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.
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".
Spider Baby: or, the Maddest Story Ever Told is a 1967 American comedy horror film, written and directed by Jack Hill. It stars Lon Chaney Jr. as Bruno, the chauffeur and caretaker of three orphaned siblings who suffer from "Merrye Syndrome", a genetic condition starting in early puberty that causes them to regress mentally, socially and physically. Jill Banner, Carol Ohmart, Quinn Redeker, Beverly Washburn, Sid Haig, Mary Mitchel, Karl Schanzer and Mantan Moreland also star.
The Three Musketeers is a 1933 American pre-Code film serial directed by Armand Schaeffer and Colbert Clark, and produced by Nat Levine for Mascot Pictures. The film serial was very loosely based on Alexandre Dumas' 1844 novel The Three Musketeers, with the musketeers changed into three soldiers in the French Foreign Legion, and d'Artagnan being reconfigured as Lt. Tom Wayne, a pilot in the United States military.
The Haunted Palace is a 1963 gothic fantasy horror film released by American International Pictures, starring Vincent Price, Lon Chaney Jr. and Debra Paget, in a story about a village held in the grip of a dead necromancer. Directed by Roger Corman, it is one of his series of eight films based largely on the works of American author Edgar Allan Poe.
Dracula vs. Frankenstein, released in the UK as Blood of Frankenstein, is a 1971 American science fiction horror film directed and co-produced by Al Adamson. The film stars J. Carrol Naish as Dr. Durea, a descendant of Dr. Frankenstein who is working on a blood serum with his assistant Groton. The serum soon becomes sought after by Count Dracula, who hopes that it will grant him the ability to be exposed to sunlight without harm. Other members of the film's cast include Anthony Eisley, Regina Carrol, Angelo Rossitto and Russ Tamblyn.
Secret Agent X-9 (1937) is a Universal film serial based on the comic strip Secret Agent X-9 by Dashiell Hammett and Alex Raymond.
Manfish is a 1956 American adventure film, released by United Artists in 1956 and originally filmed in DeLuxe Color. Filmed in Jamaica, it was released in Great Britain as Calypso. It was based on the 1843 stories "The Gold-Bug" and "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe. Actor John Bromfield starred as Captain Brannigan and Lon Chaney Jr. played the role of Swede. The leading female star was Tessa Prendergast, who played Alita. Tessa later became a fashion designer and designed the white bikini of Ursula Andress for Dr. No. The film also featured the motion picture debut of Barbara Nichols.
The Cyclops is a 1957 American science fiction horror film written, produced and directed by Bert I. Gordon, starring James Craig, Lon Chaney Jr. and Gloria Talbott.
The Trap is a 1922 American silent Western film directed by Robert Thornby and starring Lon Chaney and Alan Hale. It was released by Universal Pictures. The film was released in the United Kingdom under the title Heart of a Wolf. One working title for the film was Wolfbreed. The film was re-released in the U.S. in 1926.
Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl is a 1954 American adventure film directed by Lew Landers and starring Anthony Dexter, Eva Gabor, and Alan Hale Jr. It was distributed by United Artists. A woman who disguises herself as a slave girl in order to try to gain information from Captain Kidd about his hidden treasure.
Treasure Island is a 1920 silent film adaptation of the 1883 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, directed by Maurice Tourneur, and released by Paramount Pictures. Lon Chaney played two different pirate roles in this production, "Blind Pew" and "Merry", and stills exist showing him in both makeups. Charles Ogle, who had played Frankenstein's Monster in the first filmed version of Frankenstein a decade earlier at Edison Studios, portrayed Long John Silver. Wallace Beery was supposed to play Israel Hands, but that role went to Joseph Singleton instead. The film was chosen as one of the Top Forty Pictures of the Year by the National Board of Review.
The Boy from Oklahoma is a 1954 American western film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Will Rogers Jr., Nancy Olson and Anthony Caruso. It was produced and distributed by the major studio Warner Bros.
Battles of Chief Pontiac is a 1952 American quasi-historical film directed by Felix E. Feist. The drama features Lex Barker, Helen Westcott and Lon Chaney Jr.
Flame of Araby is a 1951 American Technicolor adventure film directed by Charles Lamont starring Maureen O'Hara and Jeff Chandler. British film star Maxwell Reed made his American film debut in the picture. Locations were shot at three famous film locations: Vasquez Rocks, Bronson Canyon, and the Alabama Hills in Lone Pine, California.
Raiders of the Seven Seas is a 1953 American swashbuckler film directed by Sidney Salkow and starring John Payne and Donna Reed. The supporting cast features Gerald Mohr, Lon Chaney Jr. and Anthony Caruso.
Passion is a 1954 American Western film directed by Allan Dwan and written by Howard Estabrook, Beatrice A. Dresher and Joseph Lejtes. The film stars Cornel Wilde, Yvonne De Carlo, Raymond Burr, Lon Chaney Jr., Rodolfo Acosta and John Qualen. The film was released on October 6, 1954, by RKO Pictures.
Jivaro is a 1954 American 3-D adventure film directed by Edward Ludwig and starring Fernando Lamas, Rhonda Fleming and Brian Keith. Publicity material for the film translates Jivaro as "headhunters of the Amazon". Originally filmed in 3-D, due to a decline in interest Jivaro was not presented in that format in its original 1954 theatrical release. It finally had its 3-D debut on September 17, 2006 at "The World 3-D Expo" in Hollywood.
Black Spurs is a 1965 American Western film directed by R.G. Springsteen and written by Steve Fisher. The film stars: Rory Calhoun, Linda Darnell, Terry Moore, Scott Brady, Lon Chaney Jr., James Best, Richard Arlen, Bruce Cabot and scenes with James Brown and DeForest Kelley. The film was released on June 25, 1965, by Paramount Pictures.
Martha Roth was an Italian-born Mexican film actress. She became a star during the Golden age of Mexican cinema.
