Lon Chaney, Sr.

In my effort to bring more knowledge of the great actors of the past who brought to life the great genre that is horror, I thought about Lon Chaney, Sr. He was a very well respected actor in the dawn of film. From 1912 - 1930 he appeared in 140 movies. Best know for the silent movies The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera, Lon Chaney, Sr. was a master of make-up. I remember as a young boy my dad quite often talked about "The Man of a Thousand Faces." I didn't really know who or what he was talking about, but as I got older and fell in love with the horror genre I found out who Lon Chaney, Sr. was. It was these great visionaries like Chaney, Lugosi, and Karloff who paved the way and created the genre we now know as horror. Lon Chaney, Sr. was born April 1st, 1883 in Colorado Springs, Colorado to deaf parents. It is believed that because his parents were deaf that he devoleped an expressive way to communicate with his parents. Interesting idea and there may be some truth to it. In 1906 his only child Creighton Chaney was born (Lon Chaney, Jr.). Like his truly famous father, Lon, Jr. found his way into movies and is best know as The Wolfman. There's a clip of Lon Chaney, Sr. from The Phantom of the Opera at the end of this post. Check it out... GREAT clip!






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