- Born: Jun 02, 1904 in Freidorf, Austria-Hungary (now Romania)
- Died: Jan 20, 1984 in Acapulco, Mexico
- Occupation: Actor
- Active: '30s-'50s
- Major Genres: Adventure, Action
- Career Highlights: Tarzan and His Mate, Tarzan, the Ape Man, Devil Goddess
- First Major Screen Credit: Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932)
Johnny Weissmuller
| Actor: Johnny Weissmuller |
| Filmography: Johnny Weissmuller |
| Biography: Johnny Weissmuller |
Johnny Weissmuller (1904-1984), who played the role of Tarzan in films made during the 1930s, was one of the best swimmers of the twentieth century. He won five Olympic gold medals, set 24 world records, and won 51 AAU titles.
Although many older sources claim that Weissmuller was born in Windber, Pennsylvania, the son of Austrian immigrants, it has become known since his death that he was born in Freidorf, near Timisoara, Hungary (now in Romania). His parents immigrated to Windber when he was three years old, and his father supported the family by working as a coal miner. Later, Weissmuller simply claimed that he had been born in Pennsylvania.
"You Might Break Every Record There Is"
Weissmuller, who only attended school through the eighth grade, was sickly and weak as a child, and his family doctor put him on a special high-nutrition diet and advised him to take up swimming to strengthen his body. When he was a young boy, his father moved the family from Pennsylvania to Chicago, where Weissmuller joined the YMCA when he was 14. At age 15, he joined the Illinois Athletic Club. The coach there, Bill Bachrach, said, "Swear that you'll work a year with me without question and I'll take you on. You won't swim against anybody. You'll just be a slave and you'll hate my guts, but in the end you just might break every record there is," according to Ralph Hickok in A Who's Who of Sports Champions.
In Biographical Dictionary of American Sports, James D. Whalen wrote, "Bachrach, a gruff individual weighing 350 pounds, yelled at the exhausted Weissmuller during workouts, 'Form! Never swim for speed-always for form!"' His advice paid off. Weissmuller trained for over a year, then attended his first competition, the 1921 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) outdoor championship. He won the 220-yard freestyle swim. The only event he lost, the 440-yard freestyle, would be the only race, of any distance, that he ever lost during his entire swimming career.
In 1922, Weissmuller set world records in the 150-yard backstroke and the 300-meter freestyle. He also won national championships in the outdoors 100-, 220-, and 440-yard freestyle events and in the indoor 100-and 220-yard events. He won all the same championships in 1923, and also set a world record in the 150-yard backstroke. His new record was 6.8 seconds faster than the old one. On July 9, 1922, he became the first person ever to swim 100 meters in less than a minute, completing the distance in 58.6 seconds. He also broke the 5-minute barrier in the 440-yard freestyle swim.
Two-Time Olympian
Weissmuller swam in the 1924 Olympics in Paris, and won gold medals in the 100-and 400-meter freestyle events. He set a world record of 5:04.2 in the 400, and his time of 59.0 in the 100 was an Olympic record. At the same Games, he was a member of the gold-medal-winning 4-200 freestyle relay team as well as the bronze-medal-winning U.S. water polo team. In the same year, he beat his own world-record 100-meter time, lowering the record to 57.4 seconds. This time wasn't beaten until 1944.
In 1925, 1926, and 1927, he won 15 more national titles. He held the record for the 100-yard freestyle, with a time of 51.0 seconds, for the next 17 years, and his record for the 200-meter freestyle stood for seven years. At the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, he won more gold medals in the 400-meter freestyle and as a member of the 4 × 200-meter relay team.
In addition to being a fine athlete, Weissmuller was good-looking, with broad shoulders, narrow hips, and long legs. He weighed 195 pounds and was six feet, three inches tall. He also had a gift for entertaining crowds. Between serious swimming events, he often made the crowds laugh by doing comedy dives. After the 1928 Olympics, he became a professional swimmer, and performed at exhibitions all over the United States. In 1940, when he was 36, he broke his own 100-yard freestyle record, swimming the distance in 48.5 seconds. Bill Bachrach's insistence on good form was apparent in his style; as Pat Besford wrote in Encyclopedia of Swimming, "His high-riding stroke, with its pull-and-push arm stroke, independent head turning action for breathing and deep flutter leg-kick, was revolutionary and had a tremendous influence on the development of the crawl throughout the world."
