TCM’s “Starring Julie Adams” Spotlights ‘Creature From the Black Lagoon’ Actress Tonight
Tonight, TCM honors Julie Adams — an actress whose career took her all the way from the 1950s Western boom to a recurring role on Murder, She Wrote, though Creature from the Black Lagoon remains her most popular work. Beginning at 8pm EST on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, TCM will screen six films starring Adams, which also feature John Wayne, Elvis Presley, Charlton Heston, and, yes, a gill-man.
8pm: Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954)
CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, from left: Julie Adams, Ben Chapman, 1954
Adams originally wasn’t interested in the role that made her famous. The actress, born Betty May Adams, was under contract with Universal in the 1950s, where she had mostly made Westerns, including the 1952 hit Bend of the River with James Stewart. Creature from the Black Lagoon felt like a step down, career-wise, to Adams.
In a 2013 interview, she recalled, “I thought, ‘The creature from what? What is this?’ because I had been working with some major stars and so on. But I read it and said, ‘If I turn it down, I won’t get paid and I’ll be on suspension.’ And then I thought, ‘What the hay! It might be fun.’ And of course, indeed it was. It was a great pleasure to do the picture.”
The film — a 3D horror riff on Beauty and the Beast, which features a reptilian gill-man stalking Adams’ Kay, a scientist doing research in the Amazon — was a success, making more than double its budget at the box office, inspiring two sequels, and giving us the final new Universal monster.
9:30pm: The Private War of Major Benson (1955)
Everett Collection
In this military comedy, Charlton Heston stars as the titular major, who runs afoul of his bosses and ends up placed at a boy’s military school, where he must run the JROTC, with predictably wacky results (’90s comedy fans may recall that this movie was remade in 1995 as Major Payne, starring Damon Wayans). Sal Mineo appears as one of the cadets, just a few months before he co-starred in Rebel Without a Cause. Adams plays the school’s doctor, Dr. Kay Lambert.
11:15pm: Bright Victory (1951)
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Famous for originating the role of Biff Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman on Broadway in 1949, Arthur Kennedy stars as a serviceman who returns from World War II blinded, which causes him to re-evaluate his life. Adams (credited as Julia, rather than Julie — both names were creations of the studio) co-stars as his shallow fiancee, who isn’t interested in staying by his side as he begins his difficult journey towards independence. Luckily for him, sweet Judy (Peggy Dow) is.
The movie got Kennedy an Academy Award nomination, though director Mark Robson later confessed that the film “was a disaster financially.”
1:15am: Tarawa Beachhead (1958)
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This war drama about a friendly fire incident that takes a soldier’s life was originally supposed to star Ronald Reagan; instead, it starred 7th Voyage of Sinbad star Kerwin Mathews in his first lead role, as the sergeant who witnesses the killing of a soldier by a lieutenant, and plots revenge. Adams stars as the deceased soldier’s bride, while her then-real-life husband, Ray Danton, played the cruel Lieutenant Brady.
2:45am: Tickle Me (1965)
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In this Western comedy, Elvis Presley plays a down-on-his-luck rodeo star, who is hired by Adams’ Vera Radford to work at her ranch, which caters to Hollywood types trying to get in shape. A love story with Jocelyn Lane and a journey to a mysterious treasure ensue.
Tickle Me is the first and only Elvis film to have no new songs on the soundtrack; the studio was in financial trouble, and it was thought that this cost-saving measure might keep it from bankruptcy (it didn’t work).
Adams came away from working with the King impressed by his work ethic. In a 2013 interview, she recalled, “Elvis took his acting very seriously. He was always prepared, and did a good job in the roles he was given. When he did his musical numbers in Tickle Me, sometimes walking from table to table in a nightclub set, he did them perfectly in one take!”
4:30am: McQ (1974)
Everett Collection
Finally, as night turns into morning, TCM will end their tribute to Adams with McQ, a neo-noir film starring John Wayne. Wayne had been offered Dirty Harry and passed, a decision he came to regret; this gritty crime caper was the closest he came to creating a Harry Callahan of his own.
In the film, Wayne plays Detective Lieutenant Lon “McQ” McHugh, who goes rogue while investing his former partner’s murder, and discovers a vast conspiracy among his fellow policemen in the process. It was one of Wayne’s final leading roles, before his death in 1979.
It was also one of Adams’ final roles in a major film; she plays the small role of Elaine. Throughout the ’60s and ’70s, Adams had become more involved in TV work, appearing as a guest star on everything from Dr. Kildare to Night Gallery. In the ’80s, she pivoted fully to the small screen, landing a recurring role on the action show Code Red in 1981, and eventually becoming Eve Simpson, Cabot Cove’s wackiest real estate agent, on multiple seasons of Murder, She Wrote. Her final TV appearance was in 2007, when she appeared on an episode of CSI: NY. She died in 2019, at the age of 92.
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