Sea Hunt
Encyclopedia
Sea Hunt was an American
adventure
television
series that was aired in syndication by Ziv Television Programs
from 1958 to 1961 and was popular in syndication for decades afterwards. The series originally aired for four seasons, with 155 episodes produced. It starred Lloyd Bridges
as ex-Navy frogman
Mike Nelson, and was produced by Ivan Tors
.
diver Mike Nelson, who had various adventures. He outmaneuvered villains, salvaged everything from a bicycle to a nuclear missile, and rescued a downed Navy pilot (in his sunken jet, in the pilot episode), children trapped in a flooded cave, and even a dog. Since no dialogue was possible during the underwater sequences, Bridges provided voice-over narration for all the installments. Bridges would appear as himself at the end of each episode to deliver a brief comment. These comments sometimes included a plea to viewers to understand and protect the marine environment.
After Bridges was cast, he was given a crash course in scuba diving by Zale Parry
and Courtney Brown. Brown served as his underwater stunt double. Over the course of the show's run, Bridges got more involved in the underwater stunt work, graduating from close-ups in the earliest episodes, to doing all but the most dangerous stunts by the end of the series' run.
The series served as a stepping stone for some of Hollywood's most notable actors, including Leonard Nimoy
, Robert Conrad
, Bruce Dern
, Ron Foster
, Larry Hagman
, Ross Martin
, Daria Massey, Jack Nicholson
(in the last episode of the series), and Bridges' own sons, Beau
and Jeff
. Russ Conway
guest-starred eight times on the series. Many lesser-known actors also appeared, such as Peter Breck
, Robert Karnes
, Tyler McVey
, Gregg Palmer
, Alvaro Guillot
and Paul Stader
.
, Florida
, and eventually the Bahamas
. Much stock footage
was shot and later mixed with episode-specific character footage. Filming locations included Marineland of the Pacific
(Park operated 1954–1987), the front side of Catalina Island
, Paradise Cove west of Malibu, Silver Springs, Florida
, Cypress Gardens, Florida
, Tarpon Springs, Florida
, Nassau
, and Grand Bahama Island
. On-land location shots were filmed throughout Los Angeles, in central Florida, Nassau, or on a sound stage
.
Famous divers such as Zale Parry and Albert Tillman
were involved in production of the show, as was Jon Lindbergh, son of aviator Charles Lindbergh
. Parry was joined in 1960 by 18-year-old Wende Wagner
as female underwater stunt double. Pioneering underwater cinematographer Lamar Boren, who also worked on other Ivan Tors productions (such as the motion picture and TV series versions of Flipper
, and three James Bond
films: Thunderball
, You Only Live Twice
, and The Spy Who Loved Me
), shot nearly all of the underwater footage for the series. John Lamb
, who went on to shoot the underwater sequences for both the movie and TV versions of Irwin Allen
's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
, also filmed some episodes.
Tors had tried in vain to sell the series to CBS
, NBC
and ABC
, but all three networks decided that storylines involving an ex-frogman couldn't be sustained. Each of the networks were embarrassed over the show's subsequent popularity and success.
), despite the stories being set in Florida. Underwater scenes were filmed in tropical locations.
in December 2007. Appearing on the podcast were author Eric Hanauer, who interviewed Lloyd Bridges shortly before he died, Hollywood actress Susan Silo, who guest starred in the "Cougar" episode of Sea Hunt, and Jeff Bridges, who shared memories of his father and Sea Hunt.
featured a running gag about how Nelson almost always became imperiled by his air supply being cut off in one way or another, one of the MST3K characters reciting the line, "By that time, my lungs were aching for air." Coincidentally, "Mike Nelson
" is also the name of one of Mystery Science Theater 3000's head writers/hosts.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
adventure
Adventure (genre)
The adventure genre, in the context of a narrative, is typically applied to works in which the protagonist or other major characters are consistently placed in dangerous situations...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series that was aired in syndication by Ziv Television Programs
Ziv Television Programs
Ziv Television Programs, Inc. was an American television syndication and production company, producer of popular syndicated TV programs in the 1950s.- History :...