Tarzan was Born
Weissmuller's second career as an actor began in 1932, and might not have begun at all if Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios (MGM) had not had a very successful jungle movie, Trader Horn. The studio had a great deal of extra jungle footage, and not wanting to waste it, decided to use it to make a film based on the book Tarzan, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, about a man who had been abandoned in the jungle during his infancy and then raised by apes. According to Gabe Essoe in Tarzan of the Apes, MGM director William S. Van Dyke said, "What I want is a man who is young, strong, well-built, reasonably attractive, but not necessarily handsome, and a competent actor. The most important thing is that he have a good physique. And I can't find him." The studio considered hundreds of candidates with no success. Tarzan screenwriter Cyril Hume was staying at the same hotel as Weissmuller. When he saw the champiion swimmer in the hotel pool, he knew he'd found the man the studio wanted. According to Essoe, Van Dyke later praised Weissmuller's ability to be comfortable wearing almost nothing. He said, "Most actors without clothes are undressed rather than naked and are too self-conscious to act naturally." Because Weissmuller was a swimmer, he was used to being in public while wearing only swim trunks.
At first, Weissmuller wasn't interested in the movie part, and in fact he had signed an exclusive contract with BVD, a manufacturer of swimsuits and underwear, as a spokesman for their products. BVD refused to release him from the contract and let him act for MGM. MGM, undaunted, sent over a team of lawyers to try and convince the executives at BVD to come to an agreement. Eventually, the two sides made a deal. If BVD would let Weissmuller act for MGM, MGM would allow BVD to photograph all the big MGM stars in swim suits. This list included stars such as Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, and Jean Harlow. MGM would hire Weissmuller for seven years, beginning with a pay rate of $500 a week, with raises of up to $2,000 a week during that time.
The producer of the film, who didn't follow sports, had no idea that Weissmuller was a well-known Olympic champion and at first, wanted to change his name. According to Besford, he said, "Johnny Weissmuller, that's too long, it won't go on the posters, we'll have to change it," until someone told him who Weissmuller was.
Although Edgar Rice Burrough's original Tarzan was a "noble savage" who was a cultured gentleman who spoke several languages, the film Tarzan is an animal-man who can barely speak. Tarzan, the Ape Man was well-made for its time, starred the beautiful Irish actress Maureen O'Sullivan, and featured scanty costumes, romance between Weissmuller and O'Sullivan, little dialogue, and a lot of jungle action. It was an immediate success with both the public and critics, who praised its sweeping action, entertaining story, and its actors. Essoe quoted critic Thornton Delehanty, who wrote that Weissmuller was "the complete realization of this son-of-the-jungle role. With his flowing hair, his magnificently proportioned body, his catlike walk, and his virtuosity in the water, you could hardly ask anything more in the way of perfection."
"Would Always Be Tarzan"
Weissmuller would go on to star in eleven more Tarzan movies, half for MGM, and half for RKO. The MGM films were of higher quality, and according to Scott Siegel and Barbara Siegel in the Encyclopedia of Hollywood, Tarzan and His Mate 1934 "is considered the cream of the crop." They also wrote, "For generations who saw Weissmuller swinging from vines on the big screen, and their children who saw him doing the same when the movies were rebroadcast on television, Weissmuller would always be Tarzan."
Throughout the Tarzan series, Weissmuller swam in at least one scene-usually more-showing off his famous form and speed, and often wrestled crocodiles or other watery menaces. Fortunately, the role did not demand much acting ability; in the Encyclopedia of Hollywood, Scott Siegel and Barbara Siegel wrote, "Weissmuller was a wooden actor with a halting speech pattern that worked just fine for the monosyllabic role of the ape man created by Edgar Rice Burroughs."At the same time, however, Weissmuller was well aware that he was not a particularly skilled or expressive actor, and he retained a sense of humor about his lack of acting talent and his character's limited conversational ability. Of his role as Tarzan, he once said, according to Hickok, "It was up my alley. There was swimming in it, and I didn't have much to say." He commented that the secret of his success as Tarzan was his ability to grunt, according to Ray Narducy in the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. He also joked about his character's frequent habit of swinging through the treetops on a long vine; according to Robert A. Newton and Gwendolyn Wright Nowlan in Movie Characters of Leading Performers of the Sound Age, he said, "The main thing is not to let go of the rope."
