It’s not easy being the second act. Americans celebrate people who emerge from obscurity and pave their own way. But having to follow a successful parent – and in the same field, no less – presents its own challenge, and that challenge was particularly acute for Lon Chaney, Jr. (born 109 years ago on February 10, 1906). His father, Lon Chaney, was one of the most iconic actors of the silent film era, who pioneered techniques in movie makeup and became “The Man of a Thousand Faces.” How could Junior top that? Have 2,000 faces?

But the younger Chaney seemed to embrace his legacy full-on. (He was born Creighton Chaney, and was originally billed as such on-screen before taking on his father’s name.) Where the first Lon Chaney had been among the earliest actors to put grotesque figures like the Phantom of the Opera and the Hunchback of Notre Dame in front of audiences, the second Lon Chaney helped create the monster craze that fueled Universal Studios during cinema’s Golden Age. He waited until after his father’s death to begin acting in 1931, and landed his iconic role in 1941’s “The Wolf Man.” He reprised that role several times, and also took on parts as Frankenstein’s Monster, the Mummy, and Count Alucard (Dracula’s son. Alucard…Dracula…see what they did there?), making him the only actor to portray all of Universal’s big four monsters in some way.

While the monster makeup made him famous, it also put him in a box that would be hard to escape. The monster craze of the ‘40s faded, but Chaney kept revisiting horror roles even as he transitioned to a career in television. (He was rumored to be drunk during a live airing of “Frankenstein,” during which he carefully avoiding breaking the on-set furniture, thinking it was a rehearsal and mumbling “I saved it for you.”) He got plenty of work outside the horror genre in difficult supporting roles, and acted on-stage, but it was the monster roles that proved his bread-and-butter and which always called him back. His last role was in 1971’s “Dracula vs. Frankenstein,” the coda on a four-decade acting career. He died in 1973 at age 67 from heart failure, after decades of heavy drinking and smoking…a sadly premature end which lowered the curtain on a father-son act whose legacy haunts moviemakers and film buffs to this day.

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