Lou Ferrigno as the not-so-jolly but definitely very green The Incredible Hulk. Photo copyright of CBS.
In today's Sci-Fi Blast From The Past, Lou Ferrigno reveals that he was not the first actor to play the title role in the CBS-TV Sci-Fi/Fantasy series The Incredible Hulk.
Let’s face it, there are times when we all lose our cool. However, no matter how angry a person becomes it’s unlikely that he or she will shred their clothes and turn green. Of course, that’s not true of the mild-mannered scientist Dr. David Banner. When he gets all riled up he transforms into a green-skinned creature with incredible strength and primitive drives. Banner’s testy alter ego is known as The Hulk, and in 1978 he was brought to life in a weekly TV series on CBS called The Incredible Hulk. Bill Bixby was cast as David Banner, while professional bodybuilder and Mr. Universe title-holder Lou Ferrigno was hired to fill The Hulk’s ample shoes. It may surprise some of the program’s fans to know that Ferrigno was not the first choice for the role.
“I was in training for the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition and had moved out to Los Angeles,” recalls Ferrigno. “I’d been there for about six months when I heard about a new TV series called The Incredible Hulk. Out of the blue, I received a phone call one day from the show’s casting agent who was asking to see me. They had already begun to shoot the pilot with Richard Kiel, who played Jaws in the James Bond movies [The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker], but apparently he wasn’t muscular enough for The Hulk. I explained to the producers that I was training for a competition but that I’d be interested in doing a screentest. I went for an audition and the next day I began working on the series. It all happened so quickly. Talk about being in the right place at the right time.
“I’ll never forgot my first few days on the set,” he continues. “There I was working 12 to 14 hours on a soundstage with all sorts of people coming up to me for various reasons. I didn’t know anything about acting or show business. It was like I was on another world and talking a totally different language. It was quite a shock. I mean, here I was, this typical guy from New York who also happened to be a bodybuilder. I was used to going to the gym every day and working out, and all of a sudden I was one of the stars of a TV series. There was no formal introduction to the process at all. It was pretty much sink or swim, and thank God I was able to stay afloat,” jokes the actor.
Steve Eramo
As noted above, photo copyright of CBS, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
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