Julie Adams, Damsel in Distress in ‘Creature From the Black Lagoon,’ Dies at 92
The Hollywood Reporter 2/3/2019 by Chris Koseluk
Julie Adams, the comely brunette with the cascading curls best remembered as the damsel in distress in the 1954 horror classic Creature From the Black Lagoon, has died. She was 92.
She was born Betty May Adams on Oct. 17, 1926, in Waterloo, Iowa. Her father was a cotton buyer, and the family moved frequently as she was growing up. Two years after graduating from Little Rock High School in Arkansas, Adams was crowned Miss Little Rock in 1946.
She decided to move to Hollywood and try her luck as an actress, supporting herself as a secretary as she learned her craft. Her first break came in 1949 when she landed a small part on the NBC series Your Show Time.
After making her film debut in an uncredited role in Paramount’s Red, Hot and Blue (1949), Adams was cast in a slew of Westerns. Then known as Betty Adams, she served as the female fixture in The Dalton Gang (1949), then played the heroine Ann in Hostile Country, Marshal of Helldorado, Crooked River, Colorado Ranger, West of the Brazos and Fast on the Draw — all released in 1950.
After Creature From the Black Lagoon, Adams made films at Universal including 6 Bridges to Cross (1955) — the first time she was billed as Julie Adams — The Private War of Major Benson (1955), Away All Boats (1956), 4 Girls in Town (1957) and Slim Carter (1957).
Her other films included The Underwater City (1962), The Killer Inside Me (1976), The Fifth Floor (1978), Champions (1984), Catchfire (1990) and Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center (2006). She had a voiceover role in Roman Polanski’s Carnage (2011).
On television, Adams’ career spanned The Colgate Comedy Hour in 1955 to CSI: NY in 2007. In between, she appeared in three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and on Westerns (Maverick, The Rifleman, Bonanza), crime dramas (Mannix, The Streets of San Francisco, Police Woman), mysteries (Diagnosis Murder), medical shows (Dr. Kildare, Marcus Welby, M.D.), comedies (The Andy Griffith Show, Too Close for Comfort), primetime soaps (Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place) and daytime serials (General Hospital).
24 Femmes Per Second 