Lon Chaney Jr. |
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Real Name: Chaney, Creighton Tull
Height: 6' 3"
Born: 10 February 1906, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA.
Deceased: 12 July 1973, San Clemente, California, USA. (beriberi, liver failure)
Married to: 'Patsy Beck' (1 October 1937 - 12 July 1973) (his death) 'Dorothy Thompson' (1928 - 1937) (divorced) |
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American character actor whose career was influenced (and often overshadowed) by that of his father, silent film star 'Lon Chaney' . The younger Chaney was born while his parents were on a theatrical tour, and he joined them onstage for the first time at the age of six months. However, as a young man, even during the time of his father's growing fame, Creighton Chaney worked menial jobs to support himself without calling upon his father. He was at various times a plumber, a meatcutter's apprentice, a metal worker, and a farm worker. Always, however, there was the desire to follow in his father's footsteps. He studied makeup at his father's side, learning many of the techniques that had made his father famous. And he took stage roles in stock companies. It was not until after his father's death in 1930 that Chaney went to work in films. His first appearances were under his real name (he had been named for his mother, singer Cleva Creighton). He played number of supporting parts before a producer in 1935 insisted on changing his name to Lon Chaney Jr. as a marketing ploy. Chaney was uncomfortable with the ploy and always hated the "Jr". addendum. But he was also aware that the famous name could help his career, and so he kept it. Most of the parts he played were unmemorable, often bits, until 1939 when he was given the role of the simple-minded Lennie in the film adaptation of 'John Steinbeck' 's 'Of Mice and Men'. Chaney's performance was spectacularly touching; indeed, it became one of the two roles for which he would always be best remembered. The other came within the next year, when Universal, in hopes of reviving their horror film franchise as well as memories of their great silent star, Chaney Sr., cast Chaney as the tortured Lawrence Talbot in "Wolf Man, The (1941)" . With this film and the slew of horror films that followed it, Chaney achieved a kind of stardom, though he was never able to achieve his goal of surpassing his father. By the 1950s, he was established as a star in low-budget horror films and as a reliable character actor in more prestigious, big-budget films such as "High Noon (1952)" . Never as versatile as his father, he fell more and more into cheap and mundane productions which traded primarily on his name and those of other fading horror stars. His later years were bedeviled by illness and problems with alcohol. When he died from a variety of causes in 1973, it was as an actor who had spent his life chasing the fame of his father, but who was much beloved by a generation of filmgoers who had never seen his father. Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net> Trivia:
Son of 'Lon Chaney' .
His career suffered in his later years due to alcoholism.
Son: Ronald Chaney.
Attempted an early career as a songwriter.
Lon Chaney, Jr., is the only person to have played all four of the
classic movie monsters: "Wolf Man, The (1941)" (Larry Talbot/Wolf Man) "Ghost of Frankenstein, The (1942)" (The
Frankenstein Monster) "Mummy's Tomb, The (1942)" (Kharis, the mummy) "Son of Dracula (1943)" (Count
Anthony Alucard, Dracula's son)
Pictured on one of a set of five 32¢ US commemorative postage stamps,
issued 30 September 1997, celebrating "Famous Movie Monsters". He is
shown as the title character in "Wolf Man, The (1941)" . Other actors honored in this
set of stamps, and the classic monsters they portray, are 'Lon Chaney' as
"Phantom of the Opera, The (1925)" ; 'Bela Lugosi' as "Dracula (1931/I)" ; and 'Boris Karloff' on two stamps as "Mummy, The (1932)" and
the monster in "Frankenstein (1931)" .
Broderick Crawford, who had played Chaney's screen role of Lennie in Of
Mice and Men, worked with Chaney on one instance and shared a dressing
room with him. Apparently, both men were such horrible drinkers that
they'd get drunk together and take turns beating each other up!
Child actor William Smith stated in a horror magazine that during
breaks on the set of Ghost of Frankenstein, Chaney treated all of the
children on the set to ice cream.
Father of two sons, Lon and Ron.
From his father he developed skills as a makeup artist. He was not able
to make much use of these skills due to strict union rules.
2 sons with Dorothy Hinckley: Lon Ralph Chaney born July 3, 1928 and
Ronald Creighton Chaney born March 18, 1930Quotes:
Director Reginald Le Borg: "His was a career and, I believe, a
personality that resulted directly from trying to embrace and, at the
same time, disown the career and image of his father." |
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