Lon Chaney Jr. | |
|---|---|
 Chaney Jr. in Indestructible Man (1956) | |
| Born | Creighton Tull Chaney February 10, 1906 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Territory, U.S. |
| Died | July 12, 1973 (aged 67) San Clemente, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1931–1971 |
| Spouses | Dorothy Hinckley
(m. 1928; div. 1936)Patsy Beck (m. 1937) |
| Children | 2 |
| Father | Lon Chaney |
| Website | lonchaney |
Creighton Tull Chaney (February 10, 1906 – July 12, 1973), 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 (Dracula spelled backward) 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.[1] 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.
Originally referred to in films as Creighton Chaney, he was later credited as "Lon Chaney, Jr." in 1935, and after Man Made Monster (1941), beginning as early as The Wolf Man later that same year, he was almost always billed under the name of his more famous father, the deceased cinema giant Lon Chaney, at the studio's insistence. Chaney had English, French, and Irish ancestry, and his career in movies and television spanned four decades, from 1931 to 1971.