Man of a Thousand Faces (
1957) is a
film detailing the life of
silent movie actor
Lon Chaney, in which the title role is played by
James Cagney.
Plot
In the early 1900s, actor Lon Chaney (
James Cagney) is working in Vaudeville with his wife Cleva (
Dorothy Malone). After Chaney quits the show he has been performing in, Cleva announces that she is pregnant. Lon is happy with the news, and tells Cleva that he has been hired by the famous comedy team Kolb and Dill for an upcoming show. Cleva pressures Lon to take her to visit his parents (whom she has never met) in his home town of
Colorado Springs. Lon is reluctant, because his parents are both deaf mutes, a fact Lon has never shared with Cleva.