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Lon Chaney is a Actor, Director, Scriptwriter, Co-Director and Makeup Artist American born on 31 march 1883 at Colorado Springs (USA)

Lon Chaney

Lon Chaney
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Birth name Leonidas Frank Chaney
Nationality USA
Birth 31 march 1883 at Colorado Springs (USA)
Death 26 august 1930 (at 47 years) at Los Angeles (USA)

Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American stage and film actor, director and screenwriter. He 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. Chaney is 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."

Biography

Early life
Leonidas Frank Chaney was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Frank H. Chaney and Emma Alice Kennedy; his father had mostly English and some French ancestry, and his mother was of Scottish, English, and Irish descent. Her father, Jonathan Ralston Kennedy, founded the "Colorado School for the Education of Mutes" (now, Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind) in 1874, and Chaney's parents met there. Both of Chaney's parents were deaf, and as a child of deaf adults Chaney became skilled in pantomime. He entered a stage career in 1902, and began traveling with popular Vaudeville and theater acts. In 1905, Chaney, then 22, met and married 16-year-old singer Cleva Creighton (Frances Cleveland Creighton) and in 1906, their only child, a son, Creighton Tull Chaney (later known as Lon Chaney, Jr.) was born. The Chaneys continued touring, settling in California in 1910.

Marital troubles developed and on April 30, 1913, Cleva went to the Majestic Theater in downtown Los Angeles, where Lon was managing the Kolb and Dill show, and attempted suicide by swallowing mercuric chloride. The suicide attempt failed but it ruined her singing career as a result; the ensuing scandal and divorce forced Chaney out of the theater and into film.

The time spent there is not clearly known, but between the years 1912 and 1917, Chaney worked under contract for Universal Studios doing bit or character parts. His skill with makeup gained him many parts in the highly competitive casting atmosphere. During this time, Chaney befriended the husband-wife director team of Joe De Grasse and Ida May Park, who gave him substantial roles in their pictures, and further encouraged him to play macabre characters.

Chaney married one of his former colleagues in the Kolb and Dill company tour, a chorus girl named Hazel Hastings. Little is known of Hazel, except that her marriage to Chaney was solid. Upon marrying, the new couple gained custody of Chaney's 10-year-old son Creighton, who had resided in various homes and boarding schools since Chaney's divorce from Cleva in 1913.


Career




By 1917 Chaney was a prominent actor in the studio, but his salary did not reflect this status. When 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, Chaney struggled for the first year as a character actor. It was not until 1918 when playing a substantial role in William S. Hart's picture, Riddle Gawne, that Chaney's talents as a character actor were truly recognized by the industry.

In 1917 Universal presented Chaney, Dorothy Phillips, and William Stowell as a team in The Piper's Price. In succeeding films, the men alternated playing lover, villain, or other man to the beautiful Phillips. They would occasionally be joined by Claire DuBrey nearly making the trio a quartet of recurring actors from film to film. So successful were the films starring this group that Universal produced fourteen films from 1917 to 1919 with Chaney, Stowell, and Phillips. The films were usually directed by Joe De Grasse or his wife Ida May Park, both friends of Chaney's at Universal. When Chaney was away branching out on films such as Riddle Gawne and The Kaiser, Beast of Berlin, Stowell and Phillips would continue on as a duo until Chaney's return. Stowell and Phillips made The Heart of Humanity (1918), bringing in Erich von Stroheim for a part as the villain that could easily have been played by Chaney. Paid in Advance (1919) was the group's last film together, for the chiseled featured Stowell was sent to Africa by Universal to scout locations for a movie. En route from one city to another, Stowell was in the caboose when it was hit by the locomotive from another train; he was killed instantly. The majority of these films are lost but a few, including Triumph and Paid in Advance survive in private collections or unrestored in European or Russian archives.

In 1919, Chaney had a breakthrough performance as "The Frog" in George Loane Tucker's The Miracle Man. The film displayed not only Chaney's 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.