When Weissmuller grew older and loincloths no longer flattered him, he starred in the low-budget Jungle Jim series, in which his character was very similar to Tarzan, except that he wore clothes. The first of these adventures was filmed in 1948; 15 more were made, although in the last three, his character was called "Johnny Weissmuller," not "Jungle Jim." In 1956, he appeared in a television series called Jungle Jim, which lasted for 26 episodes. Weissmuller only played in one film that did not involve Tarzan or Jungle Jim. Titled Swamp Fire, the film also starred Buster Crabbe, another swimmer who played Tarzan in a rival film company's film in the 1930s.
After retiring from the movies, Weissmuller gave his name to a swimming pool company, the Johnny Weissmuller Swimming Pools Company, a franchise based in Chicago, and had a fairly successful business career. He was also manager of the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His love life was less successful; he married six times. He had three children, Wendy, John, and Heide, with his fifth wife, Allene Gates. His autobiography, Water, World and Weissmuller, was published in 1967.
Weissmuller's last film appearance was in a film called The Phynx in 1970. After battling a series of strokes and surgeries, he died at his home in Acapulco, Mexico in 1984.
Books
Besford, Pat, Encyclopedia of Swimming, St. Martin's Press, 1976.
Biographical Dictionary of American Sports, edited by David L. Porter, Greenwood Press, 1989.
Essoe, Gabe, Tarzan of the Apes, Citadel Press, 1968.
International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers 3, 3rd ed., edited by Amy L. Unterberger, St. James Press, 1997.
Newton, Robert A. and Gwendolyn Wright Nowlan, Movie Characters of Leading Performers of the Sound Era, American Library Association, 1990.
Siegel, Scott, and Barbara Siegel, Encyclopedia of Hollywood, Facts on File, 1990.
Online
Encyclopedia Britannica,http://www.britannica.com/seo/j/johnny-weissmuller (December 28, 2000).
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Johnny Weissmuller |
For more information on Johnny Weissmuller, visit Britannica.com.
| Wikipedia: Johnny Weissmuller |
| Johnny Weissmuller | |
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| Born | Peter Johann Weißmüller June 2, 1904 Temesvár, Austria-Hungary (now Timişoara, Romania) |
|---|---|
| Died | January 20, 1984 (aged 79) Acapulco, Mexico |
| Spouse(s) | Maria Brock Mandell Bauman (1963–1984) Allene Gates (1948–1962) Beryl Scott (1939–1948) Lupe Vélez (1933–1939) Bobbe Arnst (1931–1933) Camilla Louiee (? - ?) |
Johnny Weissmuller (Born as Weissmüller János; June 2, 1904 – January 20, 1984) was an American swimmer and actor who was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven world records. After his swimming career, he became the sixth actor to portray Tarzan in films, a role he played in twelve motion pictures. Dozens of other actors have also played Tarzan, but Weissmuller is by far the best known. His character's distinctive, ululating Tarzan yell is still often used in films.
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Early life
Weissmuller was a Banat German, born to Peter Weißmüller and his wife Elisabeth Kersch in the Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary. The ship's roster from his family's arrival at Ellis Island lists his birthplace as Freidorf, now a district of Timişoara, Romania,[1][2][3][4] but he was born in the village of Pardanj (today Međa, Serbia near the Romanian border). It has been claimed that he was actually named Peter by his parents, but when he arrived in the US he used his brother's name, Johnny, because it was more American. However, the records of St Rochus Church in Freidorf show that János (the Hungarian equivalent of Johann), son of Peter Weissmuller and Elizabeth Kersch, was baptized there on 6 May 1904. The passenger manifest of the S.S. Rotterdam, which arrived in New York on January 26, 1905, lists Peter Weissmuller, a 29-year-old laborer, his 24-year-old wife Elisabeth, and seven-month-old Johann, The family is listed as Hungarian Germans, last residence: Szabadfalu (Hungarian equivalent of Freidorf). They were going to join their brother-in-law Johann Ott of Windber, Pennsylvania. On November 5, 1905, Johann Peter Weissmuller was baptized at St John Cantius Church in Windber. In the 1910 census, Peter and Elizabeth Weisenmuller as well as John and Eva Ott were living at 1521 Cleveland Ave in the 22nd Ward of Chicago, with sons John, age six, born in "Hun-German" and Peter Jr., age five, born in Illinois. Peter Weissmuller and John Ott were both brewers, Ott immigrating in 1902, Weismuller in 1904. The ethnic group known as Banat Swabians had lived for several centuries in that region and developed a distinctive dialect and cultural traits.
