Elmo Lincoln

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"
*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

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