Ben Chapman

Benjamin F. Chapman, Jr. (October 29, 1928 – February 21, 2008) was an American actor best known as playing the Gill-man on land in the 1954 horror film Creature from the Black Lagoon. A distant relative of fellow actor Branscombe Richmond, he also appeared in Wake of the Red Witch in 1949. Born in Oakland, California, he spent much of his childhood in Tahiti and moved to San Francisco at age 12 or 13. A Marine Corps veteran of the Korean War, he was believed to have earned a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and two Purple Hearts for battle injuries. However, after his death, the Marine Corps Times began an investigation of these claims based on the improbability of the claim of receiving Purple Hearts in the Chosin Reservoir campaign....