A Bloody Good Time 11.05.09: The Man of a Thousand Faces

Posted by Joseph Lee on 11.05.2009

A man who could be anything he set his makeup to.

Logo courtesy of Benjamin J. Colón (Soul Exodus)

Welcome again to A Bloody Good Time.

This week I'm doing a tribute to Lon Chaney, but before I get to that, we have a lot of feedback to cover from the final part of last week's Top 20 Horror Franchises. Some people were not happy, as I expected when I made the list. Let's see what was said.

First of all, there was a lot of dissention over having Godzilla on the list at all, especially in the top four. I'm not going to explain myself here, because I feel as though what I wrote last week sums up why these films should be considered. Although I will say that monster movies are horror, especially Godzilla. At least, he started out that way.

Guest#3475 says: lame #1 dude, nothing is better than Freddy

If it wasn't for the Universal horror series, dude, there wouldn't be a Freddy.

M:-X says: That is, without a doubt, the BEST pick for #1 I could have hoped for. Not obvious either since most people will probably focus their attention on the end of the 20th century/beginning of the 21st. Also you didn't mention Abbot & Costello in the entry though-- that film was probably the first really great example of horror & comedy mixing together. There'd be no Shaun of the Dead or Zombieland or Evil Dead 2 without that movie.

I listed them in the "Recurring Stars" bit, but no I didn't write about them specifically. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is, however, one of the finest examples of how to effectively combine horror and comedy.

Monty understood what I was doing: You guys that are criticizing Joseph are morons. This was a countdown of the best horror FRANCHISES. Not the best horror movies ever. He did a separate list for that a while back. So you guys claiming that Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Street should be #1 on this list clearly dont know what you're talking about because although the original movie for both those franchises were all-time classics, the majority of their sequels sucked. Which is what would bring the overall FRANCHISE ranking down. And saying that Godzilla doesn't belong on the list is retarded. Godzilla DOES deserve to be on the list because he is probably the most iconic movie monster EVER! And horror comes in all shapes and forms. I don't know about you tough guys, but if a giant lizard suddenly popped up in my town and started wreaking havoc, I'd shit my pants. So saying that Godzilla isn't really horror because it's not a slasher flick or doesnt have a ton of blood is narrow-minded and ridiculous. Great list Joseph. Don't let some of these idiots make you think otherwise.

Yes, it was horror franchises. Halloween may be the greatest horror film ever made, but to say that the franchise, as a whole, should be any higher than I had it is saying that Halloween: Resurrection is a good movie. Don't question my logic, just obey.

NickNitr0 replied: Halloween goes over ANOES and F13. It started it. How its before stupid shit like Godzilla? i dont know. #2 was bashed the whole time and #1 80% of us dont watch, bc we dont like black and white corny movies which are funny not scary.

Okay, Halloween, the film did create the slasher sub-genre, but Halloween, the franchise became just a carbon copy of the genre that was created. Plus both Freddy and Jason are more popular, which I did take into account when making the list. Oh and Dracula's not scary? Frankenstein's monster throwing an innocent girl into a lake because he doesn't know any better isn't scary? Shame on you, sir, because you do not know what you are talking about. If you want to say that Halloween should rank higher because it "started it", then you should acknowledge that Universal Monsters pretty much created the genre that Halloween is a member of.

Now, let's move on to a man that established the early years of horror with his portrayals of various villains and monsters within the silent era of film. They didn't have dialogue then such as in plays or what we have now. So Chaney established himself as a man who could portray any character with his makeup and body language. He became "The Man of a Thousand Faces".



You knew that Lon Chaney would become someone awesome because his birth name is Leonidas. Yes, his full name is Leonidas Frank Chaney. The fact that he was named after the legendary Spartan king somehow makes him more badass than he already was. What, you don't consider an actor to have that quality? How about a man who is known for using makeup so much that his gimmick became how he can portray a different character with different makeup. He spent hours at a time applying the makeup, and sometimes it would be painful to pull off. He suffered for his art.

Chaney was born in Colorado in 1883. He was born to two deaf parents, which created the necessity to learn to rely on sign language and both body language and facial expressions to communicate. Obviously this would suit him very well in his later profession. He began acting in 1902 by getting into stage acting with plays. It was there that he met his first wife, Cleva Creighton. Soon after they would have their son, Creighton Chaney, who would later be known as Lon Chaney, Jr. Chaney Sr. would get into film acting in 1912 after his stage career was ruined through his traumatic divorce from Cleva.

