Dick Durock was born in South Bend, Indiana, on 18 January 1937.
Durock was a big man — as tall as 6 feet 6 inches. He was pretty much a glorified extra early on in his career. You know the kind of roles. He was Guard #1 in the Star Trek episode “Elaan of Troyius.”
But he was also very active as a stuntman. He was a stunt double for Max Baer Jr on The Beverly Hillbillies. (Baer played Jethro Bodine and is a psychotronic icon for other reasons. He was also 6 feet 4 inches tall.) He also doubled for Guy Williams (also very tall) on Lost in Space. Quickly, he seems to have been the go-to choice for stunts featuring big men.
From the late 1960s through the early 1980s, Durock’s career went like that. Gradually, he did get better parts. And in 1981, the producers of The Incredible Hulk cast him as Frye’s Creature. It was a two-part episode and the character was basically the evil twin of Lou Ferrigno’s Hulk.
But Durock got his big break after this. Wes Craven cast him as the title character in Swamp Thing. He surprised a lot of people who didn’t know he could act — maybe as well as Ray Wise. He also starred in The Return of Swamp Thing with the great Jim Wynorski taking over for Craven as director. It is more or less a comedic remake of the first film. And Dick Durock adjusts perfectly.
After this, Durock starred in the TV series Swamp Thing. It ran for 3 seasons and 72 episodes. Even by the standards of Return, it’s a bizarre series. Personally, I think the show would have worked better as an hour-long drama. But from a modern perspective, each episode is a bite-sized package of fun. But don’t expect drama. They are very silly!
Durock continued to work in small roles for most of the rest of the 1990s, and then he retired. (Frankly, I wish more actors would retire!)
Here is Swamp Thing:
And Here is The Return of Swamp Thing:
You can also find most episodes of the Swamp Thing TV show online. Just look up the epsiode title and do a Google search. I’d list them all here with links but I have no confidence these will be valid after a couple of months.
Dick Durock via Wikipedia under Fair Use.