He exhibited great adaptability with makeup in more conventional crime and adventure films, such as The Penalty, in which he played an amputee gangster. Chaney appeared in 10 films directed by Tod Browning, often portraying disguised and/or mutilated characters, including carnival knife-thrower Alonzo the Armless in The Unknown (1927) opposite Joan Crawford. In 1927, Chaney also co-starred with Conrad Nagel, Marceline Day, Henry B. Walthall and Polly Moran in the Tod Browning horror film, London After Midnight, considered one of the most legendary lost films. His final cinema role was a sound remake of his silent classic The Unholy Three (1930), his only "talkie" and the only film in which Chaney utilized his versatile voice. The actor signed a sworn statement declaring that five of the key voices in the film (the ventriloquist, the old woman, a parrot, the dummy and the girl) were his own.

In Quasimodo, the bell ringer of Notre Dame, and Erik, the "phantom" of the Paris Opera House, Chaney created two of the most grotesquely deformed characters in film history. However, the portrayals sought to elicit a degree of sympathy and pathos among viewers not overwhelmingly terrified or repulsed by the monstrous disfigurements of these victims of fate.

"I wanted to remind people that the lowest types of humanity may have within them the capacity for supreme self-sacrifice," Chaney wrote in an autobiographical article published in 1925 in Movie magazine. "The dwarfed, misshapen beggar of the streets may have the noblest ideals. Most of my roles since The Hunchback, such as The Phantom of the Opera, He Who Gets Slapped, The Unholy Three, etc., have carried the theme of self-sacrifice or renunciation. These are the stories which I wish to do."

"He was someone who acted out our psyches. He somehow got into the shadows inside our bodies; he was able to nail down some of our secret fears and put them on-screen," Ray Bradbury once explained. "The history of Lon Chaney is the history of unrequited loves. He brings that part of you out into the open, because you fear that you are not loved, you fear that you never will be loved, you fear there is some part of you that's grotesque, that the world will turn away from."

In his 1925 Movie magazine article, Chaney referred to his expertise in both make-up and contorting his body to portray his subjects as "extraordinary characterization." Chaney's talents extended beyond the horror genre and stage makeup. He was also a highly skilled dancer, singer and comedian. Many who did not know Chaney were surprised by his rich baritone voice and his sharp comedic skills.



Chaney and his second wife Hazel led a discreet private life distant from the Hollywood social scene. Chaney did minimal promotional work for his films and for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, purposefully fostering a mysterious image, and he reportedly intentionally avoided the social scene in Hollywood.

In the final five years of his film career (1925–1930), Chaney worked exclusively under contract to MGM, giving some of his most memorable performances. His portrayal of a tough-as-nails marine drill instructor in Tell It to the Marines (1926), one of his favorite films, earned him the affection of the Marine Corps, who made him their first honorary member from the motion picture industry. He also earned the respect and admiration of numerous aspiring actors, to whom he offered mentoring assistance, and between takes on film sets he was always willing to share his professional observations with the cast and crew.


Death

During the filming of Thunder in the winter of 1929, Chaney developed pneumonia. In late 1929 he was diagnosed with bronchial lung cancer. This was exacerbated when artificial snow, made out of cornflakes, lodged in his throat during filming and quickly created a serious infection. Despite aggressive treatment, his condition gradually worsened, and seven weeks after the release of the remake of The Unholy Three, he died of a throat hemorrhage on August 26, 1930. His death was deeply mourned by his family, the film industry, and his fans. The US Marine Corps provided a chaplain and Honor Guard for his funeral. He was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, in Glendale, California, 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.



^ Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, etc. edited by Frank W. Blackmar c. 1912 pp.496–498

^ Mysteries and Scandals - Lon Chaney (Season 3, Episode 34). 2000. E!.

^ "Mrs. Lon Chaney Dies. Before Her Husband Entered the Movies She Was Well Known In Vaudeville.". New York Times. November 1, 1933.

^ Internet Movie Database,IMDb.com ; film listings on Lon Chaney, William Stowell, Dorothy Phillips & Claire Dubrey

^ Pictorial History of the Silent Screen, by Daniel Blum c. 1953 p.141; scene from Triumph (1917), description ...Phillips has hand on Chaney's head embracing him while Stowell reads paperwork on desk

^ Silents are Golden

^ Dick, Bernard F., City of Dreams: The Making and Remaking of Universal Pictures. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1997, pp. 52-55

^ Schickel, Richard (1962). The Stars. New York: Bonanza Books, a division of Crown Publishers, Inc. p. 133.

