What’s a work day like for you? Do you settle in, swig a few sips of your favorite brand of coffee and strike the keys on your keyboard? Compared to Dick Durock — excellent name, by the way — you have it easy. Durock played the Swamp Thing in two films and a TV series, and his plight was one you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. For the Swamp Thing TV series on USA, Durock worked 12-hour days with 80 pounds of latex strapped to his body. Every day. And the show filmed almost continually for 50 shows in a row with NO BREAKS!
“This is something that hadn’t been done in the history of motion pictures before where you had a guy in extensive makeup, 80 pounds of latex, working the entire day, everyday, 12 hours a day,” Durock told Icons of Fright.
There’s been several actors in the modern age who have taken on a task like this, such as Ron Perlman in Hellboy, and Michael Chiklis in Fantastic Four. Both actors have mentioned how their states of mind were changed due to the makeup, and that it helped propel their performances, but has anyone ever had as much gumption to perform a role as extensively as Durock? I think not.
Durock passed away in 2009 in Oak Park, Calif. Because when an oak goes to die, it might as well be among its brethren.