Image Number

Photographer

Date

Rights

Collection

Geographic Term

Subject Term

Personal Subjects

Physical Description

General Note

"Creature from the Black Lagoon" (1954) was released by Universal Pictures, directed by Jack Arnold, and starring Julia Adams and Richard Carlson. Florida-native Ricou Browning played the creature (Gill Man) in water and Hollywood actor Ben Chapman played him on land. The water scenes were filmed at Wakulla Springs, while the sequel was filmed in Jacksonville, Marineland, and Silver Springs. Both were originally shown in 3-D.

Note Ricou Browning, as the creature, swimming in background at the left.

Biographical Note

Ricou Browning (1930-) was a Florida-based film maker. Originally a student at FSU and a life guard at Wakulla Spring when acquaintance Newt Perry hired him to show around Universal executives, then scouting locations for "Creature From the Black Lagoon." They eventually hired Browning to play Creature (Gill Man) for the underwater scenes in all three Creature films. He parlayed that experience into more acting, producing and directing, usually for Ivan Tors Studios. His credits include "Flipper", "Thunderball", "Never Say Never Again", and television's "Sea Hunt."