Editing Lon Chaney Jr. (section)

===As Creighton Chaney===
[[File:Gigi Parrish and Lon Chaney Jr., in Girl o' My Dreams (1934).jpg|right|thumb|[[Gigi Parrish]] and Chaney in ''[[Girl o' My Dreams]]'' (1934)]]
It was only after his father's death that Chaney began to act in films, billed under his own name. He began with an uncredited [[bit part]] in the serial ''[[The Galloping Ghost (serial)|The Galloping Ghost]]'' (1931) and signed a contract with [[RKO]] where he was given small roles in a number of films, including ''[[Girl Crazy (1932 film)|Girl Crazy]]'' (1932), ''[[Bird of Paradise (1932 film)|Bird of Paradise]]'' (1932), and ''[[The Most Dangerous Game (film)|The Most Dangerous Game]]'' (1932) (from which Chaney's few scenes were edited out before the film was released).<ref name="Smith, Don G. 1996 Pg. 201">Smith, Don G. (1996). "Lon Chaney Jr.". McFarland & Co. Inc. Pg. 201. ISBN 0-7864-0120-6.</ref>

RKO gave him the starring role in a serial, ''[[The Last Frontier (serial)|The Last Frontier]]'' (1932). He got bigger film roles in ''[[Lucky Devils (1933 film)|Lucky Devils]]'' (1933), ''[[Son of the Border]]'' (1933), ''[[Scarlet River]]'' (1933), and ''[[The Life of Vergie Winters]]'' (1934). Over at [[Mascot Pictures]] he supported [[John Wayne]] in a serial, ''[[The Three Musketeers (1933 serial)|The Three Musketeers]]'' (1933), which was later re-edited into a film entitled ''Desert Command'' (1946).

"I did every possible bit in pictures" said Chaney later. "Had to do stuntwork to live. I bulldogged steers, fell off and got knocked off cliffs, rode horses off precipices into rivers, drove [[Covered wagon#Prairie schooner|prairie schooners]] up and down hills."<ref>{{Cite news|title=Filler of Father's Footwear |author=Smith, Frederick James|date=July 28, 1940|work=Los Angeles Times|page=J6}}</ref>

He had the lead in the independent film ''[[Sixteen Fathoms Deep]]'' (1934), and a memorable part in which his character sings in ''[[Girl o' My Dreams]]'' (1934) at [[Monogram Pictures|Monogram]]. The last film he made as Creighton Chaney was ''[[The Marriage Bargain]]'' (1935) for Screencraft Productions. After this point he was billed as Lon Chaney, Jr. until 1942, when he was usually billed, at the insistence of [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]], with his iconic father's name, although the "Jr." was usually added by others to distinguish the two.