Lon Chaney, Sr. was one of the most talented and iconic character actors in the history of Hollywood. He appeared in countless silent films throughout the 1920s and made a name for himself with roles that are still iconic today like The Phantom of the Opera or The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
He was notable for being a master of makeup and prosthetics, something that wasn’t very prevalent in Hollywood at the time. He did his own makeup, transforming and contorting himself into various unrecognizable characters and monsters, earning himself the nickname ‘The Man of a Thousand Faces’. And he truly was.
He churned out dozens of performances that were extremely ahead of their time in an era where special effects still meant gluing on a mustache or replacing a falling person with a dummy. Take a moment out of your day to remember one of the creepiest and most flexible actors in movie history.
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Lon Chaney showing off his makeup kit, circa 1924
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Lon Chaney wearing a set of prosthetic teeth, 1921
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Lon Chaney showing off his makeup kit while in costume as the Phantom of the Opera, circa 1925
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Chaney’s character in He Who Gets Slapped (1924). Looks terrifying, but in reality the character is a pathetic and sad clown.
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Publicity still from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
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Edith Roberts and Lon Chaney in Flesh and Blood (1922). In addition to makeup and prosthetics, Chaney was a skilled contortionist and often played characters that lacked arms or legs by binding his body parts.
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Lon Chaney in The Penalty (1920), where he plays a ruthless crime boss with no legs.
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Chaney had a reputation for altering the appearance of his face, but he didn’t need makeup or prosthetics to be creepy or intimidating.
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Lon Chaney being helped into the harness that would hide his legs to play Blizzard, the menacing crime boss in The Penalty (1920).
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Lon Chaney superimposed next to his character The Frog from the lost film The Miracle Man (1919). This role, a contortionist con man, launched him to fame because of his incredible ability to transform himself.
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Lon Chaney in costume behind the scenes of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1922
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Lon Chaney in London After Midnight, a lost film from 1927 directed by Tod Browning
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Lon Chaney smoking a cigarette with his foot as his character Sir Alonso the Armless in The Unknown (1927)
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A collage of various characters played by Lon Chaney over the years. He truly was the man of a thousand faces.
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The Unholy Three (1925), with Chaney as a ventriloquist. He was the children of deaf parents and so learned to use his hands and face to convey information from a young age.
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Lon Chaney in makeup as the Phantom of the Opera. He did all his makeup himself, and his look in this movie was kept a secret. At the premiere, multiple audience members screamed and even fainted when his face was revealed.
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Lon Chaney as the vengeful magician Phroso in the Tod Browning movie West of Zanzibar (1928).
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Director Tod Browning on the set of West of Zanzibar (1928) with Lon Chaney in the prototype of a ‘human duck’ costume. This costume was cut from West of Zanzibar and later used in a climactic scene at the end of Browning’s legendary movie Freaks.
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A rare photo of Lon Chaney Sr. with his son Lon Chaney Jr., who played the Wolf Man and other classic horror roles.
