Larry Talbot

Larry Talbot was a Welsh aristocrat who was born at Talbot Castle in the village of Llanwelly. Played by American actor Lon Chaney, Jr., the character is known for being the most famous werewolf in horror film history. Although Chaney immortalized the role of the Wolf Man, he is not the first werewolf under Universal's aegis. In 1935, Universal Pictures produced Werewolf of London starring Henry Hull as the lead character. However, Hull's werewolf was not as sympathetic a character as the tormented Larry Talbot and did not amass the infamy that Talbot's Wolf Man had acquired. The Wolf Man proved to be one of the more popular of the Universal Monsters and was featured in four more films. The Wolf Man's final classic appearance was in the 1948 comedy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. In 2010, Universal produced a remake of the original 1941 film featuring Benicio del Toro in the role of Larry Talbot.

The Wolf Man
Larry Talbot was born in 1910 to Sir John Talbot and his wife in Llanwelly Village in Wales. The second of two children, Larry was always overlooked in favor of his older brother who, like traditional families, was considered in almost everything, while the younger son was often ignored. In 1923 at the age of eighteen, a bitter Larry Talbot left his family's ancestral home to travel abroad, eventually finding work in the United States. As an adult, he did some work at an optical company in Los Angeles.

In 1941, Larry received news that his brother had died in a tragic hunting accident. Having been away for more than eighteen years, Larry finally returned to Llanwelly where he reconciled with his father, Sir John Talbot. The two promised each other that they would no longer allow old grudges to impede their relationship and Sir John reminded Larry that he now stood to inherit the family estate. He encouraged him to explore the village and meet the townsfolk.

While examining one of his father's telescopes, Larry learned about a young woman named Gwen Conliffe. Gwen and her father lived above their shop, Charles Conliffe Antiques in the village. Larry watched Gwen in her room through the telescope and became instantly smitten with her.

He went to the antique shop and introduced himself. Working under the pretense of shopping for a walking stick, he began hitting on Gwen who showed no interest in Larry's advances. Larry persisted however, but Gwen dodged his aggressive flirtations by convincing him to purchase a silver-tipped wolf's head cane. Through the course of conversation, Gwen pointed out a pentagram etched on the side of the head – the mark of the werewolf. She recited an old poem concerning werewolves, "Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the Autumn moon is bright". Larry asked Gwen to accompany him that evening to have their fortunes read, but Gwen denied him. As it was however, Larry refused to take "no" for an answer, and he returned to the shop promptly at 8:00 pm, just as Gwen was leaving. Gwen finally relented and agreed to go out with Larry, but insisted that her friend, Jenny Williams, should come along with them. Larry was put out, but politely agreed. They visited a nearby gypsy festival and they met a fortune teller named Bela. Jenny asked to have her fortune read, allowing Larry the chance to put the moves on Gwen. At this time, Gwen warned him that she was engaged to be married to a man named Frank Andrews.

As the evening grew darker, Larry and Gwen heard a scream, and he rushed to see what was happening. A giant wolf was attacking Jenny Williams. Larry raced into the moors and beat the wolf down with his cane, but suffered a severe bite as a result. Gwen and an elderly gypsy woman named Maleva brought Larry home.

The following morning, Larry awoke only to discover that the wound he suffered had nearly healed. While convalescing, he was visited by his father as well as Chief Constable Paul Montford. They explained to him that Jenny was killed along with a fortune teller, Bela – the same man who had read Jenny's fortune. Larry's silver-tipped cane was found next to Bela's body. They insinuated that in the confusion, Larry had accidentally killed Bela, but Talbot insisted that it was a wolf that he had killed not a man. This matter caused Montford and Sir John great concern and Larry grew extremely uncomfortable.

He later attended Bela's funeral where he overheard Maleva muttering a prayer over Bela's casket. Larry then went to the Conliffe’s place to console Gwen. He expressed his condolences over Jenny's death and explained what had happened that evening. At this time, Larry met Gwen's fiancé Frank Andrews. Andrews was suitable unimpressed with Talbot and suspected that he had held an interest in Gwen. He was also disturbed by Larry's wolf's-head cane.

After visiting a local fair, Larry encountered Maleva the gypsy. He remembered that she had helped him home on the night of the attack. Maleva informed Larry that Bela was her son and that he was a werewolf. Larry didn’t believe her, but Maleva ignored his outbursts and offered him a charm. Etched with the sign of the pentagram, the charm was believed to be a symbol of protection. Maleva coldly told him, "Whoever is bitten by a werewolf and lives... becomes a werewolf himself". Frantically, Larry accepted the charm and left the camp. Larry then ran into Gwen Conliffe. He didn't fully believe Maleva's warning, but it made him nervous enough to give Gwen the pentagram charm. He indicated that it would protect her from him. That evening, Larry returned home and transformed into a werewolf for the very first time. He stalked off into the night and went to the churchyard where he murdered a gravedigger named Richardson. Richardson had been preparing a grave for the late Jenny Williams. The Wolf Man howled into the night, awakening the villagers.

The following morning, Larry awakened in his bedroom. He saw muddy animal tracks across the floor leading to the open window. Without revealing his true fears, he consulted with his father who explained to him the psychological elements of Lycanthropy – a man who believes himself to be a wolf.

