Ricou Browning

Who is Ricou Browning?

Ricou Browning is an American film director, actor, producer, screenwriter, underwater cinematographer and stuntman. He is best known for his underwater stunt work, playing the Gill-man in Creature from the Black Lagoon, Revenge of the Creature and The Creature Walks Among Us. Other actors portrayed the creature on land. He is also the only actor to have portrayed the creature more than once. He is the only surviving Gill-man actor, and the last surviving original Universal Monster.

Browning worked at Wakulla Springs in the 1940s amd learned to perform in underwater newsreels conceived by Newton Perry, who later took Browning along when he opened Weeki Wachee.

Browning directed the underwater scenes in James Bond's Thunderball, underwater scenes in Caddyshack and coordinated marine stunts in an episode of "Boardwalk Empire". Iin 2006, Film Florida awarded him its first Florida Legends Award. A Florida native, Browning was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2012.