Lon Chaney Biography
Leonidas Frank “Lon” Chaney was an American stage and film actor, make-up artist, director, and screenwriter. Lon is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and afflicted characters, and his groundbreaking artistry with makeup.
He was known for his starring roles in such silent horror films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). His ability to transform himself using makeup techniques he developed earned him the nickname “The Man of a Thousand Faces”
Lon Chaney Early Life
Lon Chaney was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Territory, the son of the stage performer Lon Chaney and Frances Cleveland Creighton Chaney, a singing stage performer who traveled in road shows across the country with Creighton. His parents’ troubled marriage ended in divorce in 1913 following his mother’s scandalous public suicide attempt in Los Angeles. Young Creighton lived in various homes and boarding schools until 1916, when his father (now employed in the film industry) married Hazel Hastings and could provide a stable home.
From an early age, Lon worked hard to avoid his famous father’s shadow. In young adulthood, his father discouraged him from show business, and he attended business college and became successful in a Los Angeles appliance corporation. Creighton, who had begun working for a plumbing company, married Dorothy Hinckley, the daughter of his employer Ralph Hinckley. They had two sons: Lon Ralph Chaney and Ronald Creighton Chaney.
Lon Chaney married one of his former colleagues in the Kolb and Dill company, a chorus girl named Hazel Hastings. Little is known of Hazel, except that her marriage to He was solid. Upon marrying, the new couple gained custody of Lon`s 10-year-old son Creighton, who had resided in various homes and boarding schools since Chaney’s divorce from Cleva in 1913
Lon Chaney Death
Lon Chaney died of heart failure at age 67 on July 12, 1973, in San Clemente, California. His body was donated for medical research. Lon was honored by appearing as the Wolf Man on one of a 1997 series of United States postage stamps depicting movie monsters. His grandson Ron Chaney Jr. has frequently appeared as a guest at horror movie conventions.
Lon Chaney was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, next to the crypt of his father. His wife Hazel was interred there upon her death in 1933. For unknown reasons, Chaney’s crypt has remained unmarked
Lon Chaney Career
Lon in 1917 was a prominent actor in the studio, but his salary did not reflect this status. When Lon Chaney asked for a raise, studio executive William Sistrom replied, “You’ll never be worth more than one hundred dollars a week.” After leaving the studio, Lon struggled for the first year as a character actor. It was not until he played a substantial role in William S. Hart’s picture Riddle Gawne (1918) that Chaney’s talents as a character actor were truly recognized by the industry.
Lon had a breakthrough performance as “The Frog” in George Loane Tucker’s The Miracle Man (1919). The film displayed not only His acting ability but also his talent as a master of makeup. Critical praise and a gross of over $2 million put Chaney on the map as America’s foremost character actor.
Makeup in the early days of cinema was almost non-existent with the exception of beards and mustaches to denote villains. Most of what the Hollywood studios knew about film stemmed from their experience with theater make-up, but this did not always transfer well to the big screen, especially as the film quality increased over time. It is also worth noting that make-up departments were not yet in place during Chaney’s time. Prior to the mid-20s, actors were expected to do their own make-up. In the absence of specialized make-up artist professions, Chaney’s make-up artistry skills gave him a competitive advantage over other actors. He was the complete package. Casting crews knew that they could place him in virtually any part and he would thrive. In some films his skill allowed him to play dual roles. An extreme case of this was the film Outside the Law (1920), where he played a character that shot and killed another character, whom Lon also was playing
Honour
He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located on Hollywood Boulevard. In 1994, Al Hirschfeld’s caricature of Chaney was featured on a commemorative United States postage stamp.
1929, He built a stone cabin in the remote wilderness of the eastern Sierra Nevada, near Big Pine, California, as a retreat. The cabin (designed by architect Paul Williams) still stands and is preserved by the Inyo National Forest Service. Following his death, Lon’s famous makeup case was donated to the Los Angeles County Museum by his widow, Hazel. The case is occasionally displayed for the public. The stage theater at the Colorado Springs Civic Auditorium is also named after the actor.
