Ray Millandwas just 20 years old when he made an uncredited appearance as an extra in the 1928 silent film version ofMoulin Rouge, but it was the start of a movie and television career that would last nearly six decades and earn him theBest Actor Oscaralong the way. The Welsh actor, who crossed the pond to become one of Hollywood’s most well-known leading men, made his mark in everything from light comedies to war movies and action-adventure epics. It was his role in 1945’sThe Lost Weekend, however, that cemented his credentials and ensured his place in film history — credentials which eventually landed him in some bizarre 1970s horror movie roles.
As the alcoholic writer who goes on a four-day bender in the harrowingBilly Wilder-directed classic, Ray Milland won an Academy Award and established himself as a powerful dramatic actor. Milland parlayed that success into box office bonanzas like 1948’s noir thrillerThe Big ClockandAlfred Hitchcock’s 1954 spine-chillingDial M for Murder, where he showed his villainous side as the sophisticated but maniacal husband who tries to get his wifeGrace Kellybumped off. So how did Ray Milland go from heroic leading man to crazy horror movie character actor? It actually started with hisDial M for Murderperformance, a role that caught the eye of a legendary Hollywood low-budget cult filmmaker who would help mold Ray Milland into a chieftain in the1970s horror moviebastion.
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Hitchcock and Corman Made Ray Milland a Horror Star
Ray Milland’s turn inDial M for Murderwas a surprising departure from the solid, stalwart characters he had portrayed in films likeThe Major and the MinorandA Woman of Distinction. His shocking performance was a favorite of producer-writer-directorRoger Corman, better known as “The King of Cult” and the man behind such 1950s B-movie fare asAttack of the Crab Monsters,The Wasp Woman, and the originalLittle Shop of Horrors. Corman was looking for someone with the right balance of intelligence and sophistication, but with an underlying sense of madness, to play the lead in his 1962 drive-in chillerThe Premature Burial, and he sought to attain Milland’s talents. Not one to shy away from a challenge (or a paycheck), Milland accepted the role of Guy Carrell, a man driven to insanity by a lifelong irrational fear of being buried alive.
Corman so loved Ray Milland’s performance that he signed him up the next year for the science fiction featureX: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes. Milland played Dr. James Xavier, the surgeon who develops and ingests a drug that allows him to see through objects, but that slowly leads him into a psychotic spiral. Milland’s Dr. Xavier is not unlike hisLost Weekend’sDon Birman, a man driven to hysteria and delirium by a substance that poisons his body. Perhaps that’s why Milland accepted the role; it was familiar territory for him. Nevertheless, despite the silly plot and cheesy special effects,Milland received praisefor his performance, leaving a solid footprint in the horror genre.
Actors often Transitioned to Horror Movies as They Aged in Hollywood’s Golden Age
It wasn’t unusual for actors from Hollywood’s “Golden Age” of the 1930s and 40s to transition to low-budget fright fests as they aged and choice roles became more scarce. Studio system royalty likeBette Davis,Joan Crawford,Olivia de Havilland, andJoseph Cottenare just some of the leading actors who found a second life in 1960s horror movies likeWhatever Happened to Baby JaneandHush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte. Milland, however, stepped away from the genre after his second film for Corman, instead turning primarily to episodic television and movies made for the small screen.
Then came the 1970s. Like thepost-nuclear 1950s screen offeringsthat frequently featured giant radioactive creatures on the rampage (Them!,It Came from Beneath the Sea,The Deadly Mantis), a similar sub-genre emerged during the early years of the “Me Decade,” with movies about mutated animals and insects wreaking havoc and starring big name actors from earlier eras. There was 1972’sNight of the Lepus, a story about giant rabbits hopping throughout the Southwest starringJanet LeighandRory Calhoun, 1976’sThe Food of the Gods, featuring gargantuan buzzards, wasps, and chickens terrorizing the likes of screen legendIda Lupino, and 1977’sEmpire of the Ants, the infamousJoan Collinsvehicle in which she fights off humongous overgrown insects. The time was right for Milland’s return to low-budget creature features, and he chose 1972’s delightfully ridiculousFrogs.
