There Will Never Be Another Recruiter Like Ricou Browning

 

We've lost Ricou Browning, the former Olympic swimmer who brought the Gill Man to life in the underwater scenes of The Creature From The Black Lagoon.  Rarely imitated and definitely never equalled in his unique pursuit of Piscatorial Love, we will honor him forever.

This is not to throw shade on Ben Chapman, the land version of the Gill Man and a fine suit actor in his own right.  Much more menacing (even though the Gill Man was an entirely benign creature, let's be real), and tall enough to carry Julie Adams up the beach convincingly, he was the guy who clawed off the face of anyone who tried to interfere with his romance.  

Browning, though, was a DIFFERENT STORY ENTIRELY.  More curious and cautious than the Chapman version of the Creature, he was the swimmer who first impressed me, your Conspiracy Zone Leader, with a permanent visual of what Piscatorial Love ought to look like:

With both of these fine actors gone, I feel truly, truly bereft.