Information AboutSea Hunt |
''Sea Hunt'' was an American Television adventure series from syndicator Ziv TV that ran from 1958 to 1961 and was popular in Syndication for decades afterwards. The program followed the adventures of Scuba diver Mike Nelson, an ex-Navy Frogman turned freelance diver, played by Lloyd Bridges . He outmaneuvered villains, salvaged everything from a bicycle to nuclear missile, and rescued a downed Air Force pilot (in his sunken jet, in the pilot episode), children trapped in a flooded cave, and even a dog. One unusual aspect of the series was that at the end of each episode, Bridges made a plea to protect the Ocean s. After Bridges was cast he was given a crash course on scuba diving by Courtney Brown, who would serve as his underwater stunt double. Over the course of the show's run, Bridges would get 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 , Larry Hagman , Jack Nicholson (in the last episode of the series) and Bridges' own sons, Beau and Jeff . The underwater sequences were first filmed in Silver Springs, Florida, but were eventually filmed in Nassau, the Bahamas. On-land location shots were filmed throughout Los Angeles, Central Florida, and Nassau, or on a soundstage. Famous divers such as Zale Parry and Albert Tillman were involved in production of the show, as was flying ace Charles Lindbergh 's son, John. Parry was joined in 1960 by 18-year-old Wende Wagner as female underwater stunt double. Pioneering underwater cinematographer Lamar Boren , who would work on other Ivan Tors' productions (e.g., 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. The show's producer Ivan Tors had tried in vain to sell the series to CBS, NBC and ABC, each citing the opinion that storylines involving an ex-frogman couldn't be sustained. (A running gag decades later on '' Mystery Science Theater 3000 '' involved how Nelson almost always became imperiled by someone or something cutting off his oxygen supply.) Each of the networks was embarrassed over the show's subsequent popularity and success. A shortlived revival starring Ron Ely and Kimber Sissons appeared in 1987. For budgetary reasons, land scenes from this second series were filmed in Canada (specifically Victoria, British Columbia ), despite the stories being set in Florida. Underwater scenes were filmed in tropical locations. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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