English actor Colin Clive was BOTD in 1900. Born in Saint-Malo, France to an aristocratic English family, he was sent to England to be educated, attending Stonyhurst College in preparation for a military career. He attended the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, where he broke both his knees after being thrown from a horse. While recuperating, he decided to become an actor, joining a regional repertory theatre in Yorkshire for several years. He became a theatrical star after appearing in the London premiere of the Hammerstein-Kern musical Show Boat. Further success followed when he was cast in James Whale‘s stage production of war drama Journey’s End. A critical and box office success, Clive reprised his role in the Broadway transfer and appeared in Whale’s 1930 film version. He became a popular leading man, starring in a London production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and co-starring in Broadway productions alongside Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis and Jean Arthur. He is best known for playing Dr Henry Frankenstein in Whale’s 1931 horror film Frankenstein. A critical and box office juggernaut, his performance was overshadowed by the then-unknown Boris Karloff as the Monster, though his frenzied delivery of the line “It’s alive! It’s alive!” became instantly famous (and frequently parodied). Clive reprised his role for Whale in the phenomenally successful 1935 sequel Bride of Frankenstein, though his spotlight was again stolen by Elsa Lanchester as the Bride and flaming queen Ernest Thesiger as the outrageously camp Dr Pretorius. Keen to escape his association with horror films, Clive starred in a 1934 film adaptation of Jane Eyre, and lobbied unsuccessfully to play his ancestor Robert Clive in the biopic Clive of India. Clive married actress Jeanne de Casalis in 1929, after appearing together in the stage play Let’s Leave It At That. The relationship was unhappy, largely due to Clive’s rampant alcoholism and inability to accept his homosexuality, and they separated in 1935. Clive died of complications from tuberculosis in 1937, aged 37. He was played by Matt McKenzie in Bill Condon‘s 1998 film Gods and Monsters, in a scene recreating the filming of Bride of Frankenstein.