He became a household name when he took the role of Mike Nelson in the exceptionally successful TV series, Sea Hunt. As Nelson, a former United States Navy frogman, Bridges traveled the southeastern part of America and the Caribbean as a do-good underwater “sheriff”. When the show ended in 1961 after 156 episodes, Sea Hunt had introduced millions of people all over the world to the new activity of scuba diving (including his own children, Beau, Jeff and Lucinda).
Bridges continued to pursue a successful acting career throughout his life, occasionally performing with his sons. At the Hollywood Bowl, he narrated “Peter and the Wolf” and “Carnival of the Animals” (for which his wife, Dorothy, wrote the accompanying verses) with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. This program, plus “Lincoln Portrait” was repeated in Washington, New York, and London.
He was also passionately involved in organizations which helped to improve the state of the environment, including: Heal The Bay, Whales Alive, Earthtrust, Environmental Defense Fund, The Wilderness Society, Sierra Club, and American Oceans Campaign.