# Lon Chaney - The Man of 1,000 Faces!



## JustJimAZ (Aug 19, 2010)

Before John Chambers, before Jack Pierce, one man literally made his reputation for his ability to create "1,000 faces" - and not on 1,000 actors, but on himself! That man, of Course, was Lon Chaney Sr. - "The Man of 1,000 Faces".

Lon Chaney was an out of work stage actor who could not get a job in Hollywood. At least, not before he brought his makeup kit to the casting calls. There, he discovered he could choose a character from the list the studio provided, and in a few minutes he transformed from just another face in the crowd to "The One".

To me, this is even more inspiring than The Great Jack Pierce. What Chaney accomplished, he did on his own - just him and his kit. So much like thousands of kids all over America today who sit in front of their mirrors and try to transform themselves in to something amazing. He created seemingly endless characters through perseverance, frustration, and even physical pain. If you've ever worn elaborate makeup for 8-12 hours at a time, you know what I mean. Add in a level of physical contortion and you start to understand why he amazed directors and audiences. Lon Chaney Sr. may have more responsibility for creating an SFX makeup industry than any single actor ever. Some of his creations:

































Here are some videos I hope you find inspiring!


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## BadMonkey (Sep 7, 2011)

He has always been a HUGE inspiration to me. What he created, on the fly, with that little make up kit was pure magic.


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## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

What a great tribute Jim! I am so glad you posted this about Lon Chaney. Gone but not forgotten... what a legend. Thanks for the memories and inspiration, Lon!


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## JustJimAZ (Aug 19, 2010)

Lunatic said:


> What a great tribute Jim! I am so glad you posted this about Lon Chaney. Gone but not forgotten... what a legend. Thanks for the memories and inspiration, Lon!


I'm glad you appreciated it Lunatic. He deserved his fame.


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## Duchess (Feb 27, 2012)

A true legend.

I have been collectging as many films of his that is available.

He made only one talkie. The Unholy Three. I was able to record off TCM both versions.

Great Phantom! Great Hunchback! Great anything.

Wonderful actor. Too bad he died so young at age 47!


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## JustJimAZ (Aug 19, 2010)

Granny Lou said:


> A true legend.
> 
> I have been collectging as many films of his that is available.
> 
> ...


YouTube, for good or ill, has a lot of Lon Chaney stuff available, including biographies and tributes. The internet has allowed us to preserve and distribute so much that would otherwise disappear forever. I am 40 right now, and I know several people my age who don't even know who Lon Chaney was. My kids are going to feel really old when they are 20 and no one in their age group knows any of their favorite actors.


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## Phil (Sep 2, 2007)

Great post and thanks for the videos, Jim!


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## Bascombe (May 18, 2010)

Lon Chaney was the greatest silent film actor of all time. A case could be made for Chaplin, but Chaney's work had more depth. His mother was deaf and had arthritis so advanced that she could no longer sign. The only way she had to communicate was through facial expression. One of the reasons Chaney was so compelling to watch in silent cinema.

Along with the makeup kit, he also went to great lengths to transform himself physically, such as the rig he built to portray Blizzard, a double amputee below the knee crime boss, and the prosthesis he built to play Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

From 1912 to 1930 Chaney made 161 films. I know filmmaking is different today, but no one makes that many films in an entire career anymore. Granted, the early films were shorts but still, about half of them were feature length and nobody even comes close to that many films today.

Chaney was at his best (at least for this community) when he paired up with Tod Browning. Browning and Chaney were the silent cinema's equivalent of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. When they worked together, magic ensued. Browning and Chaney made about ten films together, including The Unknown which had Chaney playing, "Alonzo the Armless", an armless knife thrower in a Gypsy Circus. Chaney did most of his own stunts in the film but had a foot double in the smoking scene. That film also stars Joan Crawford in her film debut.

Chaney Must Sees:
1. The Penalty
2. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
3. The Phantom of the Opera
4. The Unknown
5. He Who Gets Slapped
6. Laugh Clown Laugh
7. The Unholy Three (silent version and talkie)
8. The Miracle Man (I think only framents exist)
9. Mr. Wu
10. Oliver Twist

The Holy Grail of all lost silent films is "London After Midnight" of which stills only exist today. If this film were discovered in some closet somewhere it would be worth millions. This is an early Tod Browning Vampire movie in which Chaney plays both a vampire hunter and the lead vampire. He made prosthetic teeth filed to points and used bent wires to hold his eyes open in a bug-eye fashion. The last known print of this film was burned in an electrical fire in 1967.


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## JustJimAZ (Aug 19, 2010)

Cool info Bascome. Thanks!


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## Bascombe (May 18, 2010)

Chaney is a hero of mine. There's a great documentary on him that you can get from TCM.com along with The Unknown, Laugh Clown Laugh, Ace of Hearts and the recreation of London After Midnight with stills and titles. I'll try to link to youtube here and show some footage of him in The Penalty. It's at about the 45 second mark. It's amazing and done without any trick photography.

He built a leather rig to hold his legs behind him. It was his own design. Then he had the costume department build him a suit jacket that had a fuller back to conceal his legs. They did it just right and the illusion is never broken.

Enjoy


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