Usually with

Pauline Bush
Pauline Bush
(49 films)
Ida May Park
Ida May Park
(30 films)
Allan Dwan
Allan Dwan
(20 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Lon Chaney (163 films)

Display filmography as detailed form
YearNameJobRoles
2011Chicken with PlumsActor
1951Hollywood StoryActorThe Phantom (archive footage) (uncredited)
1931The House That Shadows BuiltActor(archive footage)
1930The Unholy ThreeActor, Makeup ArtistProfessor Echo / Grandma O'Grady
1929ThunderActorGrumpy Anderson
1929Where East Is EastActorTiger Haynes
1928The Big CityActorChuck Collins
1928Laugh, Clown, LaughActorTito Beppi
1928West of ZanzibarActorPhroso 'Dead-Legs'
1928While the City SleepsActorDan Coghlan
1927The UnknownActorAlonzo
1927London After MidnightActorProfessor Edward C. Burke
1927MockeryActorSergei
1927Mr. WuActorMr. Wu / Wu's Grandfather
1926The BlackbirdActorDan - The Blackbird / The Bishop
1926The Road to MandalayActorSingapore Joe
1926Tell It to the MarinesActorSergeant O'Hara
1925The Phantom of the OperaActor, Director, Makeup ArtistErik, The Phantom
1925The Tower of LiesActorJan
1925The MonsterActorDr. Ziska
1925The Unholy ThreeActorProfessor Echo / Granny O'Grady
1924The Next CornerActorJuan Serafin
1924He Who Gets SlappedActorPaul Beaumont aka HE
1923While Paris SleepsActorHenri Santodos
1923The Hunchback of Notre DameActor, Co-Director, Makeup ArtistQuasimodo
1923All the Brothers Were ValiantActorMark Shore
1923The ShockActorWilse Dilling
1922A Blind BargainActorDr. Arthur Lamb / The Ape Man
1922The Light in the DarkActorTony Pantelli
1922Oliver TwistActorFagin
1922Quincy Adams SawyerActorObadiah Strout
1922ShadowsActorYen Sin
1922The TrapActor, StoryGaspard the Good
1922Flesh and BloodActorDavid Webster
1921Outside the LawActorAh Wing / 'Black Mike' Sylva
1921The Ace of HeartsActorFarallone
1921Bits of LifeActorChin Chow
1921For Those We LoveActorTrix Ulner
1921Voices of the CityActorO'Rourke
1920Treasure IslandActorBlind Pew / Merry
1920One WeekActorHousebilder
1920The PenaltyActorBlizzard
1920The Adventures of Daredevil JackActorRoyce Rivers
1920Nomads of the NorthActorRaoul Challoner
1920The Gift SupremeActorMerney Stagg
1919VictoryActorRicardo
1919The False FacesActorKarl Eckstrom
1919The Miracle ManActorThe Frog
1919The Wicked DarlingActorStoop Connors
1919When Bearcat Went DryActorKindard Powers
1919Paid in AdvanceActorBateese Le Blanc
1919A Man's CountryActor'Three Card' Duncan
1918Broadway LoveActorElmer Watkins
1918A Broadway ScandalActor'Kink' Colby
1918Danger, Go SlowActorBud
1918Fast CompanyActorDan McCarty
1918The Grand PassionActorPaul Argos
1918The Kaiser, the Beast of BerlinActorBethmann-Hollweg
1918Riddle GawneActorHame Bozzam
1918The Talk of the TownActorJack Langhorne
1918That Devil, BateeseActorLouis Courteau
1917Anything OnceActorWaughnt Moore
1917A Doll's HouseActorNils Krogstad
1917The Empty GunActorFrank
1917Fires of RebellionActorRussell Hanlon
1917The FlashlightActorHenry Norton / Porter Brixton
1917The Girl in the Checkered CoatActorHector Maitland
1917Hell Morgan's GirlActorSleter Noble
1917The Mask of LoveActorMarino
1917Pay Me!ActorJoe Lawson
1917The Piper's PriceActorBilly Kilmartin
1917The RescueActorThomas Holland
1917The Scarlet CarActorPaul Revere Forbes
1917TriumphActorPaul Neihoff
1916Accusing EvidenceActor
1916Bobbie of the BalletActorHook Hoover
1916Dolly's ScoopActorDan Fisher
1916Felix on the JobActorTod
