FX Masters: Lon Chaney - The Man of a Thousand Faces

Hello everyone!

I must confess that when I started in the world of makeup, the first thing I did was study FX, because it is what attracts me the most about this art and what I want to work in; that's why I want to share with you some of the roots of this kind of makeup, and what better than knowing the artists that boosted this art.

Today we begin with one of the first masters of FX, the pioneer Lon Chaney, known as the man of a thousand faces.

Lon Chaney - The Man of a Thousand Faces

Born in Colorado (USA) in 1883, Lon Chaney was a star during the silent film era; because he not only did masterful performances but he characterized himself for his performances.

Chaney was known to use a perfect pantomime to express himself, this ability came from home because his parents were deaf and that was one of the ways in which Lon communicated with them; precisely this ability helped him to stardom in the film "The Miracle Man", although he had already performed in various roles before.

Lon and his relationship with makeup

With each new role, Chaney used his makeup skills to physically transform himself and make his characters unique; these are some examples of what he did to create a character through FX makeup:

In the movie "The Penalty" he used a special harness to tie his legs and walk on his knees in order to act as a double amputee.

In "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", to become Quasimodo, Chaney wore a prosthesis that weighed over 23 kilos to simulate a hump.

His character in "The Phantom of the Opera" involved the use of various techniques somewhat uncomfortable to deform his face.

These are just some of the films in which he used his makeup skills to create his characters, taking into account that he appeared in over 150 films. His gift to transform into a variety of characters made him the subject of a popular joke at the time: "Don’t step on that spider, it might be Lon Chaney".

These are photos of some of his transformations:

And here's an oldie from when I turned into the "Phantom of the Opera" with the technique of paper, cotton and latex ... yes, that's me under all that makeup with my partner Alina (she did the makeup).

Chaney once said that “the success of the makeup relied more on the placements of highlights and shadows, some not in the most obvious areas of the face”. And that premise is the actual base of any kind of makeup.

Chaney died in 1930 in the city of Los Angeles due to cancer.

Today, FX makeup artists from all around the world thank Lon Chaney and his vision about makeup, because his techniques (advanced for his time) encouraged other artists to improve the FX makeup and develop tricks and procedures that are used even today for this kind of makeup.

Thanks for coming, you are welcome to like and share with your friends.

Until the next post!