from 1958 to 1961 and was popular in syndication for decades afterwards. The series originally aired for four seasons, with 155 episodes produced. It starred Lloyd Bridges
Lloyd Bridges
Lloyd Vernet Bridges, Jr. was an American actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. Bridges is best known for his role of Mike Nelson in Sea Hunt, the most-popular syndicated American TV series in 1958...
as ex-Navy frogman
Frogman
A frogman is someone who is trained to scuba diving or swim underwater in a military capacity which can include combat. Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver or combatant diver or combat swimmer....
Mike Nelson, and was produced by Ivan Tors
Ivan Tors
Ivan Tors was a Hungarian playwright, film director, screenwriter, and film and television producer with an emphasis on non-violent but exciting science fiction, underwater filmed television and films, and films about animals...
.
Synopsis
The lead character was free-lance scubaScuba set
A scuba set is an independent breathing set that provides a scuba diver with the breathing gas necessary to breathe underwater during scuba diving. It is much used for sport diving and some sorts of work diving....
diver Mike Nelson, who had various adventures. He outmaneuvered villains, salvaged everything from a bicycle to a nuclear missile, and rescued a downed Navy pilot (in his sunken jet, in the pilot episode), children trapped in a flooded cave, and even a dog. Since no dialogue was possible during the underwater sequences, Bridges provided voice-over narration for all the installments. Bridges would appear as himself at the end of each episode to deliver a brief comment. These comments sometimes included a plea to viewers to understand and protect the marine environment.
After Bridges was cast, he was given a crash course in scuba diving by Zale Parry
Zale Parry
Zale Parry is an American pioneer scuba diver, underwater photographer and actress. She lives in Tillamook, Oregon.Zale started diving in the 1940s as a young girl. She was raised on a Wisconsin lake and learned to swim and love the water at an early age. As a young woman, she became involved in...
and Courtney Brown. Brown served as his underwater stunt double. Over the course of the show's run, Bridges got more involved in the underwater stunt work, graduating from close-ups in the earliest episodes, to doing all but the most dangerous stunts by the end of the series' run.
The series served as a stepping stone for some of Hollywood's most notable actors, including Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series , multiple films, television and video game sequels....
, Robert Conrad
Robert Conrad
Robert Conrad is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the 1965 CBS television series The Wild Wild West, in which he played the sophisticated Secret Service agent James T. West, and his portrayal of World War II ace Pappy Boyington in the television series Baa Baa Black Sheep...
, Bruce Dern
Bruce Dern
Bruce MacLeish Dern is an American film actor. He also appeared as a guest star in numerous television shows. He frequently takes roles as a character actor, often playing unstable and villainous characters...
, Ron Foster
Ron Foster (actor)
Ronald R. Foster, known as Ron Foster , is an American actor, whose longest-running role was as Dr. Charles Grant from 1991-1995 in the defunct CBS soap opera The Guiding Light....
, Larry Hagman
Larry Hagman
Larry Martin Hagman is an American film and television actor, producer and director known for playing J.R. Ewing in the 1980s primetime television soap opera Dallas and Major Anthony "Tony" Nelson in the 1960s sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early life and career:Hagman was born in Fort Worth, Texas...
, Ross Martin
Ross Martin
Ross Martin was a Polish-born American Emmy-nominated actor known for playing Artemus Gordon in the western TV series The Wild Wild West, starring Robert Conrad, and Andamo on Mr...
