According to Bill Williams' IMDb biography page, he turned down the role of Mike Nelson in Sea Hunt because he didn't think an underwater series would work on TV. Williams had been a professional swimmer and early in his show business career had performed in many underwater acquatic shows.
shareHope Bill had another lucrative revenue stream arranged instead, because his wife (from memory), Barbara Hale, around this time was easing off her movie career to raise a family and step into the not-very-spectacularly-paid supporting role of Della Street on Perry Mason, which started on the air eight months after Sea Hunt.
shareIt's interesting that Williams ended up starring in a SCUBA-diving adventure series of his own, "Assignment: Underwater".
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