Take a look at the IMDb staff picks for the best movies and series coming in August.

Staff Picks: What to Watch in August

Check out our calendar of everything coming to streaming during the month of August.

August 2025 TV and Streaming Premiere Dates

Dwight Frye and Ernest Thesiger in Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Colin Clive and Dwight Frye in Frankenstein (1931)

Boris Karloff and Dwight Frye in Frankenstein (1931)

Louis Calhern and Dwight Frye in Fast Company (1938)

Boris Karloff, Neil Fitzgerald, Dwight Frye, and Ernest Thesiger in Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Rita Hayworth and Dwight Frye in The Shadow (1937)

Dwight Frye and Joan Standing in Dracula (1931)

Mary Carlisle, Dwight Frye, and George Zucco in Dead Men Walk (1943)

Ted Billings, Colin Clive, Dwight Frye, and Ernest Thesiger in Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Boris Karloff, E.E. Clive, and Dwight Frye in Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, and Dwight Frye in Dracula (1931)

"Frankenstein" Boris Karloff 1931 Universal **I.V.

Joan Fontaine, John Beal, and Dwight Frye in The Man Who Found Himself (1937)

Mary Carlisle, Dwight Frye, and Nedrick Young in Dead Men Walk (1943)

Mary Carlisle and Dwight Frye in Dead Men Walk (1943)

Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye in Dracula (1931)

William Pawley, Dwight Frye, James Newill, Dave O'Brien, Dewey Robinson, and Louise Stanley in Sky Bandits (1940)

Joe De Stefani, Kenne Duncan, William Pawley, Dwight Frye, James Newill, and Dave O'Brien in Sky Bandits (1940)

Ted Adams, Joe De Stefani, Kenne Duncan, William Pawley, Dwight Frye, Karl Hackett, James Newill, Dave O'Brien, and Louise Stanley in Sky Bandits (1940)

Joe De Stefani, Kenne Duncan, Dwight Frye, James Newill, and Louise Stanley in Sky Bandits (1940)

Joe De Stefani, Kenne Duncan, William Pawley, Dwight Frye, James Newill, Dave O'Brien, and Bob Terry in Sky Bandits (1940)

James Cagney, Joe Bordeaux, Robert Elliott, Dwight Frye, Charles Judels, and Kenneth Thomson in The Doorway to Hell (1930)

Mary Carlisle, Fern Emmett, Dwight Frye, Hal Price, and George Zucco in Dead Men Walk (1943)

Joe De Stefani, Kenne Duncan, William Pawley, Dwight Frye, James Newill, Louise Stanley, and Jack Rube Clifford in Sky Bandits (1940)

Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, Dwight Frye, David Manners, and Edward Van Sloan in Dracula (1931)

Dwight Frye, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, Universal, 1935, **I.V.

Bela Lugosi, Barbara Bozoky, and Dwight Frye in Dracula (1931)

Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, and Dwight Frye in Frankenstein (1931)

An extremely versatile character actor and originator of several memorable characterizations in the horror film genre, Dwight Frye had a notable theatrical career in the 1920s, moving from juvenile parts to leads before entering film. A favorite actor of Broadway theatrical producer-director Brock Pemberton, he originated the part of "the Son" in his hit 1922 production of Luigi Pirandello's "Six Characters in Search of an Author". Pemberton would continue to employ Frye in Broadway productions throughout the decade. Cast with Bela Lugosi in a 1926 production of "The Devil and the Cheese", he ultimately appeared in at least two Lugosi films.

Despite (or perhaps because of) his memorable, impassioned portrayals of real estate agent-cum-madman Renfield in Tod Browning's Dracula (1931) and Fritz the sadistic hunchbacked lab-assistant in James Whale's Frankenstein (1931), the industry seemed determined to typecast Frye, and his film career would be marked with frustration. The Crime of Doctor Crespi (1935) offered him billing second only to that of villain Erich von Stroheim, but all too soon, he was consigned to playing a lackluster array of crazies, spies, red herrings, grasping heirs and bit parts. He occasionally returned to the stage in comedies, musicals, and thrillers such as "Night Must Fall" and a stage version of "Dracula".

Frye was perplexed to find that his versatility in the theatre went unnoticed in Hollywood, where he was relegated to lunatic roles and often had his parts severely cut. Indeed, in Son of Frankenstein (1939) his role was deemed as unnecessary when an abrupt switch was made from Technicolor to black-and-white after his scenes were shot.

Dwight Frye, a devout Christian Scientist, had concealed a heart-condition from his friends and family. After the outbreak of WWII, unable to enlist, he worked nights (between films and local theatre-productions) as a draftsman for the Lockheed Aircraft Co. An uncanny physical resemblance to then-Secretary of War Newton Baker led his to being signed to a substantial role in Wilson (1944), directed by Henry King, based on the life of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, but Frye succumbed to a heart-attack on a crowded bus a few days after being cast while returning home from a movie with his son. He was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California.

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Dwight Frye

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