Universal Monsters was a concept that began with the silent films starring which American stage actor?
Lon Chaney Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American stage and film actor, make-up artist, director and screenwriter. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and afflicted characters, and his groundbreaking artistry with makeup. Chaney was known for his starring roles in such silent horror films as "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1923) and "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925). His ability to transform himself using makeup techniques he developed earned him the nickname "The Man of a Thousand Faces".
John Salew John Rylett Salew (1902, Portsmouth, – 14 September 1961, Hammersmith, London) was an English stage film and TV actor. Salew made the transition from stage to films in 1939, and according to Allmovie, "the manpower shortage during WWII enabled the stout, balding Salew to play larger and more important roles than would have been his lot in other circumstances. He usually played suspicious-looking characters, often Germanic in origin." His screen roles included William Shakespeare in the comic fantasy "Time Flies" (1944), Grimstone in the Gothic melodrama "Uncle Silas" (1947), and the librarian in the supernatural thriller" Night of the Demon" (1957). John Salew was active into the TV era, playing the sort of character parts that John McGiver played in the U.S.