Ricou Browning, the amphibious stuntman and actor who starred as the Gill-man in Universal’s Creature from the Black Lagoon movies, has died. Browning was 93.
Browning, as the so-called Gill-man, was the last surviving actor to portray a Universal classic monster, which included Count Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, Im-ho-tep the Mummy, the Wolf Man, and the Invisible Man from Universal Studios’ classic era of monster movies from the 1930-1950s.
His ability as a swimmer and skills in the water, as well as a bit of luck, are what got him his most famous job. Browning was performing and producing water shows at Wakulla Springs in his native Florida when a film crew came scouting for locations. He showed them around, then got in the water to help the camera crew get perspective on objects there. About a week later, they offered Browning the role of playing the Gill-man in underwater scenes. On land, the creature was usually played by Ben Chapman.
The Gill-man suit held no secret oxygen tank. During filming of Creature from the Black Lagoon and its two sequels, Revenge of the Creature and The Creature Walks Among Us, Browning would sometimes have to hold his breath up to four minutes. But the dangerous work paid off.
From there, Browning became a stunt coordinator, second unit director, writer, producer and director. a few years later, he co-wrote and produced the original movie version of Flipper, about a highly intelligent bottlenose dolphin. The movie’s success led to Browning also writing and directing episodes of the Flipper TV series in the 1960s.
In 1973, Browning would direct and co-wrote a similar film about a sea lion called Salty, and follow it with an action exploitation movie Mr. No Legs, that would become a cult film.
He continued to work over the decades on a number of high-profile films, usually as stunt coordinator or second unit director for underwater sequences, including Thunderball, Never Say Never Again, Caddyshack, Around the World Under the Sea and TV shows like Sea Hunt.
Browning had four children, including Ricou Browning Jr., who is also an actor and stuntman, as well as 10 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. He died at his home in Southwest Ranches, Fla. on Feb. 27.
He was a member of both the Florida Artists Hall of Fame as well as the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards’ Monster Kid Hall of Fame.
