Child's Play's Chucky is Hollywood's best-known killer doll, but he was once a human serial killer named Charles Lee Ray, aka The Lakeshore Strangler. The history of the horror genre is full of evil dolls, with one of the earliest examples being the murderous "Talky Tina" found in the classic Twilight Zone episode "Living Doll." In more recent times, the demon-possessed Annabelle has starred in three successful Conjuring spinoff films, and the puppet called Billy has become one of the most iconic elements of the Saw franchise.
When it comes to killer dolls in horror though, there's one clear front runner: Chucky. Debuting in 1988's Child's Play, Chucky has returned to claim victims in six sequels, with the most recent being 2017's Cult of Chucky. Chucky, voiced by Brad Dourif, will also return next year in a Child's Play TV series set to air on Syfy. Somewhat controversially, Orion Pictures also debuted a new Chucky in 2019, voiced by Mark Hamill, in a Child's Play remake. Franchise creator Don Mancini objected, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.
While not quite looming as large as a Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers in the annals of horror, Chucky is most definitely an icon of the slasher genre, and a character even most people who aren't horror fans would be likely to recognize. However, Chucky himself wasn't always a doll, and his origin story serves to make the character even more fearsome.
Chucky Was Once a Serial Killer Named Charles Lee Ray
Before becoming the foul-mouthed, bloodthirsty doll horror fans know and love, Chucky was a serial killer prowling the Chicago area named Charles Lee Ray, dubbed "The Lakeshore Strangler" by police. As seen in the beginning of the first Child's Play, Charles was eventually caught up to and shot by Detective Mike Norris (Chris Sarandon). Not wanting to die, Charles ducked into a toy store, and used a voodoo artifact called The Heart of Damballa to transfer his soul into the nearest item, a Good Guy doll. The doll now inhabited by the soul of Charles Lee Ray was subsequently sold in a back alley to Karen Barclay, and the rest is horror history.
Curse of Chucky Reveals Even More About Charles Lee Ray
Following his transition into killing as a doll, we really don't learn much more about Charles Lee Ray's life as a human, at least outside of meeting his ex-girlfriend and future bride Tiffany in Bride of Chucky. In 2013's Curse of Chucky though, disturbing new details about Charles' life come out that lead right back to the original Child's Play. It seems that in addition to Charles's career as a serial killer, he had also grown dangerously obsessed with a mutual acquaintance named Sarah Pierce. Wanting to be with her, Charles killed her husband, then held her captive. Unbeknownst to him though, Sarah had revealed his true nature to the police, and in a fit of rage, Charles stabbed her in the stomach, causing her unborn child Nica to be born paraplegic. He then rushed away, only to be pursued by Mike Norris, and end up inside a doll. If anything Charles Lee Ray was somehow even worse than Chucky.