Eleven Things You Didn't Know About Creature From The Black Lagoon

Creature From the Black Lagoon is arguably the most famous 3-D movie - and the only to spawn a sequel.

Universal Studios claimed star Julie Adams' legs had won an award for being "the most perfectly symmetrical in the world" and that they were insured for $125,000.

Producer William Allard was Orson Wells' assistant for Citizen Kane and was inspired by the legend of a race of Amazon mermen - as told by cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa (Night of the Iguana) at a dinner party.

Millicent Patrick, who designed the Gill-Man, was the first female animator to work at Walt Disney Studios - though for 50 years her boss, makeup artist Bud Westmore, would take credit. The design of the torso was partially based on the Oscar statuette.

In 1995 Peter Jackson was given the choice to direct a remake of either King Kong or Creature From the Black Lagoon. Many would argue he choose poorly.

Ben Chapman, who played the Creature when on land, was unable to sit down when wearing the one-piece suit. During the 16 hour shooting day, he swam in the studio's back lot lake to keep cool. The Creature's mask had poor visibility, and Chapman knocked Adams unconscious carrying her through a tunnel.

Ricou Browning, the actor who played the Creature when underwater, wouldn't bother to surface between takes. An assistant would lower an air tube and Browning held his breath for up to four minutes in a scene. He went on to produce the movie Flipper.

Iconoclastic director Ingmar Bergman was rumored to watch Creature From the Black Lagoon every year on his birthday.

The Internet Movie Database claims that Adolf Hitler commissioned the original script for the film, in which a Golem rises from a swamp to kill German citizens. However, corroborating evidence is sparse.

Jenny Clack a paleontologist with the University of Cambridge discovered a fossil amphibian and named it Eucritta melanolimnetes, greek for "the creature from the black lagoon".

The Gill-Man will star in Black Lagoon - The Musical, opening summer 2009 at the Universal Studios theme park in Los Angeles.