Lon Chaney Lugosi Jr
Tull Chaney known by his stage name Lon Chaney Jr He was an American actor known for playing Larry Talbot in the film The Wolf Man (1941) and its various crossovers, Count Alucard (Dracula spelled backward), Frankenstein’s monster in The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), the Mummy in three pictures, and various other roles in many Universal horror films. Tull also portrayed Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men (1939) and supporting parts in dozens of mainstream movies. Originally referenced in films as Creighton Chaney, Tull Chaney was later credited as “Lon Chaney, Jr.” in 1935, and after Man Made Monster (1941), beginning as early as The Wolf Man later that same year, he was almost always billed under his more famous father’s name as Lon Chaney. Chaney had English, French, and Irish ancestry, and his career in movies and television spanned four decades, from 1931 to 1971.
Lon Chaney Wolfman
The Wolf Man is a 1941 American horror film written by Curt Siodmak and produced and directed by George Waggner. The film stars Lon Chaney Jr. in the title role. Claude Rains, Warren William, Ralph Bellamy, Patric Knowles, Bela Lugosi, Evelyn Ankers, and Maria Ouspenskaya star in supporting roles. The title character has had a great deal of influence on Hollywood’s depictions of the legend of the werewolf. The film is the second Universal Pictures werewolf film, preceded six years earlier by the less commercially successful Werewolf of London (1935).
Lon Chaney Jr. would reprise his classic role as “The Wolf Man” in four sequels, beginning with Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man in 1943.
Lon Chaney Phantom
In this silent horror classic, aspiring young opera singer Christine Daaé (Mary Philbin) discovers that she has a mysterious admirer intent on helping her become a lead performer. This enigmatic masked presence is Erik, also known as the Phantom (Lon Chaney), a horribly disfigured recluse who lives underneath the Paris Opera House. When the Phantom takes Christine prisoner and demands her devotion and affection, her suitor, Vicomte Raoul de Chagny (Norman Kerry), sets out to rescue her.
Lon Chaney Books
He was nicknamed “The Man of a Thousand Faces” because of his ability to transform himself into “tortured, often grotesque and afflicted onscreen characters using the groundbreaking artistry of makeup he developed.” He was motion picture screen immortal, Lon Chaney, Sr., American stage and film actor, make-up artist, director, and screenwriter, regarded as “one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema.” Chaney is best remembered for his starring roles in such silent horror films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). 25 Lon Chaney Movie Posters celebrates Chaney’s film career by presenting more than two dozen one-sheet posters, and, in some cases, newspaper ads, lobby cards, and window cards, from among his most best-remembered films. Films include The Miracle Man (1914), The Penalty (1920), Ace of Hearts (1921), Flesh and Blood (1922), The Blind Bargain (1922), The Trap (1922), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), He Who Gets Slapped (1924), The Monster (1925), The Unholy Three (1925), The Phantom of the Opera (1925), The Black Bird (1926), The Road to Mandalay (1926), Tell it To the Marines (1926), Dr. Wu (1927), The Unknown (1927), Mockery (1927), London After Midnight (1927), The Big City (1928), Laugh Clown Laugh (1928), While the City Sleeps (1928), West of Zanzibar (1928), Where East is East (1929) and The Unholy Three (1930), sound version and Chaney’s last film.
Lon Chaney Legacy
Lon Chaney was the subject of a biopic titled Man of a Thousand Faces in 1957, which Lon was portrayed by James Cagney. The film is a largely fictionalized account, as He was notoriously private and hated the Hollywood lifestyle. Lon never revealed personal details about himself or his family, once stating “Between pictures, there is no Lon Chaney.”
Lon`s son Creighton, who later changed his name to Lon Chaney Jr., became a film actor after his father’s death. Chaney Jr. is best remembered for roles in horror films, such as the title character in The Wolf Man (1941). October 1997, both Chaneys appeared on commemorative US postage stamps as the Phantom of the Opera and the Wolf Man, with the set completed by Bela Lugosi as Dracula and Boris Karloff as Frankenstein’s monster and the Mummy.
He is also the subject of the 2000 documentary feature, Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces. The film was produced by silent film historian Kevin Brownlow and narrated by Kenneth Branagh.