Creighton Tull Chaney (February10, 1906 – July12, 1973), known by his stage nameLon Chaney Jr., 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) in Son of Dracula, Frankenstein's monster in The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), the Mummy in three pictures, and various other roles in many Universal horror films, including six films in their 1940s Inner Sanctum series, making him a horror icon.[1] He also portrayed Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men (1939) and played supporting parts in dozens of mainstream movies, including High Noon (1952), The Defiant Ones (1958), and numerous Westerns, musicals, comedies and dramas.
Originally referred to in films as Creighton Chaney, he 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 the name of his more famous father, the deceased cinema giant Lon Chaney, at the studio's insistence. Chaney had English, French, and Irish ancestry, and his career in movies and television spanned four decades, from 1931 to 1971.
Creighton Tull Chaney was born on February 10, 1906, in Oklahoma City, the son of then-stage performer Lon Chaney and Frances Cleveland Creighton, a singing stage performer who traveled in road shows across the country with Chaney. In a 1965 interview, Chaney Jr. revealed that he was a stillborn baby. "I was all black and not breathing when I was born," he shared. "My father ran out of the house with me and broke a hole in the ice in a nearby lake, and dunked me in time after time until he revived me".[2] His parents' troubled marriage ended in divorce in 1913 following his mother's scandalous public suicide attempt in Los Angeles. Many articles and biographies over the years report that Creighton was led to believe his mother had died while he was a boy, and he only learned that she was still alive after his father's death. Creighton always maintained he had a tough childhood.
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, he 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.
Creighton's life changed when his father was diagnosed with throat cancer and died on August 26, 1930, at the age of 47.
It was only after his father's death that Chaney began to act in films, billed under his own name. He began with an uncredited bit part in the serial The Galloping Ghost (1931) and signed a contract with RKO where he was given small roles in a number of films, including Girl Crazy (1932), Bird of Paradise (1932), and The Most Dangerous Game (1932) (from which Chaney's few scenes were edited out before the film was released).[3]
"I did every possible bit in pictures" said Chaney later. "Had to do stuntwork to live. I bulldogged steers, fell off and got knocked off cliffs, rode horses off precipices into rivers, drove prairie schooners up and down hills."[4]
He had the lead in the independent film Sixteen Fathoms Deep (1934), and a memorable part in which his character sings in Girl o' My Dreams (1934) at Monogram. The last film he made as Creighton Chaney was The Marriage Bargain (1935) for Screencraft Productions. After this point he was billed as Lon Chaney, Jr. until 1942, when he was usually billed, at the insistence of Universal Studios, with his iconic father's name, although the "Jr." was usually added by others to distinguish the two.
Hal Roach used him in his third-billed character role in One Million B.C. (1940) as Victor Mature's caveman father, after which Chaney began to be viewed as a character actor in the mold of his father. He had in fact designed a swarthy, ape-like Neanderthal make-up on himself for the film, but production decisions and union rules prevented his following through on emulating his father in that fashion.[citation needed]Cecil B. DeMille used him in a supporting role in North West Mounted Police (1940) and MGM used him in Billy the Kid (1941) with Robert Taylor as Billy and Brian Donlevy as Pat Garrett. That studio considered putting Chaney Jr in a remake of his father's hit He Who Gets Slapped but decided not to make it.[9]
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures offered Chaney Jr the lead in Man-Made Monster (1941), a science-fiction horror thriller originally written with Boris Karloff in mind. Chaney's first horror film, it was successful enough for them to offer him a long-term contract.
Chaney Jr. was then given the title role in The Wolf Man (1941) for Universal, a role which, much like Karloff's Frankenstein monster, would largely typecast Chaney as a horror film actor for the rest of his life. Universal dropped the "Jr." and billed him as "Lon Chaney" going forward within that studio, apparently to foster confusion with his father among audiences.
Chaney Jr. played Kharis the Mummy in The Mummy's Tomb (1942), another hit. He was in a Western Frontier Badmen (1943), then reprised his role as the Wolf Man in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) with Bela Lugosi as Frankenstein's monster. The film was originally filmed with the Monster being blind and speaking in Lugosi's distinctive "Ygor" voice, but the studio cut out all references to either so that audiences were left wondering why the Monster staggered around with his arms extended in front of him, not to mention why he had lost the ability to speak since Ghost of Frankenstein, grievously damaging Lugosi's reputation.
