Trivia of Lon Chaney Jr

 Trivia of Lon Chaney Jr (10 February 1906 - 12 July 1973)

*He was the son of Lon Chaney and Frances Cleveland.In a 1965 interview, Lon Chaney Jr revealed that he was a stillborn baby. "I was all black and not breathing when I was born," he shared. "My father ran out of the house with me and broke a hole in the ice in a nearby lake, and dunked me in time after time until he revived me".His parents' troubled marriage ended in divorce in 1913 following his mother's scandalous public suicide attempt in Los Angeles.

*Though his father told him he was too tall for a successful career in film, Chaney began his career act in films billed by his own name, Creighton Caney.His first credited role was in film Bird of Paradise (1932) starred Joel McCrea and Dolores del Rio.

*He wanted to reprise his father's role of Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and underwent a screen test for the 1939 version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), but the role went to Charles Laughton. Chaney did recreate this in an episode of the television series Route 66 (1960).

* He portrayed Lawrence Talbot The Wolf Man in five films: The Wolf Man (1941), Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), House of Frankenstein (1944), House of Dracula (1945), and Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). He also portrayed Kharis The Mummy in three films : The Mummy's Tomb (1942), The Mummy's Ghost (1944), and The Mummy's Curse (1944).

*His favorite role was that of Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men (1939). Play as Lennie is believed to have caused Chaney to become typecast as hulking but sympathetic monsters at Universal Studios.He later made 13 horror films one year for Universal.

*He appeared with Bela Lugosi in five films: The Wolf Man (1941), The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) and The Black Sleep (1956).

*Chaney was well liked by some co-workers – "sweet" is the adjective that most commonly emerges from those who acted with, and liked him – yet he was capable of intense dislikes. For instance, he and frequent co-star Evelyn Ankers did not get along at all because drunkard Chaney behaviour. He was also known to befriend younger actors and stand up for older ones whom he felt were belittled by the studios. One example was William Farnum, a major silent star who played a small role in The Mummy's Curse (1944).Chaney demanded that Farnum be given his own chair on the set and be treated with respect, or else he would walk off the picture.