Ben Chapman, RIP

Ben Chapman, who portrayed The Creature From The Black Lagoon in the land scenes, has passed away. Here's the notice from his official website (The Reel Gillman) --

Ben Chapman passed away at 12:15 am Hawaii time on Thursday, February 21 at the VA hospital in Honolulu. His health began to deteriorate February 12 and he was admitted to the hospital on February 20. His life support was turned off Wednesday around noon and his pacemaker was turned off shortly before he died. He died peacefully with his wife, Merrilee, and son, Ben Chapman III, by his side. He was 79 years old at his death. His body will be cremated and a memorial service will be held at a church near the beach in Honolulu.

I met Mr. Chapman twice. The first time was at the FrightVision convention near Cleveland in 2004. He signed this Creature poster reproduction for me (Ricou Browning, the Creature under water, also signed it).


The second time I met him was at the Monster Bash convention near Pittsburgh in 2005.


To experience a great tribute, head on over to the Universal Monster Army forums where group members are posting pictures and sharing memories of Ben. It's really amazing!

Read more about Ben at the IMDb and Wikipedia.