Colin Clive: Biography of the Actor Behind Dr. Frankenstein in Classic Horror

Glenn Colin Clive, better known as Colin Clive, was the son of a colonel. He was born on January 20, 1900, in St. Malo, France. Colin tried a military career but it didn’t work out. After falling off a horse, he gave up and went to a theater course. The first play he did was Show Boat (1928). During this period, he met filmmaker James Whale, who advised him to go to Hollywood to try his hand at film. In 1930, Colin made Journey’s End, reprising the role he had played in the theater. The following year, he would receive a golden opportunity: the role of Dr. Henry Frankenstein, in the classic directed by James Whale himself. He would be partnered with Boris Karloff, playing the monster who has no name, but is nicknamed Frankenstein due to the name of his creator. The phrase “It’s Alive!”, said by him when the monster finally comes to life, became famous. See the scene below:

Everything seemed to be going well, and he even made the sequel to the film, Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Following the line of horror films, he also starred in Dr. Gogol – The Mad Doctor (1935), which starred Peter Lorre.

Colin married actress Jeanne De Casalis in 1929 and the marriage lasted until his death. At the time, there was speculation that it was actually a sham marriage, and that she was a lesbian and he was gay. We will never know. The actor became an alcoholic over the years. This made his difficult temperament worse and he had a bad reputation among his colleagues. He was credited in 18 films until 1937, the year he died of tuberculosis. He was only 37 years old.

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Carla Marinho Leal

Writer, traveler and above all, curious about many subjects. She has studied cinema since 2002 and is a Specialist in Cinematographic Studies from UNICAP. Founder of the blog Purviance and the website Cinemaclássico. She loves Charles Chaplin, Raj Kapoor and constantly browses films from all over the world.

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