Louise Lovely and Lon Chaney: The Australian Connection

Lon Chaney is a true legend of the Silent Era, making an estimated 155 films over 17 years, of which 109 are lost, and of the 46 remaining films, some are incomplete or mere fragments of footage. The bulk, if not all, of Chaney’s pre-1920 films were released in Australia. Advertisements exist for early films such as Damon and Pythias, The Grip of Jealousy and The Gilded Spider . It was not his acting or skill with make-up that first brought him to the attention of Australian audiences. Rather, it was his association with the Australian actress Louise Lovely. Born in Sydney in 1895 [i] , Nellie Louise Alberti began acting and touring with dramatic companies at an early age under the name of Louise Carbasse [ii] . A precocious child, she later claimed at age 7 to have done the rounds of various businesses paying her mother’s accounts. She had played in almost every theatre in Australia, often alongside Nellie Stewart, before appearing in six films between 1911 and 1913. A prime a