Trigger Warning: The following includes references to suicide.Hollywood’s silent film beginnings launched the careers of legendary actors, the likes ofCharlie Chaplin,Buster Keaton, andMary Pickford. Their names live on, the embodiments of an era that would revolutionize entertainment for the masses. One name, however, is often overlooked:Lon Chaney. One may not be familiar with his works, but you would definitely know the face… or at least one of his “thousand faces”, Quasimodo from the 1923 silent filmThe Hunchback of Notre Dame, or the Man in the Beaver Hat from1927’sLondon After Midnight– a look that inspired the appearance of the monster inThe Babadook–for example. Lon Chaney was an extremely versatilesilent film eraactor, an innovator in the use of makeup to create a stable of grotesque characters, and a pioneer of the horror film genre.
Lon Chaney’s Early Life
Leonidas “Lon” Chaney was born on April 1st, 1883, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the son of deaf parents, one of four children to the pair. In learning to communicate in this environment, Chaney mastered the expressing of emotion through his hands and face. In seeing how the world reacted to his family, Chaney knew what it was like to be on the outside looking in, to be in society, yet not part of it. These situations would prove to be invaluable to Chaney’s performances, both in his ability to perform and his choice of roles. Chaney entered the world of entertaining at the age of nineteen, taking a role in an amateur play. From there, he joined a traveling musical comedy troupe, honing his dancing and comic abilities. In 1905, Chaney met singerCleva Creighton, and were married shortly after. Their son,Creighton, akaLon Chaney, Jr.(who also would rise to fame as an actor), was born shortly after. The marriage fell apart in 1913, when Cleva attempted suicide by drinking poison offstage while Chaney was performing. The ensuing coverage of the divorce drove Chaney away from the theater and into film.
Chaney’s Film Career Began With a Universal Pictures Contract
In 1913, the start of Chaney’s film career began when he signed a contract with Universal Pictures. Appearing in bit parts at first, his skills in expression, the use of makeup to alter his look (a trick he developed while in the theater world), and a preference for character roles over lead roles led to Chaney becoming one of Universal’s biggest stars in only four years. What should have been a fait accompli in giving one of their brightest a raise in pay ended up with Universal refusing to do so. This prompted Chaney to outright defy the Hollywood studio system of the time, when actors signed long-term contracts with one studio, and go out on his own as a freelance performer. To say this worked out in his favor is a severe understatement: Chaney was making up to $3,750 a week at the height of his popularity, with every studio in town hoping to cast the actor in their films. Ironically, this also included Universal, a karmic kick in the arse for the studio.
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And Chaney earned it. He dove into every character he played, often playing the outsider, evoking horror and empathy in equal parts through his life-long skills at communicating without speech. His performances earned the respect of his peers, with Burt Lancaster - no slouch himself - once commenting on a scene in Chaney’sThe UnknownthatChaney gave “one of the most compelling and emotionally exhausting scenes I have ever seen an actor do.“In a silent film. So committed to his craft, that to play a legless mobster in 1920’sThe Penalty,he tied his legs behind his back and made a special harness in order to walk on his knees, which meant he could only film a couple of minutes at a timeandended up with permanent muscle damage as a result. It worked almosttoowell, prompting a tag to the end of the movie being added showing that Chaney did have two legs and could walk perfectly fine. For his portrayal of Quasimodo, he wore a 40-pound hunch in a 30-pound harness, while wearing a straitjacket to contort his body.
Lon Chaney’s Makeup Work Stood Out
Chaney delivered emotional depths to his characters flawlessly, but it was his skills with makeup that earned Chaney the “Man of a Thousand Faces” moniker. There was nothing terribly fancy about his makeup kit: grease paint, molding putty, brushes, false eyes, “fish skin” (transparent material for creating scars), and a lifelike wax mold of his head, on which he would perfect the look he wanted before applying it to himself. But with it, there was virtually no limit to who he could become. A pirate, an old man, a ghastly phantom, a disfigured hunchback, a Chinese shipwreck survivor, and even Fagin inOliver Twist(1922). A running joke at the time alluded to his skills in transformation:“Don’t step on that spider, it may be Lon Chaney.“Arguably, the most famous showcase for his talents has to be the unmasking scene inThe Phantom of the Opera. The brief moment is jarring, and ghoulish, providing an instantaneous connection to the horror of the character. It’s a staple of almost every horror film montage. Chaney almost single-handedly proved to moviegoers that makeup could effectively transform an actor into an infinite number of different characters. He was, in fact, an authority on the art, crafting the ‘make-up’ entry for the 1929 Encyclopedia Britannica (Chaney was also an expert on penology, the study of crime and punishment), and innovating techniques, still in use, that passed on from renowned early Hollywood makeup artists likeJack Pierce, who transformedBoris Karloffinto the iconic monster of 1931’sFrankenstein, to contemporary Hollywood makeup artists like horror-film iconTom Savini.
In 1930, Chaney made his only appearance in atalkie, one of the last big silent film stars to do so, inThe Unholy Three. With only that one opportunity, Chaney proved he was just as good as he had been in his silent films, delivering a performance that included voicing five different characters: a ventriloquist, a dummy, an old woman, a little girl, and a parrot. Sadly, only seven weeks after the release ofThe Unholy Three, Chaney succumbed to bronchial lung cancer at the young age of 47.
We will never truly know the full scope of Chaney’s abilities. Out of155 billed appearances, only 32 exist as complete films, 9 films missing some segments, and fragments of 5 more, meaning more than over 100 of his performances are completely lost. What we do have is a snapshot of a Hollywood legend, and a legacy of talent and innovation that can still be seen in the horror movies of today.
