Nifty vintage 5x7-inch black and white publicity portrait for the Inner Sanctum movie series of the 1940s, boldly signed and inscribed in think blue ballpoint pen around 1949, when that writing implement was first in popular use. In fine condition, with a minor crinkle to the lower right-hand corner and a small crease to the area between his nose and upper lip, very faintly breaking the surface of the image. Not bad. Carrying on his father's legacy, Lon Chaney, Jr. was a bona fide icon of the horror, science-fiction and fantasy genres, channeling his personal battle with chronic alcoholism into the role of the tormented lycanthrope Larry Talbot in The Wolf Man (1941). He reprised the role in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), House of Frankenstein (1944), House Of Dracula (1945), and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), and was also memorable as Captain Hakur in Undersea Kingdom (1936); the Monster in The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942); Kharis in The Mummy’s Tomb (1942), The Mummy’s Ghost (1944) and The Mummy’s Curse (1944); the Count in Son of Dracula (1943); Dr. Steel in Calling Dr. Death (1943); Professor Reed in Weird Woman (1944); Bear in Ghost Catchers (1944); the blind artist in Dead Man’s Eyes (1944); Alex Gregor in The Frozen Ghost (1944); Jeffrey Carter in Strange Confession (1945); Wayne Fletcher in Pillow of Death (1946); The invulnerable Butcher in Indestructible Man (1956); Dr. Munroe in The Black Sheep (1956); Martin Melville in The Cyclops (1957); Manon in The Alligator People (1959); the werewolf in La Case del Terror (1960); Satan in The Devil’s Messenger (1961); Simon Orne in The Haunted Palace (1963); the mummified wolf man in Face of the Screaming Werewolf (1963); Morgan Whitlock in Witchcraft (1964); Belial Desard in House of the Black Death (1965); Dr. Mendell in Dr. Terror’s Gallery of Horrors (1967); Bruno in Spider Baby (1968); and Groton in Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971).

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