Proving that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, Lon Chaney, Jr., thrilled and chilled moviegoers with his portrayals of famous movie monsters, but never achieved his father's status in the film industry. He always harbored a desire to emulate his dad, and finally entered films in 1932, starring in a lackluster serial titled The Last Frontier and also playing bits and second leads, billed as Creighton Chaney. He became "Lon Jr." in 1936, hoping the name change would boost his career.

Fairly trim and handsome in his youth, Chaney gained weight rap idly in the late 1930s; his bulky physique and fleshy face disqualified him from consideration for romantic leads. As a 20th Century-Fox contractee, he had walk-ons and small roles in Charlie Chan on Broadway (1937), Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), and Jesse James (1939), to name a few. On the strength of his powerful performance as the half-witted Lenny in Of Mice and Men (1939, an unusual A-movie assignment for the actor), however, Universal signed Chaney with the intention of making him a horror-movie star.

He achieved special billing as tortured lycanthrope Larry Talbot in The Wolf Man (1941), reprising the role in several subsequent films (including 1948's Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein). Chaney also starred in The Ghost of Frankenstein, The Mummy's Tomb (both 1942), Son of Dracula (1943), The Mummy's Ghost (1944), and The Mummy's Curse (1945), and in Universal's "Inner Sanctum" series of the mid 1940s. When the studio's horror-film cycle died out, so did his starring career; by decade's end he was playing character roles. His last worthwhile part was as the retired sheriff in High Noon (1952). From the late 1950s on, beset with personal problems and in failing health, he accepted parts in a succession of cheap, shoddy films, ending his career in Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971).