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Remembering Gill Man, a former Marine

The amphibious monster in “Creature from the Black Lagoon” was a fearsome beast, a threat to enemies on land and water who survived multiple attempts on his life.

In other words, Gill Man, the scaly star of the 1954 classic cult film, possessed some of the same characteristics as a good Marine.

Perhaps it’s fitting, then, that one of the men associated most closely with the monster is Ben Chapman, a former Marine who was decorated for service in Korea, but best known as one of the men who brought the Universal Pictures’ monster to life.

Chapman died Feb. 21 of congestive heart failure at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, said his longtime partner, Merrilee Kazarian. He was 79.

His death came more than 57 years after surviving the 1950 Battle of Chosin Reservoir, where the private with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines was one of about 40,000 leathernecks and soldiers who fought off more than 100,000 Chinese troops in temperatures that dipped to 30 degrees below zero.

Kazarian said Chapman spoke often of his time in the Corps. He was also proud of regaining the use of his feet, which doctors considered amputating after they were terribly frostbitten near Chosin.

“He told them that if they chopped off his feet, he’d cut chop off their (testicles),” his son, Benjamin Chapman III, 29, said with a laugh in a Feb. 27 telephone interview from Honolulu.

In a 2005 interview with the Web site Icons of Fright, Chapman said he arrived in Korea as part of the Inchon Landing, a successful amphibious assault in September 1950 against North Korea’s People’s Army that was a turning point in the war. He also recalled the battle at Chosin Reservoir.

“The military said it was a bad situation and everyone should pull out — like a retreat,” he said. “That’s where there’s a very famous quote coming from our commanding officer, General Oliver P. Smith…: ‘Retreat, Hell!’ The Marine Corps never retreats.”

For his service in Korea, Chapman was decorated with a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts. He left the Corps in 1952 as a sergeant, his son said.

Chapman’s connection to Gill Man, though, was central to his identity.

It was partly by luck that Chapman received the role, he acknowledged in news accounts over the years. The break came at 24, after he moved to California and became a contract player with Universal, getting the part because of his imposing 6-foot-5 frame.

Being Gill Man was complicated at times. Chapman and Ricou Browning, who wore the Gill Man suit in underwater scenes, didn’t receive any mention in the credits for the movie, and when Universal decided to produce two sequels, Chapman was left out.

“Sure, I kind of resented that they didn’t call me back, but what are you going to do?” Chapman told the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal in 1999. “My option [with the studio] was not picked up. You can’t dwell on these things.”

But Chapman’s Gill Man role was important to him right to the end. A real estate developer after leaving Hollywood, he appeared at movie monster festivals across the country regularly, and was known for his affability with fans.

“(I have) many terrific memories of seeing Ben holding court at his autograph table, chatting it up with fans,” wrote one fan on Universal Monster Army, an Internet message board, after hearing about Chapman’s death. “Kids LOVED him and he gave it right back to all his fans, big or small.”

A 9 a.m. funeral will be held at St. Augustine By-The-Sea Church in Honolulu on March 29, giving family and friends across the U.S. time to plan for the trip, Kazarian said. Chapman’s ashes will be scattered off the coast of Waikiki Beach from Hawaiian outrigger canoes.