After experiencing commercial success with the subtle satire Tales of Terror, director Roger Corman loosely based The Raven on Edgar Allan Poe’s spine-chilling poem. Following a dispute at a dinner party, Dr. Scarabus (Karloff), a magician known to abuse his power, has turned fellow trickster Bedlo (Lorre) into a raven. Bedlo enlists the aid of Dr. Craven (Price) to transform him back into a human and seek revenge on Scarabus. After his role as Bedlo, Lorre signed on to make eight more films with American International Pictures, but only appeared briefly in two before dying unexpectedly of a cerebral hemorrhage. His fellow actors, including a young Jack Nicholson (appearing as Bedlo’s son), praised his innate sense for comedy and his ability to improvise on the set.