The life and career of vaudevillian and silent-screen horror star Lon Chaney, including his contentious relationship with his neurotic wife and his premature death.The life and career of vaudevillian and silent-screen horror star Lon Chaney, including his contentious relationship with his neurotic wife and his premature death.The life and career of vaudevillian and silent-screen horror star Lon Chaney, including his contentious relationship with his neurotic wife and his premature death.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 win & 1 nomination total
Robert Evans
- Irving Thalberg
- (as Robert J. Evans)
Philip Van Zandt
- George Loane Tucker
- (as Phil Van Zandt)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAs with most biographical films, the script is a combination of fact and screenwriters' fancy. To give but two examples, Lon Chaney Jr. was not born in a hospital, but at his parents' then-home in Oklahoma City, as was common at the time. Further, Cleva Creighton Chaney was well aware, before her marriage to Lon Chaney, that his parents were hearing-impaired, and had already met them on several occasions.
- GoofsLon Chaney did not die at home surrounded by loved ones, he died very suddenly in the hospital (around midnight) after suffering a hemorrhage.
- Quotes
Lon Chaney: The kind of fellows I play, pretty girls don't write to.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002)
- SoundtracksJingle Bells
(uncredited)
Written by James Pierpont (as James Lord Pierpont) (1857)
integrated into soundtrack when Chaney family reunites at Christmas
Featured review
Cagney plays Lon Chaney in this film about the great imitator's life. Chaney himself was a very private person, preferring the quiet of hearth and home to the wild Hollywood night life. Hollywood was where he worked, not a way of life. In this way both he and the man who plays him (James Cagney) have much in common.
Cagney and Chaney looked totally different, yet Cagney makes this role work. In Cagney's biography "Cagney on Cagney", he admits that the story takes certain liberties with Chaney's life as most biopics do, but there are many actual events in Chaney's life that are in the movie. Chaney was indeed the child of two deaf mute parents - he got his gift for pantomime in communicating with them. His first marriage was a rocky one, just as the film portrays. Whether the trouble started over his first wife believing that their child would be deaf and being horrified by the possibility as is portrayed in the film I don't know, but given early 20th century attitudes toward disability it is entirely possible.
The film whether accurate or not, was a loving tribute to Chaney that was instrumental in a revival of interest in his films. I consider this to be possibly Cagney's best performance in a mature role with maybe the exception of 1956's "These Wilder Years", which is seldom televised nor on VHS or DVD.
Cagney and Chaney looked totally different, yet Cagney makes this role work. In Cagney's biography "Cagney on Cagney", he admits that the story takes certain liberties with Chaney's life as most biopics do, but there are many actual events in Chaney's life that are in the movie. Chaney was indeed the child of two deaf mute parents - he got his gift for pantomime in communicating with them. His first marriage was a rocky one, just as the film portrays. Whether the trouble started over his first wife believing that their child would be deaf and being horrified by the possibility as is portrayed in the film I don't know, but given early 20th century attitudes toward disability it is entirely possible.
The film whether accurate or not, was a loving tribute to Chaney that was instrumental in a revival of interest in his films. I consider this to be possibly Cagney's best performance in a mature role with maybe the exception of 1956's "These Wilder Years", which is seldom televised nor on VHS or DVD.
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Der Mann mit den 1000 Gesichtern
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime2 hours 2 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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Top Gap
By what name was Man of a Thousand Faces (1957) officially released in India in English?
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