Only three days from Halloween and we celebrate a man behind a mask, of one of the most iconic monsters in cinema history, actor, Ben Chapman, who would have been 93 today.
Chapman was born in Oakland California on October 29th 1928. He would serve in the 1st Marine Division of the United States Marines and becoming a Real Estate Executive before being cast as the, Creature From the Black Lagoon.
Stories would circulate that Chapman won numerous honors as a Marine but unfortunately these would prove to be false, the origin of the stories is unknown, but he did serve his country with distinction and was awarded and honorable discharge after serving in the Korean War.
Chapman would be cast as the creature due to his large stature of 6'5", which was huge for his day in Hollywood, producers wanted a very imposing creature, and Chapman was, on the land anyway. Local Florida diver, Ricou Browning would be cast as the creature underwater. If you look at the picture above, you will see the chest plate of Chapmans suit, the center pieces were not there on Brownings much smaller suit, but you'd never notice the difference until you could see them side by side, of which NO photo exists.
The Creature from the Black Lagoon remains one of the most beloved of the Universal Monsters franchise and is arguably the most marketed of all the monsters, he even had his own slot machine in Las Vegas casinos.
The film was unique to the franchise due to its release in 3-D and also that it was one of the first ones released to television syndication.
Along with finding it on the DVD/BluRay sets, a behind the scenes feature called, Back to the Black Lagoon, can be found on Youtube and is well worth the watch.
Happy Birthday, Mr Ben Chapman, you are still loved and dearly missed.
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