That evening, Talbot turned into the Wolf Man for the second time. While lurking through the marshes, he learned to his own discontent that several townspeople, now wary of a possible werewolf sighting following the Richardson murder, had planted bear traps all throughout the area. The Wolf Man caught his right foot in a trap and the pain was enough to render him unconscious. Maleva the gypsy appeared and muttered the same prayer that she said over the body of her son Bela. The Wolf Man turned back into Larry Talbot. Maleva helped him to escape before the hunters could track him down.

There was no doubt in Larry's mind any longer that he was a werewolf. He ran to the antique shop to warn Gwen. He confessed to murdering Bela and Richardson and told her that he had to leave town. Gwen tried to convince him that he was not a murderer when Larry suddenly saw the sign of the pentagram in her palm. He then ran back to the family estate and confessed everything he knew to Sir John. His father didn't fully believe him, but he knew that Larry intended on turning himself in to the police. To humor Larry's fears, Sir John took him to an upstairs bedroom and tied him to a chair with the promise of locking him inside the room. Larry made his father take his silver-tipped cane with him for protection. That evening, Larry transformed into the Wolf Man and escaped from his room. He stalked through the forests once again and came upon Gwen Conliffe. He leaped upon Gwen and began to throttle her when Sir John appeared from behind. The Wolf Man dropped Gwen and attacked John Talbot, not realizing that he was now fighting his own father. The two wrestled with each other on the ground, but ultimately Sir John used the deadly silver cane to beat the Wolf Man to death. Afterward, the werewolf turned back into the form of Larry Talbot. Maleva appeared and spoke a prayer over his body, "The way you walked was thorny; through no fault of your own. But as the rain enters the soil; the river enters the sea; so tears run to a predestined end".

Larry Talbot was entombed at the Talbot family crypt; his coffin filled with wolfbane flowers.

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
Four years after his death, Larry Talbot made a miraculous recovery. Two grave robbers broke into the Talbot family crypt believing that Larry had been buried with large sums of money. As they removed the lid to his coffin, they discovered it filled with wolfbane covering Larry's prone body. The light of the full moon shown into the crypt and resurrected Talbot as the Wolf Man. He killed one of the grave robbers, Freddy Jolly, but the other managed to escape. The Wolf Man broke out of the crypt and stalked off into the night.

He wandered as far as the capital city of Cardiff where he killed a police constable. The following morning, another constable found Larry Talbot unconscious in an alley with a severe laceration across his brow (the result of being beaten to death by his father). He was taken to Queen's Hospital where he met surgeon Doctor Frank Mannering. Talbot had yet to realize how much time had passed, and was not even aware that he had been dead. A police man named Inspector Owen informed Mannering's patient that Larry Talbot died in Llanwelly four years ago. It was at this moment that Larry Talbot realized that he was immortal. He tried to explain to Owen and to Mannering that he was a killer, but they refused to believe him. Mannering felt that Talbot suffered from the mental side-effects of Lycanthropy and had him restrained in his room.

That night however, Larry Talbot turned into the Wolf Man and escaped from Queen's Hospital. He journeyed back to Llanwelly where he found the aging Maleva at the old gypsy camp. He explained his situation to her and exclaimed that he would rather be dead then live on with this curse. Maleva told him about a scientist who might be able to help him – Doctor Frankenstein.

Larry and Maleva traveled to the village of Vasaria in the hopes of locating Doctor Frankenstein. When they arrived however, they learned that Frankenstein was dead and that his estate was in ruins. Larry was stricken, but still maintained his reserve. He inspected the ruins, desperately hoping to find Doctor Frankenstein's notes. Falling through a cavern, he found an expansive, underground glacial cave. Frozen in an icy wall was the preserved body of the Frankenstein Monster. Believing that the monster might know the location of his creator's notes, he thawed the creature out and befriended it. The monster, blind and addle-brained, proved little help to Talbot.

Larry decided to track down the last known living descendent of Doctor Frankenstein, the Baroness Elsa Frankenstein. Under the pretense of looking to buy the estate, Larry finally found Elsa and told her his story. Elsa felt sympathy for Larry's situation, but was not sure how she would be able to help him. Larry and she attended the Festival of the New Wine in Vasaria whereupon they came across Doctor Mannering. Mannering had tracked Talbot all the way from Cardiff and was now convinced that he was telling the truth. He revealed that he wished to help Larry, either by lifting the curse, or by finding some means to end his life forever. Talbot brought Mannering and Elsa to the ruins of Frankenstein Castle and presented them to the Frankenstein Monster. Elsa found her father’s notes and gave them to Mannering, who believed that he might be able to use them to cure Talbot. The records, as they pertained to the monster, suggested that by drawing electrical energy out of his body, he would be able to destroy him. Talbot felt that this same process might also be used to cure him.

Mannering got to work repairing the laboratory in preparation for the experiment. While simultaneously working on both Talbot and the Frankenstein Monster, Mannering had a change of heart, and could not bring himself to destroy Frankenstein's creation. He instead began feeding the monster more power, making him healthier and stronger. Coincidentally, this operation took place on the night of the full moon and Larry Talbot changed into the Wolf Man. Breaking free of the operating table straps, the Wolf Man attacked the Frankenstein Monster and the two began tossing each other across the laboratory.

Outside the castle, a villager named Vazec planted dynamite outside a nearby dam. The explosion destroyed the dam and the ensuing torrent of water flooded the lower chambers of the castle, washing the Wolf Man and the Frankenstein Monster away. Their bodies fell into the underground glacial cavern where they were frozen in ice.

Ghost of Frankenstein
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House of Frankenstein
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Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
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