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Fritz
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus character
Created by

Richard Brinsley Peak and James Whale
Portrayed by

Dwight Frye
Information
Aliases "Igor" (In pop-culture only)
Species Human
Gender Male
Occupation Lab-assistant

Fritz is a fictional character who appears in the 1931 Universal film version of Mary Shelley' novel, Frankenstein. He was played by Dwight Frye. Frye played a similar character in the sequel, Bride of Frankenstein, but that character was named Karl.

Variations of his character, usually named "Igor", have appeared in subsequent adaptations of Shelley's novel (despite the fact no such character appears in the book). In fact, the character of Fritz first appeared in an 1823 stage adaptation, Presumption: or the Fate of Frankenstein by Richard Brinsley Peake,[1] being played by Richard Keeley. Other Fritz-like characters have appeared in pop culture where nary a mad scientist goes without his own crazy assistant.

Biography

Fritz, a hunchback, is hired by Dr Henry Frankenstein to assist in his experiments to give life to a corpse. Fritz's primary purpose is to acquire body parts for Dr. Frankenstein, assisting him in digging up graves. When the doctor requires the hunchback to steal the preserved brain of a genius from a University which was studying it for science, Fritz accidentally drops the brain's jar and destroys it. Out of ambivalence or illiteracy, the hunchback proceeded to steal an abnormal brain that was taken from the corpse of an executed criminal.

Following the creation of Frankenstein's monster, Fritz takes great delight in tormenting the creature with a whip and torch, despite Henry's repeated warnings. Ultimately, this proves to be Fritz's undoing; after being pushed too far, the Monster lashes out and hangs him from a chain.

"Igor"

Fritz's character is often misidentified as being named "Igor" with the Igor character developing it's own standing in monster pop-culture. The name most likely comes from Bela Lugosi's character of Ygor from Son of Frankenstein (1939) who was a blacksmith that assisted Dr. Frankenstein in his body-snatching only to get arrested and hanged, leaving him with a twisted spine. Ygor became a recurring antagonist for two films and as television were not popular at the times of the first Frankenstein movies, it's likely Fritz was referred to as "Ygor" because audiences had hid memory fresher in their minds (with him having been played by Bela Lugosi and appeared as a major character in two films).

Fritz's character (along with the Igor/Ygor stock-character which he inspired) is often misidentified as having been played by horror actor Peter Lorre with impressions of Fritz's character often being done in a way to impersonate Lorre's signature voice.

Trivia

  • Fritz was portrayed by actor Dwight Frye who also played a monstrous henchman in Dracula where he portrayed Renfield.

See also

References

  1. Rohrmoser, Andreas. It Lives!: Early theatre and film adaptations. Accessed February 17, 2008


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