His final film, The Unholy Three, was released several weeks before his death. The role of Dracula went to the relatively unknown Bela Lugosi, who became a star. In future years Chaney's son Creighton (who changed his name to Lon Chaney, Jr.) also became an actor, appearing in almost 150 films. He often played monsters in horror films, including the Wolf Man, Frankenstein's Monster, the Mummy, and Dracula. Many of Chaney's best film performances no longer can be seen. The nitrate film used in the early days of filmmaking deteriorated, and only about 25 hours of Chaney on film are known to exist, out of his 157 film appearances. Many of his roles are only captured now in publicity photographs and posters. Chaney's life story was told in the 1957 film, Man of a Thousand Faces, starring James Cagney. .