Creighton Chaney, son of silent star Lon Chaney, tried...

Creighton Chaney, son of silent star Lon Chaney, tried diligently to live a life separate from his famous father. But in 1935, after several years of performing in Hollywood, a producer billed him as Lon Chaney, Jr., a change he never liked. He also didn’t appreciate being typecast as a monster once he began performing as The Wolf Man. 

Instead he preferred being known for performances like the one he gave as Lennie Small in “Of Mice and Men” (1939) which was nominated for Best Picture. But he was so versatile as a monster that Chaney holds the distinction of being the only actor to portray all four of Universal’s major horror characters: the Wolf Man, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Mummy, and Count Dracula. 

Pictured: Glenn Strange, left, and Chaney during production of “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” (1948).