28 February 2023 , 22:03
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Actor Ricou Browning has died aged 93, his family have announced.
Known for 'playing all the bad guys', his heartbroken daughter revealed the news that he passed away at his home in Southwest Ranches, Florida.
The Creature From the Black Lagoon star died of natural causes on Monday earlier this week, his family explained.
"He had a fabulous career in the film industry, providing wonderful entertainment for past and future generations," his daughter Kim Browning told The Hollywood Reporter.
Ricou is known for playing the menacing Gill-Man in the 1954 hit, as well as his role in the creative team behind the original Flipper film and subsequent TV show.
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Ricou played Gill-Man in Creature From The Black Lagoon (Getty Images)He also served as a stuntman on Richard Fleischer’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 1954 and doubled for Jerry Lewis in Don’t Give Up the Ship in 1959.
Speaking in a 2013 interview, he famously detailed playing "all the bad guys" in TV's Sea Hunt.
It was during that chat with Ocala Star-Banner that he detailed sliding into the full-body suit to film underwater scenes in a tank at Marineland, St. Augustine.
"It was cumbersome at first," Browning previously recalled. "When I first put it on, it seemed awkward and clumsy. But, once I got into the movie, I forgot I had it on. I became the creature."
He served as a stuntman on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Getty Images)
He famously detailed playing 'all the bad guys' (Bettmann Archive)Ricou also directed the harpoon-filled fight in Thunderball in 1965, an underwater scene in Never Say Never Again in 1983 and the hilarious Jaws-inspired scene in Caddyshack in 1980.
And, during shooting Creature From the Black Lagoon, he admitted he could hold his breath for four minutes.
He later returned for the film's sequels Revenge of the Creature in 1955, also in 3D, and The Creature Walks Among Us in 1956.
Browning directed 37 episodes of the Florida Keys-set Flipper and was in charge of underwater operations on the show.
Speaking of his Gill-Man suit in an interview in 2019, he said: "The lips of the suit sat about a half-inch from my lips, and I put the air hose in my mouth to breathe.
He admitted he could hold his breath for four minutes (Snap/REX/Shutterstock)"I would hold my breath and go do the scene, and I’d have other safety people with other air hoses to give me air if I needed it.
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"We had a signal. If I went totally limp, it meant I needed it. It worked out well, and we didn’t have any problems."
He recalled filming scenes in the winter, in the freezing cold. "The crew felt sorry for me, so somebody said, 'How would you like a shot of brandy?' I said, 'Sure'," he recalled.
Ricou is survived his four children, Ricou Browning Jr, Renee, Kelly and Kim, his 10 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. His wife, Fran, died in March 2020.