The common belief is that it was Forry Ackerman's playing up of his roles in PHANTOM and HUNCHBACK in FMOF in the late 50's that is the reason Lon Chaney sr. is primarily considered a horror star, even though he actually played very few such roles.
Well, I certainly don't doubt that Forry's ballyhoo is the main reason Chaney is remembered as a horror actor, the fact remains that the general public DID associate him mostly with horror back in the day, as this little musical number from 1929 shows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFNOFOWCSk0
My ears pooled, and I may even have sung a long a little.
I'm not saying Lon was, and/or should only be remembered as a horror star(I actually consider his roles in PHANTOM & HUNCHBACK to be among his weakest performances, although I still consider the 1925 version to be the definitive one), but clearly it wasn't just Forry who considered him as such, and whoever wrote that song obviously was a fan, as he references a lot of non-horror Chaney films.
For the record though, the genre definitions weren't as clearly defined back then, so most people thought Grotesque makeups + Villainous roles= Horror, and grotesque makeups and villainous roles were something Chaney definitely specialized in, if not always at the same time.
Well, I certainly don't doubt that Forry's ballyhoo is the main reason Chaney is remembered as a horror actor, the fact remains that the general public DID associate him mostly with horror back in the day, as this little musical number from 1929 shows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFNOFOWCSk0
My ears pooled, and I may even have sung a long a little.
I'm not saying Lon was, and/or should only be remembered as a horror star(I actually consider his roles in PHANTOM & HUNCHBACK to be among his weakest performances, although I still consider the 1925 version to be the definitive one), but clearly it wasn't just Forry who considered him as such, and whoever wrote that song obviously was a fan, as he references a lot of non-horror Chaney films.
For the record though, the genre definitions weren't as clearly defined back then, so most people thought Grotesque makeups + Villainous roles= Horror, and grotesque makeups and villainous roles were something Chaney definitely specialized in, if not always at the same time.