, Daria Massey, Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
(in the last episode of the series), and Bridges' own sons, Beau
Beau Bridges
Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III is an American actor and director.- Early life :Bridges was born in Los Angeles, the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and his college sweetheart, Dorothy Bridges . He was nicknamed "Beau" by his mother and father after Ashley Wilkes's son in Gone with the Wind, the book...
and Jeff
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
. Russ Conway
Russ Conway (actor)
Russ Conway was a Canadian-American character actor who appeared on film and television between 1947 and 1975.-Early years:...
guest-starred eight times on the series. Many lesser-known actors also appeared, such as Peter Breck
Peter Breck
Joseph Peter Breck is an American prolific character actor of stage, who has played roles on television and in film...
, Robert Karnes
Robert Karnes
Robert A. Karnes was a prolific television actor who also appeared in some films early in his career, including mostly uncredited parts in The Best Years of Our Lives , Miracle on 34th Street , Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye , and From Here to Eternity...
, Tyler McVey
Tyler McVey
Tyler McVey was an American character actor.-Early life and career:McVey was born in Bay City on Saginaw Bay in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. His first screen role, uncredited, came at the age of 39 in 1951, when he portrayed Brady in the The Day the Earth Stood Still...
, Gregg Palmer
Gregg Palmer
Gregg Palmer, originally Palmer Lee is an American actor, known primarily for his prolific work in television westerns...
, Alvaro Guillot
Alvaro Guillot
Alvaro Guillot was a French artist born in Uruguay. He was a notable exponent of the "new surrealist school".- External links :***...
and Paul Stader
Paul Stader
Paul B. Stader, sometimes known as Manny Stader , was an American actor best known for having performed stunts for Johnny Weismuller, Lex Barker, Gregory Peck, and John Wayne. He was also the underwater director of the 1978 film The Return of Captain Nemo.-Working with Weismuller and Barker:Stader...
.
Production notes
The underwater sequences were filmed in a matrix fashion at many locations including studio tanks and outdoor locations in CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, and eventually the Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
. Much stock footage
Stock footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures and file footage are film or video footage that may or may not be custom shot for use in a specific film or television program. Stock footage is of beneficial use to filmmakers as it is sometimes less expensive than shooting new...
was shot and later mixed with episode-specific character footage. Filming locations included Marineland of the Pacific
Marineland of the Pacific
Marineland of the Pacific was a public oceanarium and tourist attraction located on the Palos Verdes Peninsula coast in Los Angeles County, California, USA. Architect William Pereira designed the main structure. It was also known as Hanna-Barbera's Marineland during the late 1970s and early 1980s...
(Park operated 1954–1987), the front side of Catalina Island
Santa Catalina Island, California
Santa Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, or just Catalina, is a rocky island off the coast of the U.S. state of California. The island is long and across at its greatest width. The island is located about south-southwest of Los Angeles, California. The highest point on the island is...
, Paradise Cove west of Malibu, Silver Springs, Florida
Silver Springs, Florida
Silver Springs is a U.S. populated place and spring in Marion County, Florida, just to the east of the city of Ocala. It is part of the Ocala Metropolitan Statistical Area....
, Cypress Gardens, Florida
Cypress Gardens, Florida
Cypress Gardens is a census-designated place in Polk County, Florida, United States. The population was 8,844 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Lakeland–Winter Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
, Tarpon Springs, Florida
Tarpon Springs, Florida
Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 21,003 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, the city had a population of 22,554....
, Nassau
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
, and Grand Bahama Island
Grand Bahama
Grand Bahama is one of the northernmost of the islands of the Bahamas, and the closest major island to the United States, lying off the state of Florida. Grand Bahama is the fifth largest island in the Bahamas island chain of approximately 700 islands and 2,400 cays...
. On-land location shots were filmed throughout Los Angeles, in central Florida, Nassau, or on a sound stage
Sound stage
In common usage, a sound stage is a soundproof, hangar-like structure, building, or room, used for the production of theatrical filmmaking and television production, usually located on a secure movie studio property.-Overview:...
.
