Sea Hunt
Turns 50 and is Celebrated at LegendsFest
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Alec Peirce sent us this famous photo of Lloyd
Bridges as Mike Nelson. In the background you can see
the glass bottom boats of Silver Springs, Florida
where many of the underwater scenes were shot. |
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Mike Nelson, the
legendary star of Sea Hunt, will be celebrated this summer at
the International Legends of Diving. And to help celebrate, Alec
Peirce of Scuba 2000 has offered a special prize in honor of
Mike Nelson.
The Portage
Quarry legend who
is most knowledgeable about Lloyd Bridges as Nelson will give
away a prize for the most original of Mike Nelson's dive gear
worn in the movies.
There were 155
Sea Hunt episodes released starting with "Sixty Feet Below", on
January 4, 1958. Before "Sixty Feet Below" appeared on the west
coast one month later the second episode had already appeared on
television sets in
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the
east. The first two pilots were shot in color but
released in black and white. Color was in its fourth
year on the television medium and considered a flop at
the time.
The four seasons
of Sea Hunt were produced with budgets of $40,000 per
episode. That was compared with the budgets of Zorro at
$82,000 and $200,000 per episode for the Lucy-Desi
Comedy Hour, which ran on CBS from 1957 to 1960. Color
would add another $5,000 per episode that would be
attached to an already tight budget.
The
remaining 153 episodes were shot in black and white.
Portage Quarry dive legend Zale Parry also appeared with
Mike Nelson in the Sea Hunt series. Besides her diving
expertise, Zale's
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artistic talents are manifold from acting to photography
to writing. An accomplished underwater photographer herself, in
1957, Zale co-founded the
International Underwater Film Festival that ran for
17 years. In 1960, she became the first elected woman president
of the U/W Photographic Society. From the 1950s through the
1990s, Zale remained in demand as an actress and underwater stuntwoman for
all the Hollywood studios (she never had to audition for
a part). Her credits include, Kingdom of the Sea, Sea
Hunt, GE Theatre, Wagon Train, Peter Gunn, and more. She
also made |
Zale Parry and Lloyd Bridges on
the set filming an episode of Sea Hunt. |
over two dozen "wet" and "dry" television commercials
and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated several times.
The last of the 155 episodes aired September 23, 1961,
“Round Up”. Young upstart actor Jack Nicholson delivers a line to Mike
Nelson, "How many times I gotta tell you" There ain't no bomb!". It was
the last mission of Mike Nelson to save lives with his underwater
heroics.
Lloyd Vernet Bridges Jr.
Date of Birth:15 January 1913, San Leandro,
California
Date of Death:10 March 1998, Los Angeles, California
Spouse: Dorothy Dean Bridges (1938 married)
Father of Beau, Jeff, and Cindy Bridges
Help
us Bring The Sea Hunt Episodes to Life
MGM now owns the rights and the originals of the Sea
Hunt series. The 35 mm originals could be put to DVD or HD disks with a
little urging from the public. Contact
Sony / MGM Home Videos with your
comments. Ask that your requests be sent to Amy Zwagerman,
the Director of Library Marketing.
