7.5Dr. Frankenstein and his monster both turn out to be alive after being attacked by an angry mob. The now-chastened scientist attempts to escape his past, but a former mentor forces him to assist with the creation of a new creature.
Bride of Frankenstein
1935
7.5After experimenting on himself and becoming invisible, scientist Jack Griffin, now aggressive due to the drug's effects, seeks a way to reverse the experiment at any cost.
The Invisible Man
1933
7.1Years have passed since the Three Musketeers, Aramis, Athos and Porthos, have fought together with their friend, D'Artagnan. But with the tyrannical King Louis using his power to wreak havoc in the kingdom while his twin brother, Philippe, remains imprisoned, the Musketeers reunite to abduct Louis and replace him with Philippe.
The Man in the Iron Mask
1939
5.5A German village is stricken by a series of murders that appear to be the work of vampires.
The Vampire Bat
1933
5.8Frankenstein's unscrupulous colleague, Dr. Bohmer, plans to transplant Ygor's brain so he can rule the world using the monster's body, but the plan goes sour when he turns malevolent and goes on a rampage.
The Ghost of Frankenstein
1942
6.2After being resurrected by grave robbers, Larry Talbot searches for Dr. Frankenstein in the hopes of being cured of his lycanthropy. The mad scientist may turn out to be dead, but his monster is just waiting to be found…
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
1943
NRDive into 60 minutes of blood, bravado and brilliant scares as we trace the evolution of horror cinema from Dracula (1931) to today.
Legacy of Screams: The Evolution of Horror Movies
2025
6.9During the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, surgeon Dr. Franticek Svoboda, a Czech patriot, assassinates the brutal "Hangman of Europe", Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich, and is wounded in the process. In his attempt to escape, he is helped by history professor Stephen Novotny and his daughter Mascha.
Hangmen Also Die!
1943
6.8A British estate agent travels to Transylvania to meet the mysterious Count Dracula, who is interested in leasing a London castle. After Dracula enslaves the agent and drives him to insanity, the pair return to London together, where Dracula, a secret bloodsucker, begins preying on socialites.
Drácula
1931
3.5Hosted by Christopher Lee, this documentary examines the different actors who have portrayed Dracula over the years.
The Many Faces of Dracula
2000
7.1A documentary about the era of classic monster movies that were made at Universal Studios during the 1930s and 1940s.
Universal Horror
1998
8.5Young Jim Stanton is a conscientious surgeon, but spends too many off-duty hours pursuing his passion for aviation to suit his stuffy father. When it is discovered that a passenger killed in a plane that Jim crashes was a married woman, the resulting scandal prompts the hospital to put Jim on probation. His pride wounded, Jim takes to the open road and enjoys the simpler life of a vagabond. In Los Angeles--where he is arrested for vagrancy and put to work on a road crew--Jim runs into old pal Dick Miller, who gets him a job as a mechanic for Roberts Aviation. But maintaining his anonymity becomes more difficult, particularly when a pretty nurse, Doris King, decides to make Jim's redemption her personal crusade.
The Man Who Found Himself
1937
6.1Movie star Shelah Fane is seeing wealthy Alan Jaynes while filming in Honolulu, Hawaii, but won't marry him without consulting famed psychic Tarneverro first. Enter inspector Charlie Chan of the Honolulu Police, investigating the unsolved murder, three years earlier, of a Hollywood actor.
The Black Camel
1931
Documentary with a treasure trove of rare footage and vintage trailers, offering a rich and unusual look at the history of Frankenstein on the screen.
Frankenstein: A Cinematic Scrapbook
1991
6.2Rightful owner of the kingdom, the Duchess of Zona, is engaged in a power struggle with the evil General Gurko. Edmond, the son of Monte Cristo, dons many disguises to come to the aid of the Duchess.
The Son of Monte Cristo
1940
5.8Fortune hunter Mary Brooks, posing as a missionary's daughter, strives to beat a couple of pilots, Terry Prescott and "Waffles" Billings, (who have turned pearl divers in order to buy a plane and join the Royal Air Force), out of their pearls, while also beating off the advances of Prince Sali who wants to add her to his harem.
The Blonde from Singapore
1941
6.6On the night express train from Los Angeles to San Francisco everyone’s a suspect when a jewelry magnate is found stabbed to death and an escaped killer is feared on board. It’s up to newspaper reporter Jimmy Hawley (Ben Lyon) to unravel the secrets of the motley group of passengers and find the killer before he strikes again in this tense and atmospheric whodunit.
By Whose Hand?
1932
6.3A lawyer is haunted by a previous case in which he manipulated evidence and convicted an innocent man.
Attorney for the Defense
1932
6.0Doris lives with her rough Coast Guardsman father. He has plans for her to marry an up and coming officer, but there is competition when a new, brash, Guardsman enters the picture. Dad hates the new guy, mostly because he is like himself.
Sea Devils
1937
6.4A lovely dame with dangerous lies employs the services of a private detective, who is quickly caught up in the mystery and intrigue of a statuette known as the Maltese Falcon.
The Maltese Falcon
1931
6.1In this second Carter mystery, a mysterious rash of cargo ships sinking in Panama leads insurers Llewellyns of London to hire vacationer Nick Carter and his eccentric associate Bartholomew to investigate. Nick recognizes influential nightclub owner Al Taurez as a shady operator, but getting the goods on him depends on slick diversions involving the heavyweight champ of the Pacific Tuna Fleet, a Panamanian bombshell armed with American slang, a young couple in love and a whole raft of crooks and cutthroats.
Phantom Raiders
1940
6.4This Crime Does Not Pay series entry dramatizes the idea that during wartime, people should not discuss anything related to their work when in public. A casual remark can be overheard by an enemy agent and used to sabotage the war effort. In this short, the story involves shipments of parts to a defense plant.
Don't Talk
1942