- Gordon Scott
-
Gordon Scott Born Gordon Merrill Werschkul
August 3, 1926
Portland, Oregon, United StatesDied April 30, 2007 (aged 80)
Baltimore, Maryland, United StatesCause of death Cardiovascular disease Resting place Kensico Cemetery
Valhalla, New York, United StatesAlma mater University of Oregon Occupation Actor Years active 1955–1967 Height 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 metres) Spouse • Janice Mae Wynkoop (1948–1949) – 1 child
• Vera Miles (1956– 1960; divorced) – 1 childGordon Scott (August 3, 1926[1] – April 30, 2007) was an American film and television actor known for his portrayal of the fictional character Tarzan in five films (and one compilation of three made-as-a-pilot television episodes) of the Tarzan film series from 1955 to 1960.
Contents
Early life, education and military service
He was born Gordon Merrill Werschkul in Portland, Oregon, one of nine children of advertising man Stanley Werschkul and his wife Alice.[2] Scott was raised in Oregon and attended the University of Oregon, located in Eugene, Oregon, for one semester.
Upon leaving school, he was drafted into the United States Army in 1944 serving as a drill sergeant and military policeman until he was honorably discharged in 1947. He then worked at a variety of jobs until 1953, when he was spotted by a talent agent while working as a lifeguard at the Sahara Hotel and Casino, located on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada.
Career
Due in part to his muscular frame and 6-foot-3-inch (1.91-metre) height, he was quickly signed to replace Lex Barker as Tarzan[3] by producer Sol Lesser. Lesser had Gordon change his name because "Werschkul" sounded too much like "Weismueller".[4]
Scott's Tarzan movies ranged from rather cheap re-edited television pilots to large-scale action films with high-production values. In his early Tarzan films, he played the character as unworldly and inarticulate, in the mold of Johnny Weissmuller, an earlier Tarzan portrayer. In Scott's later films, after a change in producers, he played a Tarzan who was educated and spoke perfect English, as in the original Edgar Rice Burroughs novels. Scott was the only actor to play Tarzan in both styles.
Fearing he would become typecast as Tarzan,[5] Scott moved to Italy and became a popular star of what were known as sword-and-sandal epics, featuring handsome bodybuilders as various characters from Greek and Roman myth.
Scott was a friend of Hercules star Steve Reeves, and collaborated with him as Remus to Reeves's Romulus in Duel of the Titans (1961). Scott also played Hercules in a couple of low-budget productions during the mid-1960s. His final film appearance was in The Tramplers (filmed in 1966; released in the United States in 1968).
Personal life
Scott was married apparently three times, including once to his Tarzan co-star, actress Vera Miles, from 1954 to 1959. He had one son, Michael, born 1957, with Miles, and possibly several other children.[6]
His first marriage was with Janice Mae Wynkoop, of Oakland, California. They met when he was a lifeguard at Lake Temescal, located in Oakland, California. The couple married in Reno, Nevada, in 1948, and had one child, Karen Judith Werschkul (born August 26, 1948), before divorcing in 1949.
For the last two decades of his life, Scott was a popular guest at film conventions and autograph shows.[6]
Death
Scott died, aged 80, in Baltimore, Maryland, of lingering complications from multiple heart surgeries earlier in the year.[7][8]
He is buried in the Kensico Cemetery, located in Valhalla, New York.
Filmography
Tarzan films
Year Title Notes 1955 Tarzan's Hidden Jungle 1957 Tarzan and the Lost Safari the first Tarzan film successfully shot and released in color 1958 Tarzan's Fight for Life 1959 Tarzan's Greatest Adventure 1960 Tarzan the Magnificent Scott's successor in the Tarzan role, Jock Mahoney, played the villain Other roles
Year Title Genre Role Notes 1961 Duel of the Titans
(also known as Romolo e Remo)Remus 1962 Gladiator of Rome
(also known as Il gladiatore di Roma)Marcus 1962 A Queen for Caesar
(also known as Una regina per Cesare)historical drama film Julius Caesar 1963 L'eroe di Babilonia adventure film Nippur 1964 Buffalo Bill, Hero of the Far West
(also known as Buffalo Bill, l'eroe del far wes)spaghetti western Colonel William "Buffalo Bill" Cody 1964 Hero of Rome
(also known as Il colosso di Roma)historical drama film Gaius Mucius Scaevola 1965 Hercules and the Princess of Troy fantasy film Hercules 1967 Danger!! Death Ray spy film Bart Fargo 1966 Tarzan and the Trappers failed television pilot; filmed in 1958, not shown on television until 1966 1968 The Tramplers
(also known as Gli uomini dal passo pesante)spaghetti western Lon Cordeen See also
- List of Italian actors
- List of people from Maryland
- List of people from Oregon
- List of University of Oregon alumni
References
- ^ ERBzine 1793: Gordon Scott bio.
- ^ 1930 U.S. Census, Concord, Oregon.
- ^ Brian's Drive-In Theater.
- ^ [1].
- ^ [2].
- ^ a b "Gordon Scott; Him Tarzan In '50s, Only Better". The Washington Post.
- ^ "The Last of the Strongmen".
- ^ "Tarzan.CC*nbsp;– Jungle Drums".
External links
- Gordon Scott at the Internet Movie Database
- Gordon Scott's final newspaper interview
- Gordon Scott tribute http://www.erbzine.com/scott/
Preceded by
Lex BarkerTarzan
1955–1960Succeeded by
Denny MillerCategories:- 1926 births
- 2007 deaths
- 20th-century actors
- 20th-century American people
- 20th-century men
- 21st-century actors
- 21st-century American people
- 21st-century men
- Actors from Oregon
- Actors from Maryland
- American expatriates in Italy
- American film actors
- American television actors
- Italian film actors
- Burials at Kensico Cemetery
- Cardiovascular disease deaths in Maryland
- Deaths from surgical complications
- People from Portland, Oregon
- People from Baltimore, Maryland
- Tarzan
- United States Army personnel
- University of Oregon alumni
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
