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Creighton
Tull Chaney was
the son and only
child of Lon Chaney,
and the blessing
and the curse of
his life was to
follow in his fathers
footsteps.
As a young man,
he learned make
up from his father,
but stayed out of
the spotlight of
show business, supporting
himself with ordinary
jobs..
His first movie
roles came after
his father's death,
at which time he
became known by
the professional
name of Lon Chaney
Jr, an idea first
proposed by studio
publicists.
Chaney performed
his most honored
role early in his
career as Lenny
in a film of the
Steinbeck novel
'Of Mice and Men.'
Soon after, his
casting as the cursed
Laurence Talbot
in Universal Pictures'
The Wolf Man made
him a horror film
legend and paved
the way for appearances
in later films as
Frankenstein's monster,
as the Mummy and
as Dracula.
Lon Chaney Jr also
appeared in many
movie and television
westerns of the
time . Sadly, an
alcohol addiction
led to the waning
of his success as
an actor in later
years. He died in
1973 from the same
disease that took
his father.
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