Creature in the Black Hole

He starred the last classic Universal monster movie, but unless you were related to him, you probably wouldn’t recognize him. Ben Chapman, the man behind the mask in Creature From the Black Lagoon, has died at the age of 79. The 6-foot-5 ex-Marine had earned a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts for his service in the Korean War and his size made him a perfect fit to play the Gill Man, the creature abducted from his happy home in the Amazon who develops a thing for Julie Adams. Like most stars, he felt sequels were beneath him, and he didn’t appear in Revenge of the Creature and the Creature Walks Among Us, or the Gill-Man’s appearance as Uncle Gilbert on The Munsters. His only other credited appearance was in Jungle Moon Man, as Marro. Despite the seeming anonymity, Chapman was a fixture on the horror festival circuit.