Herb was the loyal, portly camera man of Carl Denham. He accompanies Carl and his film crew onto the island twice - once into the native's village (where they are captured and later rescued by Captain Englehorn) and again when several of the men set out to rescue Ann Darrow.
Biography
When the men pause for a quick break, he, Carl and Bruce Baxter go off a little way down the valley, and encounter a herd of Apatosaurus grazing. Carl begins to film them. However, some Venatosaurus arrive in a hunting pack and frighten the Apatosaurus, causing them to stampede down the valley towards Baxter, Carl and Herb. Baxter quickly loses his nerve and flees. However, despite the dangers, Herb stoically remains with Denham until the last possible minute, filming the dinosaurs.
Soon they, along with the rest of the men, have to flee down the narrow valley away from the stampeding herd and the Venetosaurs chasing them. Despite being plodding and slow-moving, Herb manages to successfully survive the stampede by running with the rest of the men, surprisingly managing to keep up and avoid being trampled.
The stampede ended after Baxter shot the Venatosaur chasing him in a hail of bullets, and unintentionally struck one of the Apatosaurus' with several bullets, causing it to trip and cause the others to fall into a heap. The men are forced to climb up a steep embankment to escape. Herb is at the rear of the climbing men and struggles to climb, subsequently getting stuck against the rock face and calling for help from Carl.
Carl tries to help him by getting him to hold onto his end of the camera tripod and pull him up, but Herb realises it won't work and says "You have to leave me!", despite Denhams vow that he will not leave without Herb. Herb is subsequently dragged back down the slope by a Venatosaur, and is killed and eaten by the pack. Carl is visibly distressed by the loss of his loyal assistant. He told Preston, that he wanted to finish his film for Herb and donate the proceeds to his wife and children. However, Preston, remembering that Carl had said the same thing when Mike died, sees this as the final confirmation that Carl is only doing it for himself.
Behind the Scenes
- Herb was portrayed by John Sumner in the 2005 Peter Jackson version of the movie. Sumner also worked with Jackson in The Frighteners and District 9.
- In the long deleted scene A Long Sea Voyage, he appears oiling his spare fake leg because it needed an overhaul and tells Bruce Baxter that he lost his leg from a sea lion in Nova Scottia. When Bruce asked him how he lost his leg, Herb tells him that it was not all he lost, implying that he lost his genitalia, (which Lumpy wordlessly references crushes a walnut with his woman-shaped nut cracker.) Bruce suggested it to be tough, but Herb suggested it a tragedy and commented that his boss Denham would have gotten an award for the picture in which he lost the leg (as it was claimed to be the best footage he and Denham ever shot).
- In the video game, Herb does not seem to appear but in the PC Version, a possible appearance of him appeared only in the On The Venture chapter only, when the three boats start going to the island, the player could notice a different sailor on the second boat with yellow clothes and brown trousers. It is possible that he is Herb, but in the original PS2 and Xbox original versions his face was Lumpy.
Appearances
- King Kong (2005 film)
- Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (possible appearance)