Gill Man
Chapman was selected as the Gill Man due to his large size at 6'5". His famous suit was made out of a foam-rubber body suit and a large-lipped headpiece. He cited horror film predecessors Lon Chaney Sr. in The Phantom of the Opera and The Hunchback of Notre Dame in the 1920s, Bela Lugosi in Dracula and Boris Karloff in Frankenstein and The Mummy in the 1930s, and Lon Chaney Jr. in The Wolf Man in the 1940s as inspirations to his character.
In a 1993 interview, Chapman explained that there were really two actors who played the Gill Man. He was the creature on land; Ricou Browning was the actor in water sequences. However, Chapman was the one who participated in Creature related events. Chapman further relayed that the studio did not want the public to know that the Gill Man was a man in a suit The suit, made of latex rubber, made it impossible for Chapman to sit down so during breaks from filming he would rest in a studio back lot lake to keep from overheating.
Read more about this topic: Ben Chapman (actor)
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