Creighton Tull Chaney, known by his stage name Lon Chaney Jr., was an American actor known for playing Larry Talbot in the film The Wolf Man (1941) and its various crossovers, Count Alucard 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. 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.
William Broderick Crawford was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Willie Stark in the film All the King's Men (1949), which earned him an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Often cast in tough-guy or slob roles, he later achieved recognition for his starring role as Dan Mathews in the crime television series Highway Patrol (1955–1959).
Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney was an American actor and makeup artist. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and afflicted, characters and for his groundbreaking artistry with makeup. Chaney was known for his starring roles in such silent horror films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). His ability to transform himself using makeup techniques that he developed earned him the nickname "The Man of a Thousand Faces".
The Wolf Man is a 1941 American gothic horror film written by Curt Siodmak and produced and directed by George Waggner. The film stars Lon Chaney Jr. in the title role. Claude Rains, Warren William, Ralph Bellamy, Patric Knowles, Bela Lugosi, Evelyn Ankers, and Maria Ouspenskaya star in supporting roles. The title character has had a great deal of influence on Hollywood's depictions of the legend of the werewolf. The film is the second Universal Pictures werewolf film, preceded six years earlier by the less commercially successful Werewolf of London (1935). This film is part of the Universal Monsters movies and is of great cinematic acclaim for its production.
Jack Pierce was a Hollywood make-up artist best remembered for creating the iconic makeup worn by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein (1931), along with various other classic monster make-ups for Universal Studios.
Son of Dracula is a 1943 American horror film directed by Robert Siodmak with a screenplay based on an original story by his brother Curt Siodmak. The film stars Lon Chaney Jr., Louise Allbritton, Robert Paige, Evelyn Ankers, and Frank Craven. The film is set in the United States, where Count Alucard has just taken up residence. Katherine Caldwell (Allbritton), a student of the occult, becomes fascinated by Alucard and eventually marries him. Katherine begins to look and act strangely, leading her former romantic partner Frank Stanley (Paige) to suspect that something has happened to her. He gets help from Dr. Brewster (Craven) and psychologist Laszlo who come to the conclusion that Alucard is a vampire.
Not as a Stranger is a 1955 American film noir drama film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, starring Olivia de Havilland, Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra and Gloria Grahame. It is based on the 1954 novel of the same name by Morton Thompson, which topped that year's list of bestselling novels in the United States. The film's supporting cast features Broderick Crawford, Charles Bickford, Lon Chaney Jr., Lee Marvin, Harry Morgan and Mae Clarke.
Evelyn Felisa Ankers was a British-American actress who often played variations on the role of the cultured young leading lady in many American horror films during the 1940s, most notably The Wolf Man (1941) opposite Lon Chaney Jr., a frequent screen partner.
George Waggner was an American actor, director, producer and writer. He is best known for producing and directing the 1941 film The Wolf Man. For some unknown reason, Waggner sometimes configured his name in mostly lowercase letters but with his surname's two Gs capitalized ("waGGner"), including in the credits of some of the productions he directed.
The Frozen Ghost is a 1945 American noir-mystery film and the fourth installment in The Inner Sanctum Mysteries anthological film series, which was based on the popular radio series of the same name. The movie stars Lon Chaney Jr., Elena Verdugo, Evelyn Ankers, Tala Birell, and Martin Kosleck, and was directed by Harold Young.
Weird Woman is a 1944 noir-mystery horror film, and the second installment in The Inner Sanctum Mysteries anthological film series, which was based on the popular radio series of the same name. Directed by Reginald Le Borg and starring Lon Chaney Jr., Anne Gwynne, and Evelyn Ankers. The movie is one of several films based on the novel Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber. Co-star Evelyn Ankers had previously worked with Chaney in Ghost of Frankenstein, where Chaney played the Frankenstein monster, and The Wolf Man, where Chaney played the title role.
The Devil's Messenger is a 1961 anthology horror film combining 3 episodes of the 1959 B&W Swedish television series 13 Demon Street with some new scenes featuring Lon Chaney Jr., Karen Kadler and John Crawford. This "feature version" of the series is the closest the U.S. came to seeing the TV series.
13 Demon Street is a 1959 horror anthology TV series. Thirteen 25-minute episodes were produced in Sweden, filmed in English language. The cast was a mixture of American, British, and Swedish actors. The series never aired in American syndication. In 1962, three episodes of the series were edited together to form a theatrical feature called The Devil's Messenger with extra framing footage shot that reconfigured Chaney's character as Satan. Chaney filmed new wraparound segments to link the three episodes, which were "The Photograph", "The Girl in the Glacier" and "Condemned in Crystal".
House of the Wolf Man is an American independent monster horror film produced in 2009 by My Way Pictures. The film was inspired by the Universal Monsters movies, and was shot in the same style. The film's star Ron Chaney is the great-grandson of Lon Chaney and the grandson of Lon Chaney Jr., both of whom starred in numerous Universal Monsters films.
Big House, U.S.A. is a 1955 American crime film noir directed by Howard W. Koch and written by John C. Higgins. The film stars Broderick Crawford, Ralph Meeker, Reed Hadley, William Talman, Lon Chaney Jr., and Charles Bronson. The film was released on March 3, 1955, by United Artists.
Frontier Badmen is a 1943 American Western film directed by Ford Beebe and starring Robert Paige, Anne Gwynne and Diana Barrymore. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures. Several members of the cast are offspring of silent screen stars including Noah Beery Jr., Lon Chaney Jr. and Diana Barrymore.
Badlands of Dakota is a 1941 American western film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Robert Stack, Ann Rutherford, Richard Dix and Frances Farmer. Its plot follows a sheriff and his girlfriend who cross paths with Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.
Keeping Fit is a 1942 American short film made by Universal Pictures about the importance of keeping fit in war time. It is noticeable for its cast which includes Lon Chaney Jr., Robert Stack, Andy Devine, Dick Foran and Broderick Crawford, all of whom were under contract to Universal.
"Aces of Action" was the informal nickname given to the movie teaming of Richard Arlen and Andy Devine. They made a number of low budget action films together for Universal.
The Wolf Man is the title of several horror film series centered on Larry Talbot, a man who upon being bitten by a werewolf becomes one himself, and his subsequent attempts to cure himself of his murderous condition. The franchise was created by Curt Siodmak.