He reprised his Wolf Man role to great effect in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) but it did not cause a notable boost to his career. In April 1948 Chaney was hospitalized after taking an overdose of sleeping pills.[10] He recovered and played Harry Brock in a Los Angeles theatre production of Born Yesterday in 1949.[11]
He became quite popular with baby boomers after Universal released its back catalog of horror films to television in 1957 (Shock Theater) and Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine regularly focused on his films.
In 1957, Chaney went to Ontario, Canada, to costar in the first ever American-Canadian television production, as Chingachgook in Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans, suggested by James Fenimore Cooper's stories. The series ended after 39 episodes. Universal released their film biography of his father, Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), featuring a semi-fictionalized version of Creighton's life story from his birth up until his father's death. Roger Smith was cast as Creighton as a young adult.
He appeared in an episode of the western series Tombstone Territory titled "The Black Marshal from Deadwood" (1958), and appeared in numerous western series such as Rawhide. He also hosted the 13-episode television anthology series 13 Demon Street in 1959, which was created by Curt Siodmak.
Chaney Jr. in Money, Women and Guns (1958)Chaney Jr. in Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971)
1960s
In the 1960s, Chaney specialised in horror films, such as House of Terror (1960), The Devil's Messenger (1961) and The Haunted Palace (1963), replacing Boris Karloff in the last of those for Roger Corman.
In January 1962, Chaney appeared in Season 4 episode titled "The Tarnished Badge" of the television show Lawman. Chaney plays Jess Bridges a US Marshal gone bad. His Deputy was at one time Dan Troop (John Russell). Bridges redeems himself at the episode's end by saving Deputy Johnny McKay
His bread-and-butter work during this decade was television – where he made guest appearances on everything from Wagon Train to The Monkees – and in a string of supporting roles in low-budget Westerns produced by A. C. Lyles for Paramount. In 1962, Chaney gained a chance to briefly play Quasimodo in a simulacrum of his father's make-up, as well as return to his roles of the Mummy and the Wolf Man on the television series Route 66 with friends Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre (Karloff wore a quickie version of the Frankenstein monster make-up toward the end of the episode).
Final films
In later years, he suffered from throat cancer and chronic heart disease among other ailments after decades of heavy drinking and smoking. In his final horror film, Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971), directed by Al Adamson, he played Groton, Dr. Frankenstein's mute henchman. He filmed his part in the spring of 1969, and shortly thereafter performed his final film role, also for Adamson, in 1969 in The Female Bunch.[13] Though filmed before The Female Bunch, Dracula vs. Frankenstein was released some weeks later. Chaney had lines in The Female Bunch but his hoarse, raspy voice was virtually unrecognizable. Due to illness he retired from acting to concentrate on a book about the Chaney family legacy, A Century of Chaneys, which remains to date unpublished in any form. As of 2008[update], his grandson, Ron Chaney Jr., was working on completing this project.[14]
Personal life
Chaney was married twice. He had two sons by his first wife, Dorothy, Lon Ralph Chaney (July 3, 1928 – May 5, 1992) and Ronald Creighton Chaney (March 18, 1930 – December 15, 1987). Dorothy divorced him in 1936 for drinking too much and being "sullen".[15] He married Patsy Beck in 1937.
