#jack pierce

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Make-up artist Jack Pierce and Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster - Son of Frankenstein (1939)

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Universal Studios genius make-up artist Jack Pierce trimming hair-colored "gorilla gloves" worn by actors who played gorilla monsters in movies.

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Jack Pierce fixing Boris Karloff's makeup behind the scenes of Frankenstein (1931)

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Lon Chaney Jr. as Frankenstein's Monster in The Ghost Of Frankenstein

Watercolors On Paper, 8.5" x 11", 2025

By Josh Ryals

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"Your face has startling possibilities..."

Casting the Monster proved far more challenging than securing Colin Clive for Henry Frankenstein. Bela Lugosi—once attached to the role—had drifted from the project by the time James Whale took over, whether due to disdain for a largely wordless part or because Whale simply felt he wasn’t right for it. With production already delayed and the film’s central role still unfilled, fate intervened. Whale’s partner, David Lewis, had seen Boris Karloff in The Criminal Code (1931) and suggested him as a possibility. Whale soon found the little-known actor in the Universal commissary and, after inviting him for coffee, delivered the now-famous remark: “Your face has startling possibilities.” Karloff—dressed in his best suit—was taken aback to learn that the compliment was meant for a monster.

Whale, formerly a cartoonist, even sketched Karloff’s face, enlarging its sharp planes and hollowed features into the embryonic design that Jack Pierce’s makeup would perfect. Though Karloff’s slight frame gave Whale pause, the actor’s expressive features convinced him that emotional depth mattered more than sheer size. For Karloff, the job seemed little more than another modest assignment—he had no inkling of how transformative it would become. Legend has it he knew the role was truly his when, in full makeup, he walked down a studio corridor and frightened an unsuspecting prop man. During production, Karloff often lunched alone—either so his monstrous appearance wouldn’t upset other diners or because Universal recognized the publicity value. In the end, the “damned awful monster,” as Karloff once called it, became the performance that made him immortal.

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Legendary makeup artist Jack Pierce works to transform Boris Karloff into the monster for 'Bride of Frankenstein' (1935).

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Why was Frankenstein's monster portrayed with a flat head?

Jack P. Pierce, make-up artist for Frankenstein (1931), based Boris Karloff's make-up on a drawing his daughter created after dreaming about the monster.

Universal Studios copyrighted the unique look and used it in future films, including Bride of Frankenstein, Son of Frankenstein, and other films.