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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, March 9, 2008

Services, canoe procession for horror-film icon Ben Chapman

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Ben Chapman

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Ben Chapman, the Honolulu resident who played the title character in the 1954 sci-fi horror film "Creature From the Black Lagoon," will be remembered in a pair of memorial services, one in Honolulu, the other in Hollywood.

The Honolulu service will be at 9 a.m. March 29 at St. Augustine-By-The-Sea Church in Waikiki, with the scattering of his ashes following at 10:30 a.m., according to Merrilee Kazarian, Chapman's longtime companion. Those eager to participate in the outrigger procession should meet at 10:30 a.m. and bring loose flowers.

A second remembrance will be "a very small private scattering ceremony with the remaining ashes in April, at Universal Studios' back-lot 'lagoon' where 'CFTBL' was filmed," said Kazarian. She will attend along with Chapman's son.

Chapman appeared widely at sci-fi and collectibles shows to talk about his role as the Gill Man, a quintessential horror-film monster in the black-and-white and 3-D feature.

He died Feb. 21 at Tripler Medical Center.

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.