Killer Frogs Brought Ray Milland Back to Horror
The promotional poster forFrogs, featuring a human hand dangling from the mouth of a portly bullfrog, is enough to bring on the guffaws. Ray Milland plays Jason Crockett, a wheelchair-bound millionaire who invites his family to his sprawling Southern island plantation to celebrate his birthday. Crockett is a crotchety old dandy in a straw hat and ascot, bothered by the constant croaking of the polliwogs surrounding his estate, not to mention the slithery snakes, spiders, and other creepy crawlies that regularly invade his space. With money as no object, Crockett pays to have his grounds covered with pesticides that will kill anything that ventures onto his grass. Naturally, the creatures, especially the frogs, don’t like this and slowly take revenge. It’s hard to imagine frogs having the velocity and power to actually kill human beings, but they manage to hop together in large groups and get the job done. Milland seems to have a good ol' time chewing the scenery in this one, and his over-the-top performance in this nonsensical thriller makes it more of a comedy than a horror film. Still,Frogsreintroduced movie audiences to Milland and set him on the path to becoming a 70s fright flick mainstay.
Rosey Grier & Ray Milland Prove Two Heads Are More Evil Than One
After playing a crusty codger who gets devoured by a gaggle of toads, Milland decided to go full-on spoof, choosing 1972’sThe Thing with Two Headsas his next vehicle. In this tongue-in-cheek play on the “mad scientist” theme, Milland is once again a foolish aging man in a wheelchair, this time a racist surgeon dying of a terminal disease who’s looking for a way to transplant his head onto someone else’s body to remain immortal. A strange turn of events leads doctors to place his crown onto the body of a Black death row inmate played by football greatRosey Grier. Together, Milland and Grier go on the run in a kind ofThelma and Louise-Meet-The Defiant Ones-Meet Frankensteincomic romp. One can only imagine how physically uncomfortable it was for Milland and Grier to be literally head-to-head in this frivolous satire, but it’s a scream to watch, especially in the scene where the pair try to commandeer a careening car with a flat tire. Milland once again gives it his all, despite theabsurd plot.
Ray Milland’s Gothic Horror Phase
Trading on the comic aspects of horror, Ray Milland once again played a rich fop in the 1973 British import,The House in Nightmare Park. As the wealthy turn-of-the-century philanthropist Stewart Henderson, Milland invites a popular theater actor (Frankie Howard) to his country estate to entertain Henderson and his family. Soon, things start going bump in the night, bodies start piling up, and Milland starts wielding axes in this gothic parlor game. Although likely intended as a showcase for Howard, Milland steals the show as an unbalanced lunatic with mommy issues, expertly balancing the comic aspects of his performance with the dark, frightening undertones of his homicidal character.
That same year, Milland joined fellow horror idolsJohn CarradineandElsa Lanchester, best known to film fans as the bride of Frankenstein’s monster, inTerror at the Wax Museum, a somewhat silly take on the 1953Vincent Priceshocker,House of Wax. Milland plays the manager of - you guessed it - a wax museum that becomes the sight of multiple murders. Just for kicks, notorious 19th-century slasher Jack the Ripper and hatchet lady Lizzie Borden are two of the possible suspects in the convoluted plot. The film is a slow-paced thriller with few actual thrills, but Milland is well-suited to his role as the distinguished British gentleman who may or may not also be a cold-blooded killer.
Ray Milland Leaps From Killer Frogs to Killer Cats
Topping off his horror streak, Ray Milland joined fellow scary movie iconPeter Cushingfor 1977’sThe Uncanny, a bizarre anthology film that tells three separate spooky tales, all involving killer cats. Milland and Cushing are the framing devices for the movie, with Cushing playing a writer convinced that cats are taking over the world. Cushing visits his publisher (Milland) to spin the different tales he’s authored about the cute little tabbies that possesssupernatural powers and murderous instincts. Cats that kill are only slightly more believable than frogs that commit murder, so the thrills and chills in this film are few and far between. Milland, however, is wonderfully ominous and malevolent, completely comfortable in yet another role where his classy, erudite persona hides a deeply unbalanced fiend on the verge of breaking down.
FollowingThe Uncanny, Ray Milland made only a handful of feature films, with television guest appearances becoming his mainstay. Although he appeared in some forgettable TV horror dramas likeThe Darker Side of TerrorandLook What Happened to Rosemary’s Baby, his foray into horror was all but finished by the late 1970s. His mark on the genre was indelible, however, even in his campiest roles. Bizarre as they were, watching him command the screen in these lightweight spine tinglers, it’s clear Ray Milland was having a lot of fun.
