9 Transformative Facts About Lon Chaney Sr.

(via Mental Floss) The silent film era, much like Hollywood today, banked on its heartthrobs. Figures like Douglas Fairbanks, John Barrymore, and Rudolph Valentino exuded charisma and romance and drew audiences to theaters. Lurking among these leading men, however, was Lon Chaney Sr.—an equally big star who reached deeper, grasping at the stuff of nightmares through his craft while at the same time seeking to evoke his audience’s sympathies. Perhaps best known to film buffs today for his turns as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925), Chaney took on a kaleidoscope of weird roles and helped give rise to modern horror films in a number of ways.