Although the former stage manager turned actor was always reluctant to reveal just how he achieved his terrifying appearance, he firmly denied wearing any kind of mask: “It was the use of paints in the right shades and the right places – not the obvious parts of the face – which gave the complete illusion of horror,” Chaney said. The moment when Chaney snatched away the mask from his famous Death’s Head also provided one of the great moments of screen history, (reportedly causing many people among the early audiences to faint!) as well as setting a standard for all who have since played the role. With that film, Chaney not only made himself an international star but placed the story of The Phantom of the Opera firmly alongside those other great horror classics, Dracula and Frankenstein. Indeed, it is arguable that if Chaney, the Man of a Thousand Faces, had not starred in that hugely influential 1925 silent movie, Gaston Leroux’s story might well have remained in obscurity – as the original book most certainly has done for many years – instead of inspiring a whole series of screen and stage adaptations during the past half century. It is not just the figure of the mysterious music lover that haunts the story of The Phantom of the Opera but also that of the remarkable American film star, Lon Chaney Snr., for, more than anyone else, he created the image most readily associated in the public mind with the tale – that of the disfigured man skulking through the labyrinths of l’Opéra masterminding the career of his beautiful protégée.
Prior to the 2004 movie version of The Phantom of the Opera, directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum, the Phantom has undergone several screen adaptions.
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