Lon Chaney

Lon Chaney was an American actor and make-up artist whose performances became central to silent cinema's treatment of horror and the grotesque. Born in Colorado Springs in 1883 to deaf parents, he learned to communicate through gesture and facial expression before developing a stage and film career.

He created elaborate physical transformations for roles including Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Erik in The Phantom of the Opera. His work also included crime dramas and melodramas such as The Penalty and He Who Gets Slapped. Shortly before his death in 1930, he made his only talking feature, a remake of The Unholy Three.