Chaney was well liked by some co-workers – "sweet" is the adjective that most commonly emerges from those who acted with, and liked him – yet he was capable of intense dislikes. For instance, he and frequent co-star Evelyn Ankers did not get along at all. He was also known to befriend younger actors and stand up for older ones who he felt were belittled by the studios. One example was William Farnum, a major silent star who played a small role in The Mummy's Curse. According to co-star Peter Coe, Chaney demanded that Farnum be given his own chair on the set and be treated with respect, or else he would walk off the picture.[citation needed]
Chaney had run-ins with actor Frank Reicher (whom he nearly strangled on camera in The Mummy's Ghost) and director Robert Siodmak (over whose head Chaney broke a vase).[16] Actor Robert Stack claimed in his 1980 autobiography that Chaney and drinking buddy Broderick Crawford were known as "the monsters" around the Universal Pictures lot because of their drunken behavior that frequently resulted in bloodshed.[17]
Chaney suffered from a series of illnesses in the year prior to his death. In April 1973, he was released from the hospital after undergoing surgery for cataracts and treatment for beriberi. He also suffered from liver problems and gout. Chaney died on July 12, 1973, in San Clemente, California, at the age of 67. His cause of death was not immediately released to the public.[1] Chaney's death certificate listed his cause of death as cardiac failure due to arteriosclerotic heart disease and cardiomyopathy.[19]
He was honored by appearing as the Wolf Man on one of a 1997 series of United States postage stamps depicting movie monsters (his father appeared as the Phantom of the Opera, while Bela Lugosi appeared as Dracula, and Boris Karloff had two stamps as Frankenstein's monster and the original Mummy). His grandson Ron Chaney Jr. has appeared frequently as a guest at horror movie conventions.[20][21]
Filmography
This is a list of known Lon Chaney Jr. theatrical films. Television appearances are listed separately.
Along the Mohawk Trail, Redmen and the Renegades, Long Rifle and the Tomahawk, and Pathfinder and the Mohican (1957) - These four Made-for-TV feature films were composed of various re-edited episodes of Chaney's 1957 Hawkeye TV series
Climax CBS (Sept. 19, 1957) One-hour episode Necessary Evil
The Rough Riders ABC (Jan. 15, 1959) Episode An Eye for an Eye
Rawhide CBS (Feb. 6, 1959) One-hour episode Incident on the Edge of Madness
13 Demon Street (1959) Chaney was the eerie host of this unaired horror anthology series filmed in Sweden; three random episodes were later re-edited into a 1962 feature film called The Devil's Messenger
Route 66 CBS (Oct. 11, 1963) One-hour episode Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are
Route 66 CBS (Apr. 24, 1964) One-hour episode, title unknown
Pistols 'n' Petticoats CBS (1966-1967 season) Chaney played Chief Eagle Shadow on four episodes; several episodes were later compiled into a 1968 feature film called The Far Out West
The Monkees NBC (Oct. 24, 1966) Chaney played Lenny in episode Monkees in a Ghost Town (1966)
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrSmith, Don G. (1996). "Lon Chaney Jr.". McFarland & Co. Inc. Pg. 201. ISBN 0-7864-0120-6.
^Smith, Frederick James (July 28, 1940). "Filler of Father's Footwear". Los Angeles Times. p. J6.
^Schallert, Edwin (September 7, 1935). "Mary Pickford Considers Leading Drive to Produce Pictures in England: British Films Would Use American Actors Cycle of Kipling Stories Looms Both Here and Abroad; Lon Chaney, Jr., Follows in Noted Parent's Footsteps". Los Angeles Times. p. 5.
^"Cash Given to Werners, Says Witness at Hearing: Board Vote Boast Cited by Woman, Owner of Cafe Takes Stand Weinblatt Asked $1000 in Liquor License Renewal, She Testifies". Los Angeles Times. June 18, 1936. p. 1.
^"Lon Chaney, Jr., Escapes Injury". The Washington Post. October 20, 1938. p. X7.
^"Chaney Jr. Nixes Horror Make-ups". Los Angeles Times. January 15, 1940. p. 9.
^Schallert, Edwin (January 4, 1941). "Young Chaney May Do 'He Who Gets Slapped': Preston 'Night' Star Fellows Subject Named Warners Sign Darwell Ink Spots, Faye Cast Bellamy Set for Comedy". Los Angeles Times. p. A9.
^"Lon Chaney Jr. Takes Too Many Sleeping Pills". Los Angeles Times. April 23, 1948. p. 1.
^Scheuer, Philip K. (January 18, 1949). "Kanin's 'Born Yesterday' Well Acted at Biltmore". Los Angeles Times. p. A7.
^Pitts, Michael R. (2005). Poverty Row Studios, 1929–1940: An Illustrated History of 55 Independent Film Companies, with a Filmography for Each. McFarland & Company. p. 334.
^ abSmith, Don G. (1996). "Lon Chaney Jr.". McFarland & Co. Inc. Pg. 203. ISBN 0-7864-0120-6.
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