In 1913, author Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote a jungle novel about a lost boy who was adopted and raised by apes.

In 1918, it was adapted for the silver screen, where Elmo Lincoln first portrayed the hero, Tarzan the jungle king. He was one of six actors to play the part in the silent era.

From that original beginning, more than forty Tarzan films have been made up to the present time, with a total of eighteen actors portraying the ape man. When the talkies came along, a new Tarzan was required and the most memorable and enduring of them all was Johnny Weismuller.

Johnny was born in Austria in 1904. When four years old, his family immigrated to the United States. They eventually settled in Chicago where his father was a coal miner up to the time of his death from tuberculosis. In 1922, Johnny was selected for the American swimming team and became the first man to break a minute for the 100 metres.

He was timed at a phenomenonal 57.4 seconds, a new world record that would last for the next decade. At the Paris Olympics in 1924, he thrilled a packed swimming arena by winning three golds and a bronze with the water polo team.

During the lull between events, he entertained the crowds with a comedy diving routine. Four years later at the Amsterdam Olympics of 1928 he won another two golds to add to his already impressive collection.

While in training for the 1932 Games he was paid five hundred dollars to model some swimwear. One of the photographs was noticed by a Hollywood talent scout, who approached Johnny, asking him to test for the part of the next Tarzan. With the lure of big money and a possible chance of further fame, he quit the Olympic team and headed for the bright lights of Hollywood.

By the end of that year he had made his debut in ‘Tarzan the Ape Man’ and was the first to talk on screen in that role. In all, he played Tarzan twelve times, six with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer who teamed him with Maureen O’Sullivan as Jane. A further six were made with RKO studios and they paired him with Brenda Joyce as the heroine. By 1948 he was too old to swing from the vines and then starred in low budget ‘B’ movies for Columbia as Jungle Jim.

In 1959, during the Cuban revolution when Fidel Castro troops fought to overthrow the corrupt Batiste regime, Johnny was in the country to promote a golf tournament. While driving, his vehicle was stopped and surrounded by menacing armed Castro rebels.

For a short time the situation looked perilous and ominous. Johnny got out of the car calmly and slowly, and then beat his chest several times, letting out a blood-curdling cry. The astonished guerillas dropped their weapons and crowded around him shouting joyfully “Tarzan, Tarzan”, asking for his autograph. When he happily complied, they provided an armed escort to the tournament.

Sadly, he never found much happiness in his personal life being married five times, each one costing him dearly in alimony. In the last few years of his life, he was employed as an official greeter for Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.

Johnny died in 1984 in his 80th year. He will be remembered affectionately by many, as the greatest Tarzan of them all.

Above: Johnny in the ‘jungle’ with Maureen O’Sullivan as Jane.