1916The Gilded SpiderActorGiovanni
1916The Grasp of GreedActorJimmie
1916The Grip of JealousyActorSilas Lacey
1916If My Country Should CallActorDr. George Ardrath
1916The Mark of CainActorDick Temple
1916The Place Beyond the WindsActorJerry Jo
1916The Price of SilenceActorEdmond Stafford
1916Tangled HeartsActorJohn Hammond
1915Alas and AlackActorThe Fisherman and Hunchback Fate
1915All for PeggyActorSeth Baldwin
1915Bound on the WheelActorTom Coulahan
1915The Chimney's SecretActor, DirectorCharles Harding
1915The Desert BreedActorFred
1915The Fascination of the Fleur de LisActorDuke of Safoulrug
1915Father and the BoysActorTuck Bartholomew
1915For CashDirector
1915The Girl of the NightActor
1915The GrindActorHenry Leslie
1915An Idyll of the HillsActorLafe Jameson
1915Lon of Lone MountainActorLon Moore
1915Maid of the MistActorLin, Paulines father
1915The Measure of a ManActorDonald MacDermott
1915The Millionaire PaupersActorLandlord
1915A Mother's AtonementActorBen
1915Mountain JusticeActorJeffrey Kirke
1915Outside the GatesActorPerez
1915The Oyster DredgerActor, Director, Writer
1915The Pine's RevengeActorBlack Scotty
1915The Sin of Olga BrandtActorStephen Leslie
1915A Small Town GirlActorThe Procurer
1915The Star of the SeaActorTomasco
1915Steady CompanyActorJimmy Ford
1915The Stool PigeonActor, Director
1915The Stronger MindActorThe Crook's Pal
1915Stronger Than DeathActorAttorney
1915Such Is LifeActorTod Wilkes
1915The Threads of FateActorThe Count
1915The TrustActor, DirectorJim Mason
1915Under a ShadowActorDeSerris
1915The Violin MakerActor, DirectorPedro
1915When the Gods Played a Badger GameActorJoe, the property man
1915Where the Forest EndsActorPaul Rouchelle
1914By the Sun's RaysActorFrank Lawler, the Clerk
1914Discord and HarmonyActorLon - the Sculptor
1914The EmbezzlerActorJ. Roger Dixon
1914The End of the FeudActorWood Dawson
1914The Forbidden RoomActorJohn Morris
1914Her BountyActorFred Howard
1914Her EscapeActor, ScriptwriterPete
1914Her Grave MistakeActorNunez
1914Her Life's StoryActorDon Valesquez
1914The Higher LawActorSir Stephen
1914The Honor of the MountedActorJacques Laquox
1914The Hopes of Blind AlleyActorVendor
1914The Lamb, the Woman, the WolfActorThe Wolf
1914The LieActorYoung MacGregor
1914Lights and ShadowsActorBentley
1914The Lion, the Lamb, the ManActorFred Brown
1914The Menace to CarlottaActor, ScriptwriterGiovanni Bartholdi
1914A Miner's RomanceActorJohn Burns
1914A Night of ThrillsActorVisitor
1914The Old CobblerActor
1914The OublietteActorChevalier Bertrand de la Payne
1914The Pipes o' PanActorArthur Farrell
1914A Ranch RomanceActorRaphael Praz
1914Remember Mary MagdalenActorThe Half-Wit
1914RichelieuActorBaradas
1914The Tragedy of Whispering CreekActor, WriterThe Greaser
1914The Unlawful TradeActorThe Cross Blood
1914Virtue Is Its Own RewardActorDuncan Bronson
1914The Adventures of François VillonActor
1913Almost an ActressActorCameraman
1913Back to LifeActorThe Rival
1913The Blood Red Tape of CharityActorA pawnbroker.
1913Bloodhounds of the NorthActorMountie
1913An Elephant on His HandsActorEddie
1913Poor Jake's DemiseActorThe Dude
1913Red Margaret, MoonshinerActorLon
1913The Restless SpiritActorThe Russian Count (uncredited)
1913The Sea UrchinActorBarnacle Bill / Barnacle Ben
1913Shon the PiperActorA member of the Scottish clans (Disputed)
1913Suspense.ActorA hobo
1913The TrapActorLon
1913The Ways of FateActor
1912The Honor of the FamilyActor