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Article: Kamloops meets Karloff: William Pratt wasn't getting much work as an actor. He decided to change his name. "Boris Karloff" sounded much more exotic.
- Article from:
- The Beaver: Exploring Canada's History
- Article date:
- October 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Canada's National History Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A flip of a coin decided the fate of young William Pratt. As he visited the family solicitor's office to collect money a relative had left him, Pratt had already determined that he would buy a ticket out of Dulwich, England. The coin would choose his destination: heads, Canada; tails, Australia.
It was heads. He was off to Canada.
Leaving England for Canada might have seemed an odd choice for an aspiring actor in 1909--leaving the land of Shakespeare to cut his teeth on the stage in the colonies. He may have wanted to escape the shadow of his family: Pratt was the youngest of nine children, most of them committed to England's diplomatic corps, like their ...