When Weissmuller was a small child, the family emigrated to the United States aboard the S.S. Rotterdam as steerage passengers. They left Rotterdam on January 14, 1905, and arrived at Ellis Island in New York harbor twelve days later as Peter, Elisabeth and Johann Weissmuller. The passenger list records them as ethnic Germans and citizens of Hungary. After a brief stay in Chicago, visiting relatives, they moved to the coal mining town of Windber, Pennsylvania. (For most of Weissmuller's career, show business biographies incorrectly listed him as having been born in Pennsylvania. Some sources state that Weissmuller lied about his birthplace in order to ensure his place on the US Olympic swimming team.) Peter Weissmuller worked as a miner, and his youngest son, Peter Weissmuller, Jr., was born in Windber on September 3, 1905. Peter Jr. is listed on one census as born in Illinois.
At age nine, Weissmuller contracted polio. At the suggestion of his doctor, he took up swimming to help battle the disease. After the family moved from Western Pennsylvania to Chicago, Weissmuller continued swimming and eventually earned a spot on the YMCA swim team.[5] While living in Chicago, Weissmuller's father owned a bar for a time and his mother became head cook at a famed restaurant. After Peter's business failed, he began drinking heavily and abusing both his wife and children. Elizabeth Weissmuller eventually filed for, and was granted, a divorce (various biographies erroneously state that Weissmuller's father died of tuberculosis leaving her a widow).[6] According to draft registration records for World War I, Peter and Elizabeth were apparently still together as late as 1917. On his paperwork, Peter was listed as a brewer, working for the Elston and Fullerton Brewery. He and his family were living at 226 West North Avenue in Chicago. In his book, Tarzan, My Father, Johnny Weissmuller Jr. stated that although rumors of Peter Weissmuller living to "a ripe old age, remarrying along the way and spawning a large brood of little Weissmullers" were reported, no one in the family was aware of his ultimate fate.[6] Peter signed his consent for 19-year old John "Weissmuller"'s passport application in 1924, preceding Johnny's Olympic competition in France. In the 1930 federal census, Elizabeth Weissmeuller, age 49, has listed with her, her sons John P. and Peter J., and Peter's wife Dorothy. Elizabeth is listed as a widow. Illinois death records indicate a Peter "Weissmuller" died in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois on July 17, 1938. A "Katherin Weissmuller" died there as well on October 15, 1946. These may have been Johnny Weissmuller's parents.
Careers
Swimming
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Olympic Games | ||
Competitor for  United States |
||
| Men’s swimming | ||
| Gold | 1924 Paris | 100 m freestyle |
| Gold | 1924 Paris | 400 m freestyle |
| Gold | 1924 Paris | 800 m freestyle relay |
| Gold | 1928 Amsterdam | 100 m freestyle |
| Gold | 1928 Amsterdam | 800 m freestyle relay |
| Men’s water polo | ||
| Bronze | 1924 Paris | Team |
As a teen, Weissmuller attended Lane Techical H.S. before dropping out to work various jobs including a stint as a lifeguard at a Lake Michigan beach. While working as an elevator operator and bellboy at the Illinois Athletic Club, Weissmuller caught the eye of swim coach William Bachrach. Bachrach trained Weissmuller and in August 1921, Weissmuller won the national championships in the 50-yard and 220-yard distances. Though he was foreign-born, Weissmuller gave his birthplace as Tanneryville, Pennsylvania, and his birth date as that of his younger brother, Peter Weissmuller. This was to ensure his eligibility to compete as part of the United States Olympic team, and was a critical issue in being issued an American passport.[5] (This comment seems to be contradicted by data on his actual passport application - On his 1924 passport application, he listed his date of birth as June 2, 1904, and his place of birth as Windbar, Pennsylvania. His father, Peter signed an affidavit to this effect, giving his 19-year olf son permission to travel abroad to participate in the Paris Olympics and for other competitions in England and Belgium. His passport was issued in May, 1924.)