The first few films that Chaney starred in were just as bit parts or supporting roles. Outside of a handful, most of the films that Chaney appeared in between 1912 and 1915 have been lost for some time. Back in the silent era many films were produced a year with some of the same people, so this is about over seventy films that were lost. Outside of the very small few that remain from the earlier time period, most of Chaney's films from 1916 on have survived.

Chaney mostly worked in dramas and westerns. He did work with director Tod Browning a few times with crime films. He would continue with this trend until 1922 where he starred in his first horror film. A Blind Bargain starred Chaney as both a mad scientist and his deformed servant. While the film was praised on it's release, it's considered lost after all prints were destroyed by MGM when they took over Goldwyn Studios in 1931.



He would return to the genre in 1923, playing Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. This is one of his more memorable roles due to the extensive makeup and prosthetics he would wear in the role. The film was also Universal's most successful silent film, grossing over three million dollars (a lot of money at the time). Hunchback was also the film that thrust Chaney into the spotlight as a star, where before he was just known as a successful character actor.

With the fantastic makeup and ability to pantomime his emotions, Chaney brought sympathy and pathos to the role of the monstrous Quasimodo. In addition to the makeup he used to transform himself, he wore a harness and prosthetic hump that weighed over fifty pounds. It was said he would twist his own body in order to feel Quasimodo's pain. The role paid off as he became famous the world over. In the era when film was brand new, Chaney's Quasimodo shocked audiences by what could be portrayed.



Chaney's next horror film would be The Monster in 1925, another mad scientist movie. The film used both aspects of horror and comedy, making it one of film's earliest, if not the earliest, horror-comedy. Chaney would work again with Tod Browning for the drama The Unholy Three that same year, before moving on to what many consider his most accomplished role of his career.



The Phantom of the Opera, released in 1925, is one of the best horror films ever made because of what it accomplished as a film. It was about a man, played by Chaney, who was hideously deformed and so he wore a mask. He later falls in love with an actress/singer in the Paris Opera House, and begins murdering and causing mayhem to force the people in charge to make her a star.

For the role, Chaney was given free reign to do whatever he wanted in regards of makeup. This was due to the success of his last role to use extensive work. Chaney attempted to make himself look more skeletal in nature, which is closer to the book than any other portrayal has been. He painted his nostrils black to make them appear wider, and his eye sockets black to appear hollow. Then came the painful part. He placed huge prosthetic teeth in his mouth and held the tip of his nose up against his face with wire. It was all worth it, because of the reaction it achieved from crowds. This moment, when the Phantom is revealed, is the pivotal climax of the movie and terrified audiences during the film's initial release.



The Phantom of the Opera became Chaney's most famous role, and the one he has been associated with long after his death. It essentially sums up who he was as an actor and what he did to convey the story and emotions. He put himself through pain to entertain audiences, and as a result knows worldwide infamy, eighty years after his heyday. The film itself is also well-known for it's technicolor scene of the masked ball, which was extremely rare in that time period.

Chaney would go on to star in two more horror films in the twilight of his unfortunately short career. The first of these was The Unknown, from Tod Browning. Chaney played a knife thrower named Alonzo the Armless, who isn't really armless and will kill those who try to expose his secret. Browning's film was said to be one of his most demented (although I think Freaks would end up topping that) and Cheney was praised for his performance.

The two worked together again in 1927 for London After Midnight. In this film Chaney played a fake vampire who killed people at night. His makeup revealed sharp, jagged teeth and sunken eyes, similar to what he used for The Phantom. For the eye effect in this film, he used wires to hold them in place, which he wore like monocles. The film was very successful, but it was unfortunately lost in a fire in 1965. It is one of the more famous lost films and one of the most sought after. The only way to see it these days is a copy composed of stills created in 2002, or the remake Mark of the Vampire with Bela Lugosi in Chaney's role.

Chaney died in 1929 from lung cancer, but his legacy lives on through his great film work and his own son's career. Chaney Jr would become iconic himself via portrayal of The Wolf Man. But this column is about Chaney Sr, and he is one of the best actors of his generation, probably all-time. The Man of a Thousand Faces was truly a talented individual. He was said to have worried about making the transition into sound pictures, but I think he would have pulled it off.



Next week I'm going to go into television again, which this column hasn't done in some time. I'm going to start a retrospective on The Twilight Zone! Stay tuned for that.