Tarzan (1966 TV series)

Infobox Television
show_name = Tarzan


caption =
aka =
genre = Action
Adventure
Drama
creator =
writer =
director =
creat_director =
starring = Ron Ely
Manuel Padilla Jr.
Alan Caillou
Rockne Tarkington
country = USA
language = English
num_seasons = 2
num_episodes = 57
list_episodes =
exec_producer = Sy Weintraub
producer = Leon Benson
Jon Epstein
Steve Shagan
Maurice Unger
asst_producer = Vernon E. Clark
co-producer = Don Brinkley
runtime = 60 mins.
channel = NBC
first_aired = September 8, 1966
last_aired = April 5, 1968
preceded_by =
followed_by =
related =
website =
prod_website =
imdb_id = 0060033
tv_com_id = 10319

"Tarzan" aired on NBC from 1966 – 1968. The series portrayed Tarzan (played by Ron Ely) as a well-educated character, one who, tired of civilization, had returned to the jungle where he had been raised. The show retained many of the trappings of the classic movie series, including Cheeta, while excluding other elements, such as Jane, as part of the "new look" for the fabled apeman that producer Sy Weintraub had introduced in previous motion pictures starring Gordon Scott, Jock Mahoney, and Mike Henry. CBS aired repeat episodes the program during the summer of 1969.

Production Notes

Mike Henry had just filmed several big-screen adventures as Tarzan in Brazil and was slated to play the lead in the TV series, but backed out due to disagreements with producer Sy Weintraub. Ron Ely was originally to have played a Tarzan imposter in a proposed episode of the TV series, but took over the lead role.

Like Jock Mahoney, Ely insisted on performing his own stunts when playing Tarzan. Unlike Mahoney, Ely was not a professional stuntman and sustained seventeen different injuries during the first season. These included singeing his arms and legs running through a burning village {"Village of Fire"); being bitten in the forehead by a "tame" lion (in a later fight with the same lion, Ely was bitten on the lower left thigh); falling down a hill and ripping the skin off the tops of his feet; falling twenty-five feet off a vine and separating his shoulder; and falling off another vine and breaking his other shoulder, fracturing three ribs and spraining both wrists.

Producer Sy Weintraub shifted filming from Brazil to the Churubusco studio in Mexico because of production delays.

In September 1966, former screen Tarzans James Pierce (1927), Johnny Weissmuller (1932 - 1948), and Jock Mahoney (1962-1963) appeared with Ron Ely as part of the publicity for the upcoming premier of the TV series. Weissmuller was approached to guest star as Tarzan's father, but nothing came of it.

Ely made his directorial debut with the second-season episode "Hotel Hurricane", which was a re-working of the 1948 film noir classic "Key Largo", with the action transplanted from Florida Keys to the African jungle.

Both actor Ron Ely and line producer Steve Shagan became successful novelists.

Theatrical Motion Picture Versions

Several two-part episodes were later re-edited into theatrical motion pictures:

* "The Deadly Silence" was released as "Tarzan’s Deadly Silence" in July 1970

* "The Four O’Clock Army" was released as "Tarzan and the Four O’clock War" in March 1968

* "The Blue Stone of Heaven" was released as "Tarzan’s Jungle Rebellion" in 1967; "The Blue Stone of Heaven" also served as the pilot for the series

* "The Perils of Charity Jones" was released as "Tarzan and the Perils of Charity Jones" in October 1971.

Cast

* Tarzan .... Ron Ely
* Jai .... Manuel Padilla Jr.
* Jason Flood .... Alan Caillou
* Tao .... Rockne Tarkington

Guest Stars

* Chill Wills guest-starred in the 1968 episode "The End of the Challenge". Wills also appeared with Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan, and Johnny Sheffield in the 1942 MGM film "Tarzan's New York Adventure".

