MUSEUM OF MODERN MYTHOLOGY AND POP CULTURE

LON CHANEY SR.

1883-1930. The Man of a Thousand Faces. This silent film actor is noted for the grotesque, tortured, and sometimes crippled characters he portrayed, and his innovative makeup artistry in movies, such as, Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), and Phantom of the Opera (1925). Born in Colorado, he was the son of deaf parents, and this helped him become adept at pantomime. He began his performing career in 1902, and traveled with vaudeville and theater acts. Eventually, Chaney's intense acting and makeup talents earned him many film parts and attention. "Don't step on that spider," was a familiar public joke of that time, "it might be Lon Chaney!" Burt Lancaster said that Chaney's part in The Unknown (1927) was the most "emotionally compelling" movie performance he had ever seen; Joan Crawford (who co-starred in the film) credits Chaney as teaching her more about acting than anything in her long career.

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