The daring experimenter Dr. John C. Lilly dedicated his life to radical self-investigation and unlocking the mysteries of consciousness and communication. "My body is my laboratory" was the motto, and his research on the language of dolphins and whales - as well as psychedelics and sensory deprivation - assured his own cult status in 20th-century pop culture as the basis for Ken Russel's Altered States and Mike Nichols's The Day of the Dolphin.