Monster Kids have always heard that Chaney was set for the title role in DRACULA (1931), but died before he could make the film. But is this actually true?
I will always fondly regard Forrest J Ackerman, and his landmark creation, Famous Monsters magazine. It was a tremendous influence, and a cornerstone of my childhood. But, willingly or not, Ackerman circulated some very erroneous material through FM's pages, and one such example is that Chaney and Dracula were an inevitable match. The modern researchers you have cited have unearthed very different information. Blake's first book on Chaney claims that the actor was already terminally ill in April of 1930 when he made the talking Unholy Three and could barely get through the shooting.
But I guess there is a sort of romantic mythos for some to think that we were cheated from a Chaney Dracula simply by his untimely demise; honestly, the chaotic, complicated, crazy quilt development from novel to film (told in Hollywood Gothic) is more entertaining!
Yeah, FJA passed on what he’d heard. What he’d heard is what we heard, and a lot of it was myth-making. According to Suzanne Gargiulo in LON CHANEY’S SHADOW, Chaney barely held it together (with John Jeske’s help) while shooting THE UNHOLY THREE, so that jibes with Blake.
On one hand, if Lon Chaney had done Dracula, it would have been very interesting, possibly epic. On the other hand, it would have robbed us of the genius that was Bela Lugosi. Thanks for this story!
I will always fondly regard Forrest J Ackerman, and his landmark creation, Famous Monsters magazine. It was a tremendous influence, and a cornerstone of my childhood. But, willingly or not, Ackerman circulated some very erroneous material through FM's pages, and one such example is that Chaney and Dracula were an inevitable match. The modern researchers you have cited have unearthed very different information. Blake's first book on Chaney claims that the actor was already terminally ill in April of 1930 when he made the talking Unholy Three and could barely get through the shooting.
But I guess there is a sort of romantic mythos for some to think that we were cheated from a Chaney Dracula simply by his untimely demise; honestly, the chaotic, complicated, crazy quilt development from novel to film (told in Hollywood Gothic) is more entertaining!
Yeah, FJA passed on what he’d heard. What he’d heard is what we heard, and a lot of it was myth-making. According to Suzanne Gargiulo in LON CHANEY’S SHADOW, Chaney barely held it together (with John Jeske’s help) while shooting THE UNHOLY THREE, so that jibes with Blake.
On one hand, if Lon Chaney had done Dracula, it would have been very interesting, possibly epic. On the other hand, it would have robbed us of the genius that was Bela Lugosi. Thanks for this story!
It’s tough to envision Classic Horror without Bela. Thanks to DRACULA, we don’t have to.