Meet The Creeper...

[Crankie Avalon]

Rondo Hatton
April 22, 1894 - February 2, 1946



http://www.houseofpoe.bigtownfilmposter.com/id63.htm

snip

Acromegaly is a disorder that occurs when excessive growth hormone is secreted by a pituitary tumor. The bones of the feet, hands, nose, and jaw grow, as does the soft tissue of the face, the nose, lips, forehead, and tongue. This increase in size gives the victim a Frankenstein look especially in the forehead area.

snip

By all accounts a kind, sensitive man, Hatton was reportedly extremely unhappy at the crude, vulgar way Universal exploited his unfortunate disease, but, as he was under contract, he could do nothing about it. After his death, Universal--perhaps suffering a twinge of guilt--sold his last picture, "The Brute Man", to PRC. It was released as a PRC picture--Universal's name appears nowhere on it.

Rondo Hatton's legacy has endured far longer than even the best of his films. His likeness was the basis for the low-brimmed and brutish villain in "The Rocketeer (1989)." And in recent years, his memory survives in the fan-based Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards, awarded each year for the best in horror research, appreciation and film restoration. Winners get a statuette based on the mammoth bust of Hatton as the Creeper, seen in Universal's "House of Horrors (1946)."

http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0369061/bio