* Guest stars included current or future Academy Award winners Nancy Malone, George Kennedy, and Helen Hayes who made a rare television appearance when she co-starred with her son James MacArthur in the 1968 episode "The Pride of the Lioness".

* The 1967 episode "The Golden Runaway" was the third to last screen appearance of Gia Scala prior to her suicide.

* Child actor Victoria Paige Meyerink, who appeared in the 1967 episode "Jungle Dragnet", and veteran character actor Jack Elam, who appeared in the 1967 episode "The Circus", co-starred with Ron Ely in the 1966 western film "Night of the Grizzly".

* Don Megowan, who appeared with Ron Ely in the 1966 episode "The Ultimate Duel", also appeared in the 1966 film "Tarzan and the Valley of Gold" with Mike Henry.

* Carlos Rivas, who appeared in episodes "The Ultimate Duel" and "Perils of Tanga", played the renegade Mayan shaman in the 1975 camp action movie "" starring Ron Ely.

* Diana Ross and The Supremes play three nuns in the 1968 episode "The Convert" with James Earl Jones as a Tribal Chief.

Recurring Appearances

Renown Shakespearean actor Maurice Evans would have a recurring guest-starring role as retired Brigadier Sir Basil Bertram, hero of the Battle of the Bulge.

American stage actress Julie Harris had a recurring guest-starring role as missionary Charity Jones.

Veteran Australian actor Chips Rafferty had a recurring guest-starring role as Dutch Jensen.

The following actors made multiple appearances in different roles: Jock Mahoney, Woody Strode, Rockne Tarkington, William Marshall, George Murdock, Robert J. Wilke, Gene Evans, Michael Whitney, Jill Donohue, Strother Martin, Bernie Hamilton, Michael Pate, Lloyd Haynes, Barbara Bouchet, Harry Lauter, Simon Oakland, John Anderson, James Earl Jones, Robert DoQui, Geoffrey Holder, Gregg Palmer, Jacques Aubuchon

Episode list

Season one (1966–1967)
# "Eyes of the Lion"
# "The Ultimate Weapon"
# "Leopard on the Loose"
# "A Life for a Life"
# "The Prisoner"
# "The Three Faces of Death"
# "The Prodigal Puma"
# "The Deadly Silence, Part 1"
# "The Deadly Silence, Part 2"
# "The Figurehead"
# "Village of Fire"
# "The Day of the Golden Lion"
# "Pearls of Tanga"
# "The End of the River"
# "The Ultimate Duel"
# "The Fire People"
# "Track of the Dinosaur"
# "The Day the Earth Trembled"
# "Cap’n Jai"
# "A Pride of Assassins"
# "The Golden Runaway"
# "Basil of the Bulge"
# "Mask of Rona"
# "To Steal the Rising Sun"
# "Jungle Dragnet"
# "The Perils of Charity Jones, Part 1"
# "The Perils of Charity Jones, Part 2"
# "The Circus"
# "The Ultimatum"
# "Algie B. for Brave"
# "Man Killer"Season two (1967–1968)
# "Tiger, Tiger"
# "Voice of the Elephant"
# "Thief Catcher"
# "The Blue Stone of Heaven, Part 1"
# "The Blue Stone of Heaven, Part 2"
# "Maguma Curse"
# "The Fanatics"
# "The Last of the Superman"
# "Hotel Hurricane"
# "The Pride of a Lioness"
# "Mountains of the Moon, Part 1"
# "Mountains of the Moon, Part 2"
# "Jai’s Amnesia"
# "Creeping Giants"
# "The Professional"
# "The Convert"
# "King of the Dwsari"
# "A Gun for Jai"
# "Trek to Terror"
# "End of a Challenge"
# "Jungle Ransom"
# "Four O’Clock Army, Part 1"
# "Four O’Clock Army, Part 2"
# "Rendezous for Revenge"
# "Alex the Great"
# "Trina"

External links

*
* [http://www.tarzan.com/tv/0014.html Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.: Tarzan on TV]