Lori Nelson (born 1933)
By 1955 the Creature was back, but this time he was chasing a blonde instead of a brunette. Unfortunatly, Julie Adams did not reprise her role as Kay Lawrence in either of the sequels. This time the scream queen is played by B movie blonde, Lori Nelson as Helen Dobson. John Agar and John Bromfield (and Clint Eastwood made his film debut) in this watered down 3D sequel to The Creature from the Black Lagoon titled, Revenge of the Creature. Lori’s character did get into more of the action than Julie’s in the original. She actually donned diving equipment and dove into the tank containing the Creature. This proved to be a mistake!
In the same year Lori Nelson’s only other horror film was released, Day the World Ended. Vintage Roger Corman fare that also stars Richard Denning (who was married to Scream Queen Evelyn Ankers!).
The following year Hot Rod Girl was released. Another B outing that also starred Chuck Connors and Frank Gorshin, both of whom became well know to television audiences in the 1960’s. In 1957 Lori made Untamed Youth co-starring with Mamie Van Doren and after that worked mainly in television for the rest of her career doing a sporadic number of guest appearances in 1960 – 61 and again in 1971.
Leigh Snowden (1929 – 1982)
The last in the series was The Creature Walks Among us and Leigh Snowden played Marcia Barton who was more blonde bait for the monster. The weakest entry in the series had a plotline where the scientist makes the creature an air breather due to its gills being burned when it was captured. The scientist wants to create a new kind of ‘human’, chaos ensues.
Leigh Snowden in The Creature Walks Among Us (1956)
Leigh Snowden was featured in a number of B films. She also had small parts in some better known films like the classic film noir, Kiss Me Deadly that starred Ralph Meeker, All That Heaven Allows with Jayne Wyman and Rock Hudson, and The Square Jungle starring Tony Curtis and Ernest Borgnine (Joe Louis played himself) all released in 1955.
Hot Rod Rumble was Leigh Snowden’s last feature before moving to television for the rest of her career. She guest starred on a number of shows until 1961.
NEXT: HAMMER SCREAM QUEENS
