Here's an inside look at the water stunts performed in Revenge of the Creature (1955)
Many stars performed their own stunts.
With a lack of technology, many sci-fi films in the 1950s relied on practical stunts to create the more fantastical elements of their story.
According to film star Lori Nelson, most of her water work on the 1955 film Revenge of the Creature was done herself.
“I did do most of my own swimming and a lot of the skin-diving stuff in the tank,” said the actor during an interview with The Asbury Park Press. “They wanted shots, through the portholes, of me inside the tank. When they put the aqualung on me, and I went down in the tank, there were manta rays and sharks down there. But they were fed every hour; I wasn’t allowed to go down until all the fish had been fed. I was guaranteed that the fish wouldn’t bother me.”
Nelson was a skilled swimmer, but the role in the horror film required more than just skill; it required strength and endurance.
“I knew how to swim, but I had to get in shape before that,” said the actor. I did a lot of swimming in my pool, working out every day to do it well enough. Because I had to swim out in the water in Florida, way out from the boat, and then swim back again. It was quite a way. It took some stamina.”
Also doing his own stunts was Ricou Browning, who played the infamous Gill-man. A villain on screen, Nelson maintained that Browning was a real professional.
“He was a famous underwater photographer and a fantastic, incredible swimmer,” said the actor. “He did all of the underwater stuff.”
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