Famous divers such as Zale Parry and Albert Tillman
Albert Tillman
Albert Tillman was an American educator and underwater diver. He is widely considered to be the father of diving education.-Biography:...
were involved in production of the show, as was Jon Lindbergh, son of aviator Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
. Parry was joined in 1960 by 18-year-old Wende Wagner
Wende Wagner
Wende Wagner, also known as Wendy Wagner was an actress famed for her roles in The Green Hornet and Rio Conchos.-Biography:Born to a career U.S. Navy officer and swimming and diving coach father Wende Wagner, also known as Wendy Wagner (December 6, 1941 February 26, 1997) was an actress famed for...
as female underwater stunt double. Pioneering underwater cinematographer Lamar Boren, who also worked on other Ivan Tors productions (such as the motion picture and TV series versions of Flipper
Flipper (1963 film)
Flipper is an American feature film released on August 14, 1963 written by Ricou Browning and Jack Cowden. Produced by Ivan Tors and directed by James B. Clark, it portrays a 12-year old boy living with his parents on the Florida Keys, who befriends an injured wild dolphin...
, and three James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
films: Thunderball
Thunderball (film)
Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham...
, You Only Live Twice
You Only Live Twice (film)
You Only Live Twice is the fifth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fifth to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's screenplay was written by Roald Dahl, and loosely based on Ian Fleming's 1964 novel of the same name...
, and The Spy Who Loved Me
The Spy Who Loved Me (film)
The Spy Who Loved Me is a spy film, the tenth film in the James Bond series, and the third to star Roger Moore as the fictional secret agent James Bond. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and the screenplay was written by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum...
), shot nearly all of the underwater footage for the series. John Lamb
John Lamb (producer)
John Lamb is an Oscar winning film producer/director, animator, and artist. John has been called "the most famous unknown surf artist in the world". From surf culture animation, to skateboards, to an Academy Award, Lamb's work has consistently been in the public eye since the 1970s.In the early...
, who went on to shoot the underwater sequences for both the movie and TV versions of Irwin Allen
Irwin Allen
Irwin Allen was a television and film director and producer nicknamed "The Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film genre. He was also notable for creating a number of television series.- Biography :...
's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is an American science fiction film, produced and directed by Irwin Allen, released by 20th Century Fox in 1961. The story was written by Irwin Allen and Charles Bennett. Walter Pidgeon starred as Admiral Harriman Nelson, with Robert Sterling as Captain Lee Crane...
, also filmed some episodes.
Tors had tried in vain to sell the series to CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, but all three networks decided that storylines involving an ex-frogman couldn't be sustained. Each of the networks were embarrassed over the show's subsequent popularity and success.
1987 series
A short-lived revival starring Ron Ely and Kimber Sissons appeared in 1987 and lasted til 1988 with 22 episodes filmed. For budgetary reasons, land scenes from this second series were filmed in Canada (specifically Victoria, British ColumbiaVictoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
), despite the stories being set in Florida. Underwater scenes were filmed in tropical locations.
50th anniversary
The Underwater Videographer Podcast presented a Sea Hunt 50th Anniversary podcastPodcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
in December 2007. Appearing on the podcast were author Eric Hanauer, who interviewed Lloyd Bridges shortly before he died, Hollywood actress Susan Silo, who guest starred in the "Cougar" episode of Sea Hunt, and Jeff Bridges, who shared memories of his father and Sea Hunt.
Pop culture references
Decades later, Mystery Science Theater 3000Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
featured a running gag about how Nelson almost always became imperiled by his air supply being cut off in one way or another, one of the MST3K characters reciting the line, "By that time, my lungs were aching for air." Coincidentally, "Mike Nelson
Michael J. Nelson
Michael John Nelson is a U.S. comedian and writer, most famous for his work on the cult television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 . Nelson was the head writer of the series for most of the show's 11-year run, and spent half of that time playing the on-air host, also named Mike Nelson...
" is also the name of one of Mystery Science Theater 3000's head writers/hosts.