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Ricou Browning, who terrified viewers as the underwater monster Gill-man in the 1954 classic Creature from the Black Lagoon, has died at the age of 93.
The actor and stuntman, who went on to produce the dolphin tale Flipper for both the big and small screens, died peacefully Sunday at his home in Southwest Ranches in Florida, his family said.
Following the news of her passing, the horror film legend’s daughter told the Hollywood Reporter: “She had a fabulous career in the film industry, providing wonderful entertainment for generations past and future.”
Browning was considered the last surviving actor to play one of the original Universal Classic Monsters, a series of iconic horror films made between the 1930s and 1950s.
Its menacing Gill-man is remembered alongside King Kong and Godzilla as one of the scariest movie monsters of all time.
Browning died of natural causes at his home in Southwest Ranches in Florida on Monday.
Ricou Browning terrified viewers as the underwater monster Gill-man in the 1954 classic Creature from the Black Lagoon
After the huge success of the original 1954 black-and-white Creature from the Black Lagoon, Browning returned as Gill-man for two sequels. Pictured: Ricou Browning with Wende Wagner as Ella Bailey
In a 2013 interview, Browning said that he played “every bad guy” throughout his career.
After the huge success of the original 1954 black-and-white Creature from the Black Lagoon, Browning returned as Gill-man for two sequels ‘Revenge of the Creature’ (1955) and ‘The Creature Walks Among Us’ (1956).
He described donning the iconic costume to film the amazing scenes. “It was cumbersome at first,” Browning told the Ocala StarBanner. ‘When I first put it on, I found it strange and clumsy. But, once I got into the movie, I forgot I had it on. I became the creature.
Although Browning will be remembered for his dazzling movie career in which he scared moviegoers, his daughter said he was a kind and affable family man.
“Every time I had an idea for a movie, I would bring the animals home,” said his daughter Renee Le Feuvre in an interview with the Ocala StarBanner.
‘We had a sea lion that sat at the dinner table. My dad wrote a movie about a sea lion called ‘Salty.’ We had otters, a baby black bear, and a female peacock that would sit on our shoulder and drink iced tea from our glass. All the kids in the neighborhood wanted to come to our house, because it was like a zoo.’
Browning was born on February 16, 1930 in Fort Pierce in Florida. He got into the water early like many in the Sunshine State, which would set him up for his semi-aquatic stunt career for years to come.
He then went on to study at Florida State University, before serving in the Air Force.
Creature from the Black Lagoon is a 1954 black-and-white monster horror film.
‘The Creature Walks Among Us’ was the last installment in the Creature from the Black Lagoon series of horror films, released in 1956.
Browning’s menacing Gill-man is remembered with the same breath as iconic monster characters like King Kong and Godzilla.
Ricou Browning in ‘The Creature from the Black Lagoon’, photographed in 1953
Browning described a special breathing technique he developed that allowed him to hold his breath for so long that it gave many viewers nightmares and a phobia of water.
‘I learned to breathe from the end of an air hose. It was like you were in the backyard and you had a hose running. Drink what you want and let the rest spill out.
Asked how long he was able to hold his breath, the Gill-man actor said: “If you’re not doing anything at all, four minutes is possible, but not if you’re moving in the water.” If you swim fast or fight, you consume a lot of oxygen and it is reduced to, at most, two minutes.