On July 9, 1922, Weissmuller broke Duke Kahanamoku's world record on the 100-meters freestyle, swimming it in 58.6 seconds.[7] He won the title in that distance at the 1924 Summer Olympics, beating Kahanamoku for the gold.[8] He also won the 400-meters freestyle and the 4 x 200 meters relay. As a member of the American water polo team, he also won a bronze medal. Four years later, at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, he won another two Olympic titles.[9]
In all, he won five Olympic gold medals, one bronze medal, won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven world records. Johnny Weissmuller never lost a race and retired from his amateur swimming career undefeated.[10]
Motion pictures
In 1929, Weissmuller signed a contract with BVD to be a model and representative. He traveled throughout the country doing swim shows, handing out leaflets promoting that brand of swimwear, signing autographs and going on talk shows. In that same year, he made his first motion picture appearance as an Adonis, wearing only a fig leaf, in a movie entitled Glorifying the American Girl. He appeared as himself in the first of several Crystal Champions movie shorts featuring Weissmuller and other Olympic champions at Silver Springs, Florida.
He co-starred with Esther Williams in Billy Rose's Aquacade during the San Francisco World's Fair, 1939–41, pursuing her throughout a span of two years.[11]
His acting career began when he signed a seven year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and played the role of Tarzan in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932). The movie was a huge success and Weissmuller became an overnight international sensation. Tarzan author, Edgar Rice Burroughs, was pleased with Weissmuller, although he so hated the studio's depiction of a Tarzan who barely spoke English that he created his own concurrent Tarzan series filmed on location in Central American jungles and starring Herman Brix as a suitably articulate version of the character.
Weissmuller starred in six Tarzan movies for MGM with actress Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane (with whom he had a brief affair[citation needed]) and Cheeta the Chimpanzee. The last three also included Johnny Sheffield as Boy. Then, in 1942, Weissmuller went to RKO and starred in six more Tarzan movies with markedly reduced production values. Unlike MGM, RKO allowed Weissmuller to play other roles, though a three picture contract with Pine-Thomas Productions led to only one film, Swamp Fire, being made, co-starring Buster Crabbe. Sheffield appeared as Boy in the first five features for RKO. Another co-star was Brenda Joyce, who played Jane in Weissmuller's last four Tarzan movies. In a total of twelve Tarzan films, Weissmuller earned an estimated $2,000,000 and established himself as what many consider the definitive Tarzan. Although not the first Tarzan in movies, (that honor went to Elmo Lincoln), he was the first to be associated with the now traditional ululating, yodeling Tarzan yell. (During an appearance on television's The Mike Douglas Show in the 1970s, Weissmuller explained how the famous yell was created. Recordings of three vocalists were spliced together to get the effect—a soprano, an alto, and a hog caller).
When Weissmuller finally left that role, he immediately traded his loincloth costume for a slouch hat and safari suit for the role of Jungle Jim (1948) for Columbia. He made 13 Jungle Jim films between (1948) and (1954). Within the next year, he appeared in three more jungle movies, playing himself. In 1955, he began production of the Jungle Jim television adventure series for Screen Gems, a film subsidiary of Columbia. The show ran for twenty-six episodes, which subsequently played repeatedly on network and syndicated TV. Aside from a first screen appearance as Adonis and the role of Johnny Duval in the 1946 film Swamp Fire, Weissmuller played only three roles in films during the heyday of his Hollywood career: Tarzan, Jungle Jim, and himself.
After movies
In the late 1950s, Weissmuller moved back to Chicago and started a swimming pool company. He lent his name to other business ventures, but did not have a great deal of success. He retired in 1965 and moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he was Founding Chairman of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Acording to David Wallechinsky's Complete Book of the Olympics, Weissmuller was playing in a celebrity golf tournament in 1958 when his golf cart was suddenly captured by rebel soldiers. Weissmuller sized up the situation, got out of the cart and gave his trademark Tarzan yell. The shocked rebels soon began to jump up and down, calling "Tarzan! Welcome to Cuba!" Johnny and his companions were not only not kidnapped, but were given a rebel escort to the golf course.
Sometime in the 1960s, Weissmuller built a doomed tourist attraction called Tropical Wonderland, aka Tarzan's Jungleland, on US 1 in Titusville, Florida. In September 1966, Weissmuller joined former screen Tarzans James Pierce and Jock Mahoney to appear with Ron Ely as part of the publicity for the upcoming premiere of the Tarzan TV series. The producers also approached Weissmuller to guest star as Tarzan's father, but nothing came of it.
In 1970, he attended the British Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, where he was presented to Queen Elizabeth II. That same year, he made a cameo appearance with former co-star Maureen O'Sullivan in The Phynx (1970).
