Why Julie Adams Was Afraid To Turn Down Creature From The Black Lagoon
A young woman clad in a white bathing suit swims blissfully in a lagoon. She glides through the water, and, for a moment, she is suspended in time. It's just her and the water ... until it's not. Something is watching her. A creature, a mixture of fish and man, is watching her from the depths, and after moments of observation, it pursues her. They swim in synchronicity, the woman still completely unaware of its presence and the creature in awe of the beautiful woman.
All peace shatters when the woman takes pause and the creature, too curious for its own good, reaches out to touch her. A threshold is breached when its claws brush against her feet. Its presence known, the creature swims away before she can find him. Thus ends one of the most memorable scenes in "Creature from the Black Lagoon" between Julie Adams' Kay Lawrence and the titular creature.
Adams had worked steadily for years as an actress with Universal-International prior to "Creature." For the longest time, viewers could see her in a slew of Western pictures like "Bend of the River," "The Lawless Breed," and "The Mississippi Gambler." Being cast in "Creature from the Black Lagoon" was a complete shift for the actress, moving from Westerns to the horror/sci-fi genre. As a contract player with Universal, she had no choice but to take on the role even if, at the time, it seemed like a less than ideal project for the actress.
An offer she couldn't refuse
Back in 2013, Adams chatted with Horror Society, where she went into detail about her experiences working on "Creature from the Black Lagoon." The conversation turned to how she was assigned to the project by Universal, and she took the opportunity to share her first impressions:
"I thought the creature from what? What is this, because I had been working with some major stars and so on? What I thought were loftier ideas of film, but I read it and I thought if I turn it down, I won't get paid and I'll be on suspension and then I thought, what the hay, it might be fun and of course, indeed it was. It was fun and was more than fun; it was a great pleasure to do the picture."
As a contract player, even with the studio system on the decline, Adams didn't have much choice in what roles she had. Universal, as well as other studios of the time, would make the arrangements for directors, writers, and actors for projects, even if said talent was not interested in the project. Usually, the punishment for refusal was suspension or blacklisting. It was sometimes a lot easier to just do the job instead of resisting.
Had Adams decided not to do "Creature from the Black Lagoon," it is likely she might have faded into public obscurity. The film is iconic, and that scene of Adams' Kay Lawrence swimming in the water with the creature still resonates to this day.