When Famous Movie Monsters Lie

 They were savage and bitter, especially the middle-aged and the old, and had been made so by boredom and disappointment. All their lives they had slaved at some kind of dull, heavy labor, behind desks and counters, in the fields and at tedious machines of all sorts, saving their pennies and dreaming of the leisure that would be theirs … Where else should they go but California, the land of sunshine and oranges?

– The Day of the Locust, Nathanael West

Pick up a rock in Hollywood, toss it in the air, and chances are pretty good that you’ll hit a Hollywood hopeful in the head. Some of these star-gazing dreamers and schemers have already had their brush with fame but they just haven’t realized yet that their moment has come and gone. Case in point: Ben Chapman. From the Internet Movie Database mini-biography:

Ben Chapman was born in Oakland, California, while his Tahitian parents were on a trip to the United States. He was raised in Tahiti, relocated to the U.S. in 1940 and went to school in the Bay Area of San Francisco. Working as a Tahitian dancer in nightclubs led to his first movie job, a bit in MGM’s “Pagan Love Song” (1950); other small film roles followed before Korean War duty temporarily sidetracked his modest screen career. Talent scouts from Universal-International “discovered” Chapman upon his return, and for a year he became a U-I stock player–and, at six-foot-five, an ideal choice for the finny title role in “Creature from the Black Lagoon.” (Chapman is the Creature in scenes where the camera is out of water; Ricou Browning is the Creature in scenes where the camera is underwater.) In his later years, Chapman frequently commuted to autograph shows in the mainland United States.

Chapman earned $300.00 a week in 1954 for his appearance as the gilled monster. He also appeared in “Ma and Pa Kettle At Waikiki” (1955) and “Jungle Moon Men” (1955). And that was about it for Mr. Chapman’s brush with fame.

Chapman, who passed away at his Oahu home on February 21, was also a decorated war hero. Or so he claimed. From the For The Record section of the L.A. Times (03/20/08):

The obituary of Ben Chapman, who played the title character in the 1954 film “The Creature From The Black Lagoon”, in the Feb. 24 California section said that as a Marine in the Korean War he received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts. Chapman did not receive the awards he claimed to have earned, according to Marine Corps officials and a copy of Chapman’s military Report on Separation, the Marine Corps Times reported this week.

All you can do sometimes is sadly shake your head.