Lon Chaney did his own make-up in his title role as the Phantom of the Opera in the 1925 film. The film is based on Gaston Leroux’s novel about a disfigured man who used mayhem and murder  to force theatre management to make a star of the woman he loves. The results of Chaney’s make-up was kept secret until the film debuted.  He was given the privilege following success of his approach to make-up for his role of Quasimodo in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” two years previous.