The 2000 documentary TV Movie Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces details the life and career of a pioneering actor and makeup artist. It is narrated by Kenneth Branagh and features interviews of many knowledgeable people as well as employing clips from Chaney’s many film appearances.

Lon Chaney was born, coincidentally enough, on April Fool’s Day, 1883. The child of deaf mute parents, he learned to communicate through mime, which greatly helped his career as an actor in silent films.

Among those who discuss Chaney’s life and work are his son Lon Chaney Jr., Orson Welles, Jackie Coogan, and publisher and collector Forrest J. Ackerman.

Chaney had a remarkable power to engage an audience emotionally with just an expression. Author Ray Bradbury talks of being taken to The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1923. Although he was only three years old, he never forgot the powerful effect of Chaney’s performance which moved him to tears.

This is a very good documentary which should hold the interest of anyone with intelligence and an attention span. Highly recommended.