Elmo Lincoln

Actor: Elmo Lincoln

Born: Feb 06, 1889 in Rochester, New York
Died: Jun 27, 1952 in Los Angeles, California
Occupation: Actor
Active: teens-'40s
Major Genres: Adventure, Drama
Career Highlights: Tarzan of the Apes, The Adventures of Tarzan, Fashion Row
First Major Screen Credit: The Deadly Glass of Beer (1916)

Biography

The screen's first Tarzan, Elmo Lincoln might never have landed the role had it not been for WWI. An enormous man (6'1", 230 pounds) who'd worked as an Arkansas law officer before entering films as a bit player, Lincoln was selected on the basis of his physique by D.W. Griffith to play blacksmith White Arm Joe in Birth of a Nation (1915) and the Mighty Man of Valor in Intolerance (1916). He might have continued playing supporting roles indefinitely had not actor Winslow Wilson dropped out of the 1918 production Tarzan of the Apes to fight on the battlefields of France. Rushed into the role of Tarzan, Lincoln gave an impressively virile performance, even though his acting skills left a great deal to be desired. He went on to play Tarzan in two subsequent films and starred in several action-oriented feature films and serials (his credits are sometimes confused with those of actor E.K. Lincoln). He retired from films in 1926 to operate a moderately successful salvage business in Salt Lake City. Returning to Hollywood in 1939, he played bit parts in a number of features, including a brace of Tarzan pictures. At the time of his death, Elmo Lincoln was still active in films, playing tiny roles in Columbia's Charles Starrett Westerns for 55 dollars a day. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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Wikipedia: Elmo Lincoln

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Video box cover for Tarzan of the Apes.

Elmo Lincoln (February 6, 1889 in Rochester, Indiana – June 27, 1952 in Los Angeles) was an American film actor.

Born Otto Elmo Linkenhelt, the barrel-chested actor is best known in his silent movie role as the first Tarzan in 1918's Tarzan of the Apes (as an adult -- Gordon Griffith played him as a child in the same movie). He portrayed the character twice more -- in The Romance of Tarzan (also 1918) and in the 1921 serial The Adventures of Tarzan. Following the end of the silent movie era, Elmo left Hollywood and tried his hand at mining. In the late 1930s, he returned to the film industry, most often employed as an extra. He appeared, uncredited, in two Tarzan films in the 1940s -- as a circus roustabout in Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942), and as a fisherman repairing his net in Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949).

His final work saw him also playing a brief, uncredited role in Carrie, starring Laurence Olivier. According to Tarzan of the Movies, by Gabe Essoe, Lincoln was quite proud of his work in this film, as he was an admirer of Olivier.

Lincoln died of a heart attack in 1952 and was interred in the Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7042 Hollywood Boulevard.

In 2001, his daughter Marci'a Lincoln Rudolph told his story in her book, My Father, Elmo Lincoln: The Original Tarzan (ISBN 1-58690-000-5).

Selected filmography

1913: The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
1913: Judith of Bethulia
1914: Brute Force
1915: Buckshot John
1915: Birth of a Nation
1915: The Slave Girl
1916: The Fatal Glass of Beer
1916: Intolerance
1916: Hoodoo Ann
1917: Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp
1917: The Bad Boy
1918: Tarzan of the Apes
1918: The Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin
1918: The Romance of Tarzan
1918: Treasure Island
1918: The Greatest Thing in Life
1919: The Fall of Babylon (re-edited from Intolerance)
1919: Elmo the Mighty
1920: The Flaming Disc
1921: Elmo the Fearless
1921: The Adventures of Tarzan
1922: Quincy Adams Sawyer
1927: King of the Jungle
1939: Union Pacific
1939: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
1939: Colorado Sunset
1939: Wyoming Outlaw
1942: Tarzan's New York Adventure
1944: When the Lights Go on Again
1945: The Man Who Walked Alone
1947: Rolling Home
1947: A Double Life
1948: Tap Roots
1949: Tarzan's Magic Fountain
1951: Hollywood Story
1952: Carrie

External links

Elmo Lincoln at the Internet Movie Database

Preceded by (originator with Gordon Griffith)	Actors to portray Tarzan 1918-1921	Succeeded by Gene Pollar

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		Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved. Read more
		Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Elmo Lincoln". Read more