February 10: Lon Chaney Jr.

Lon Chaney Jr was born on this date in 1906.

1. His real name was Creighton Tull Chaney. He appeared in films under his real name until 1935, when he began to be billed as "Lon Chaney Jr."
2. He was born in Oklahoma City. His father was Lon Chaney, a silent film star and his mother was Frances Cleveland Creighton Chaney, a singing stage performer.
3. His father strongly discouraged Chaney from entering show-business and insisted that he got a proper job. So Chaney Jr went to business college and got a job with an appliance corporation and later a plumbing company. His first wife was Dorothy Hinckley, the daughter of his employer.
4. His parents divorced in 1913 and Creighton was passed between several homes and boarding schools until his father married again. Creighton was led to believe his mother had died when he was a child, and only found out when his father died of throat cancer at the age of 47 that his mother was still alive.
5. It was only after his father's death that Chaney started acting in films, beginning with an uncredited bit part in the 1932 film Girl Crazy. His breakthrough role was in the 1939 feature film version of Of Mice and Men, in which he played Lennie Small.
6. He was best known for playing monsters such as Frankenstein, but his favourite role was Lawrence Talbot, the Wolf Man. Of this character, Chaney said, “He never wanted to hurt anyone. During his period of sanity, in between full moons, he begged to be confined, chained, even killed to avoid the horrible consequences of his curse. He was a classic product of misunderstanding."
7. Most of Lon Chaney Jr's co-workers regarded him as "sweet". He befriended other actors and would stand up for anyone he thought the studio was giving a raw deal to. Once, he threatened to walk out of a film unless an elderly actor with a bit part was given a seat on set and treated with respect.
8. He didn't get on with everybody, though. Despite chemistry on screen, he didn't get on with Evelyn Ankers at all. Chaney was annoyed when Ankers was given his dressing room, and played tricks on her to get even. She was not amused. He once nearly strangled actor Frank Reicher and broke a vase over director Robert Siodmak's head.
9. Towards the end of his life, he battled throat cancer and Heart disease. In his final horror film, he played Dr. Frankenstein's mute henchman; in his final film, The Female Bunch, he had a few lines but his voice had become almost unrecognisable. He gave up acting after that, due to illness, and started writing a book about his family, A Century of Chaneys, which was never published, although his grandson, Ron Chaney, is said to be working on it.
10. Lon Chaney Jr died of heart failure in 1973, and having willed that his body be donated for medical research.

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