Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Monster PSA: Lon Chaney Jr.

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This Monster PSA is a bit more serious than the others; since fans of the late, great Mr. Chaney know that he suffered from alcoholism; and Lon's inability to get a handle on led to the dimunition of his career, and eventually early death.

I remember seeing the 1972 cheapie Dracula Vs. Frankenstein, which featured an aged, bloated Lon in a few scenes as a mute hulking brute. The movie itself is glorious, Z-grade fun, but seeing someone who I loved as a child used this way made me sad--Bela Lugosi's scenes in Ed Wood movies looked like acting triumphs by comparison. Lon died shortly thereafter.

So I thought, out from under all the various make-ups Lon endured, this is the kind of advice he would dispense if he was sitting down with someone, one on one.


1 comment:

Wings1295 said...

Have you seen Lon in Spider-Baby? It is a weird flick, but it grows on you, and his performance is so earnest and caring that you feel better about the people he cares about.