Weissmuller lived in Florida until the end of 1973, then moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he worked as a greeter at the MGM Grand Hotel for a time. In 1976, he appeared for the last time in a motion picture, playing a movie crewman who is fired by a movie mogul, played by Art Carney, in Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood, and he also made his final public appearance in that year when he was inducted into the Body Building Guild Hall of Fame.
Personal life
Weissmuller had five wives: band and club singer Bobbe Arnst (married 1931 – divorced 1933); actress Lupe Vélez (married 1933 – divorced 1939); Beryl Scott (married 1939 – divorced 1948); Allene Gates (married 1948 – divorced 1962); and Maria Bauman (married 1963 – his death 1984).
With his third wife, Beryl, he had three children, Johnny Weissmuller, Jr. (September 23, 1940 – July 27, 2006), Wendy Anne Weissmuller (b. June 1, 1942), and Heidi Elizabeth Weissmuller (July 31, 1944 – November 19, 1962).
Declining health and death
In 1974, Weissmuller broke both his hip and leg, marking the beginning of years of declining health. While hospitalized he learned that, in spite of his strength and lifelong daily regimen of swimming and exercise, he had a serious heart condition. In 1977, Weissmuller suffered a series of strokes. In 1979, he entered the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California for several weeks before moving with his last wife, Maria, to Acapulco, Mexico, the location of his last Tarzan movie.[12]
On January 20, 1984, Weissmuller died from pulmonary edema at the age of 79.[13] At his request, he was buried in Acapulco at Valley of the Light Cemetery where, also at his request, a recording of the Tarzan yell he invented was played.[12]
Influence
His former co-star and movie son, Johnny Sheffield, wrote of him, "I can only say that working with Big John was one of the highlights of my life. He was a Star (with a capital "S") and he gave off a special light and some of that light got into me. Knowing and being with Johnny Weissmuller during my formative years had a lasting influence on my life."[14]
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Johnny Weissmuller has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6541 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.
Filmography
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 1929 | Glorifying the American Girl | Adonis | Cameo appearance in the segment "Loveland" |
| 1931 | Swim or Sink | Himself | Short subject |
| Water Bugs | Himself | Short subject | |
| 1932 | Tarzan, the Ape Man | Tarzan | |
| The Human Fish | Himself | Short subject | |
| 1934 | Tarzan and His Mate | Tarzan | |
| 1936 | Tarzan Escapes | Tarzan | |
| 1939 | Tarzan Finds a Son! | Tarzan | |
| 1941 | Tarzan's Secret Treasure | Tarzan | |
| 1942 | Tarzan's New York Adventure | Tarzan | |
| 1943 | Tarzan Triumphs | Tarzan | Complete title: Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan Triumphs |
| Tarzan's Desert Mystery | Tarzan | Complete title: Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan's Desert Mystery | |
| Stage Door Canteen | Himself | ||
| 1945 | Tarzan and the Amazons | Tarzan | Complete title: Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan and the Amazons |
| 1946 | Tarzan and the Leopard Woman | Tarzan | Complete title: Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan and the Leopard Woman |
| Swamp Fire | Johnny Duval | ||
| 1947 | Tarzan and the Huntress | Tarzan | Complete title: Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan and the Huntress |
| 1948 | Tarzan and the Mermaids | Tarzan | Complete title: Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan and the Mermaids |
| Jungle Jim | Jungle Jim | ||
| 1948 | The Lost Tribe | Jungle Jim | |
| 1950 | Mark of the Gorilla | Jungle Jim | |
| Captive Girl | Jungle Jim | Alternative title: Jungle Jim and the Captive Girl | |
| Jungle Jim in Pygmy Island | Jungle Jim | Alternative title: Pygmy Island | |
| 1951 | Fury of the Congo | Jungle Jim | |
| Jungle Manhunt | Jungle Jim | ||
| 1952 | Jungle Jim in the Forbidden Land | Jungle Jim | |
| Voodoo Tiger | Jungle Jim | ||
| 1953 | Savage Mutiny | Jungle Jim | |
| Valley of Head Hunters | Jungle Jim | ||
| Killer Ape | Jungle Jim | ||
| 1954 | Jungle Man-Eaters | Jungle Jim | |
| Cannibal Attack | Johnny Weissmuller | ||
| 1955 | Jungle Moon Men | Johnny Weissmuller | |
| Devil Goddess | Johnny Weissmuller | ||
| 1970 | The Phynx | Himself | |
| 1976 | Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood | Stagehand #2 | |
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1956-1958 | Jungle Jim | Jungle Jim | 26 episodes |
References
- ^ "Interview with Johnny Weissmuller, Jr.". germanhollywood.com. http://www.germanhollywood.com/tarzan_myfather1.html.
