Lon Chaney (above) born Leonidas Frank Chaney on April 1, 1883 in Colorado Springs, Colorado USA. He died August 26, 1930 in Hollywood California. Both of his parents were deaf-mutes and this is attributed as the starting place for Chaney's silent movie skills in acting and pantomime expression. Originally a dancer, singer and sometimes comedian, Chaney eventually centered on roles often requiring a great deal of makeup or apparatus to conceal missing legs (The Penalty, 1920), arms (The Unknown, 1927), an eye (Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1923) or an entire faced reshaped and stretched (Phantom of the Opera, 1925). In a less painful regard, Chaney used costumes to disguise himself as an old woman (The Unholy Three, 1925) and in the only sound film he made before his early death from lung cancer, five different voice characters in the remake for The Unholy Three (1930).

A perennial favorite among horror film fans, Chaney's career only featured a handful of such genre films. He was better known to contemporaries as a "star" leading-man who actually performed in his roles as a character actor, frequently failing to "get the girl" in the film story, but instead performing some form of sacrifice (blowing up fellow anarchists in Ace of Hearts, 1921, turning loose lions on himself and others in He Who Gets Slapped, 1924, abandoning the girl he loves so she can be with another in Laugh, Clown Laugh, 1928, and Tell It To the Marine's 1926).

Chaney submitted to few interviews and preferred anonymity when off screen. He worked closely with director Tod Browning on several films, those collaborations of particular interest to horror movie fans ever since (especially London After Midnight from 1927, the 'golden fleece' of lost movies. No known prints survive). Chaney encouraged his son Creighton Chaney to choose some other career than movies (this was disregarded, and 'Lon Chaney Jr' had a very long career in films also) After his death, Chaney "Sr" was remembered fondly by other actors who he had frequently helped or was friendly with when they were first starting out (Joan Crawford, Loretta Young, Noble Johnson). Regarding his stardom, Chaney once said "Between pictures, there is no Lon Chaney."