Here's how Ricou Browning became the Creature from the Black Lagoon
The chances were one in a Gill-ion!
Some castings just seem fated. Boris Karloff? The guy already sort of looks like a monster. Not in a bad way, but in a visually compelling, ''we can't take our eyes off of him'' kind of way. He's a fascinating-looking guy. Similarly, though many have tried, has anyone ever been as perfectly cast in a Wolf Man role as was Lon Chaney, Jr.? The key is Chaney Jr.'s humanity, a trait only his eyes could properly convey. Then, we empathize with Larry Talbot when he turns all feral.
But what happens when a creature is hidden behind a mask? Or, in this case, a head-to-toe scaly bodysuit? How did Ricou Browning, who played the title Creature from the Black Lagoon, secure the underwater role?
Luckily, for readers and fans like us, Browning laid it all out to dry in a 2019 interview with Matt Artz of Halloween Daily News. Artz asked the legendary stunt performer/actor whether he'd been working underwater before donning the iconic Creature features!
"Back in those days, there was a company called Grantland Rice, and they used to make short subjects to show in theaters after the movie was shown. I was involved in many of those, like diving from a tower into the water and swimming underwater. We had a bunch of kids in a Model T Ford having an underwater picnic, and all kinds of crazy stuff. It was fun doing it."
After a brief stint traveling as part of the United States Air Force Swim Team, Browning wasn't up to much. So, when a chance meeting with some folks from California fell into his lap, he had a clear schedule. A friend was meant to show these Hollywood types around Tallahassee, but had a conflict, so Browning took over. As it turns out, one of the bunch was a cameraman.
"The cameraman turned out to be Scotty Welbourne. He asked me if I’d swim in front of the camera to show some differences between human beings and fish, logs, and rafts. I said, ‘Sure’. So I did."
Browning's on-camera swimming was enough to convince the concerned party that he was the man for a special new job, one that Browning wasn't even aware he'd auditioned for. A few weeks later, a phone call was placed, and Browning was tracked down and offered a role from the movie's director-to-be, Jack Arnold.
"He said, ‘We’re doing an underwater movie about a monster. How would you like to be the monster?’ And I said, ‘Sure.'"
The rest was aquatic horror history, as Ricou Browning joined the hallowed annals as one of the greatest movie monsters of all time!
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