- ^ "Johnny Weissmuller." Britannica Online Encyclopedia.
- ^ "Serbia: Monument to Tarzan". The New York Times. 2007-02-17. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/17/world/europe/17briefs-tarzanmonument.html?%20(ex=1172725200&en=a945f654fa0398cc&ei=5070.
- ^ "Businessweek report."
- ^ a b Rasmussen, Frederick N. (2008-08-17). "From the pool to Hollywood stardom". baltimoresun.com. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-id.backstory17aug17,0,2204240.column. Retrieved on 2008-10-09.
- ^ a b Weissmuller, Jr., Johnny; Weissmuller, Johnny; Reed, William (2002). Tarzan, My Father. Burroughs, Danton. ECW Press. pp. 25–28. ISBN 1-550-22522-7.
- ^ The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge: A Desk Reference for the Curious Mind. Macmillan. 2007. p. 943. ISBN 0-312-37659-6.
- ^ Christopher, Paul J.; Smith, Alicia Marie (2006). Greatest Sports Heroes of All Times: North American Edition. Encouragement Press, LLC. p. 204. ISBN 1-933-76609-3.
- ^ Kirsch, George B.; Othello, Harris; Nolte, Claire Elaine (2000). Encyclopedia of Ethnicity and Sports in the United States. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 488. ISBN 0-313-29911-0.
- ^ Simonton, Dean Keith (1994). Greatness: Who Makes History and Why. Guilford Press. p. 156. ISBN 0-898-62201-8.
- ^ The Million Dollar Mermaid: An Autobiography, By Esther Williams, Digby Diehl, Published by Harcourt Trade, 2000, ISBN 0156011352, 9780156011358.
- ^ a b Fury, David (1994). Kings of the Jungle: An Illustrated Reference to "Tarzan" on Screen and Television. McFarland & Company. p. 57. ISBN 0-899-50771-9.
- ^ Sisson, Richard; Zacher, Christian; Cayton, Andrew Robert Lee (2007). The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia. Indiana University Press. p. 902. ISBN 0-253-34886-2.
- ^ Weissmuller, Johnny, Jr.; Weissmuller, Johnny; Reed, William (2002). Tarzan, My Father. Burroughs, Danton. ECW Press. p. 83. ISBN 1-550-22522-7.
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Further reading
- Fury, David A. Fury. Johnny Weissmuller: Twice the Hero (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Artist's Press. 2000) ISBN 0924556021
- Weissmuller, Johnny Jr. Tarzan My Father, Toronto: ECW Press 2002
External links
- Johnny Weissmuller at the Internet Movie Database
- Tarzan Fan Site
- Louis S. Nixdorff, 1928 Olympic games collection, 1926-1978, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
- The passenger list of the ship that brought the Weissmullers to Ellis Island
- "Serbia: Monument to Tarzan", The New York Times, February 17, 2007. The article states that Johnny Weissmuller was born in Serbia.
- Johnny Weissmuller at
Find a Grave
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| Preceded by Frank Merrill |
Actors to portray Tarzan 1932-1948 |
Succeeded by Buster Crabbe |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
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 | Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Biography. © 2006 through a partnership of Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Johnny Weissmuller". Read more |
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Mentioned in
- Jungle Man-Eaters (1954 Adventure Film)
- Voodoo Tiger (1952 Adventure Film)
- Angela Greene (Actor, Comedy/Drama)
- Keester Sweeney (Actor)
- Cannibal Attack (1954 Adventure Film)
- Captive Girl (1950 Adventure Film)
- Devil Goddess (1955 Adventure Film)
- Fury of the Congo (1951 Adventure Film)
- Jungle Jim in the Forbidden Land (1952 Adventure Film)
- Jungle Manhunt (1951 Adventure Film)
- Jungle Moon Men (1955 Science Fiction Film)
- Killer Ape (1953 Adventure Film)
- Mark of the Gorilla (1950 Adventure Film)
- Pygmy Island (1950 Action Film)
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