Ricou Browning star of “Creature from the Black Lagoon,” dies at age 93

• Ricou Browning is best remembered for playing Gill-Man in the 1954 movie Creature from the Black Lagoon.
• Browning worked on several other Hollywood movies in various roles.
• According to the source, Browning also competed for the American Air Force swim team.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ricou Browning, best remembered for playing Gill-Man in the 1954 movie Creature from the Black Lagoon, passed away earlier this week from natural causes. He was 93.

“Dad had a tremendous career in the film industry, delivering wonderful pleasure for past and future generations,” the actor’s daughter Kim Browning told THR, announcing his death.

Browning worked on several other Hollywood movies in various roles in addition to donning the Gill-Man suit for the underwater scenes in Black Lagoon and its 1955 and 1956 sequels.

In more than two dozen films, the actor performed stunts, including 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) and Don’t Give Up the Ship (1959), in which he doubled for Jerry Lewis.

_{In addition to acting, Browning also did some directing, serving as the director for some of cinema’s most enduring scenes. He was the man behind the harpoon battle sequence in the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball and the Jaws-inspired candy bar in the pool scene in the 1980 movie Caddyshack.}

_{In a 2013 interview with the Ocala StarBanner, Browning, who also co-created Flipper, remembered how the idea for the film and, later, the TV series came to be. He recalled traveling to South America with a friend and bringing freshwater dolphins from the Amazon River back to Florida.}

_{Browning stated, “We brought them back to Silver Springs. “Evidently, I adopted them and took care of them. When I got home one day and saw the kids watching Lassie on TV, it struck me: “Why not make a movie about a boy and a dolphin?”}

_{The MGM 1963 film was soon turned into a television series, with Browning helming in more than 30 of the episodes.}

_{According to a biography on IMDb, Browning was born on February 16, 1930, in Fort Pierce, Florida, and spent his formative years swimming.}

_{He worked as a performer at Weeki Wachee Springs, a Florida tourist attraction noted for its aquatic displays, after graduating from Florida State University, and was frequently shown in underwater newsreels, according to THR. According to the source, Browning also competed for the American Air Force swim team.}

_{When asked about his costume in an interview he gave to the Ocala StarBanner in 2013, Browning recalled that it “was uncomfortable at first,” adding, “When I first put it on, it was clunky and clumsy. I didn’t realize I had it on until I was well into the movie. I changed into the beast.}

_{The water shots were filmed in the winter, according to Browning, who provided more detail about the production in a later interview with the Halloween Daily News in 2019.}

_{“How would you like a shot of brandy, the crew asked me out of sympathy. I replied, “Okay.” “He recalled. “I also received a brandy shot from another member of the crew. They were soon battling a drunken beast.”}

_{According to THR, Browning is survived by four children: Ricou Browning Jr., Renee, Kelly, and Kim; ten grandchildren; and eleven great-grandchildren. His wife Fran passed away in 2020.}

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