- Johnny Weissmuller
Infobox Actor
bgcolour = silver
name = Johnny Weissmuller
|225px
caption =
birthname = Peter Johann Weissmüller
birthdate = birth date|1904|6|2|mf=y
location = Temesvár,Austria-Hungary
(nowTimişoara ,Romania )
deathdate = death date and age|1984|1|20|1904|6|2|mf=y
deathplace =Acapulco ,Mexico
spouse =Maria Brock Mandell Bauman
(1963-1984)Ailene Gates
(1948-1962)Beryl Scott
(1939-1948)Lupe Vélez
(1933-1939)Bobbe Arnst
(1931-1933)Camilla Louiee
(? - ?)Johnny Weissmuller (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-sevenworld record s. After his swimming career, he became the sixth actor to portrayTarzan 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, ululatingTarzan yell is still often used in films.Biography
Early life
Weissmuller was a
Banat German, born to Peter Weißmüller and his wife Elisabeth Kersch in what was then part ofAustria-Hungary . The ship's roster from his family's arrival atEllis Island lists his birthplace asFreidorf , now a district ofTimişoara ,Romania , [cite web|url=http://www.germanhollywood.com/tarzan_myfather1.html|title=Interview with Johnny Weissmuller, Jr.|publisher=germanhollywood.com] [ [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/639166/Johnny-Weissmuller "Johnny Weissmuller."] "Britannica Online Encyclopedia".] [cite news |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/17/world/europe/17briefs-tarzanmonument.html?%20(ex=1172725200&en=a945f654fa0398cc&ei=5070 |title=Serbia: Monument to Tarzan |date=2007-02-17|publisher="The New York Times"] [ [http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2007/gb20070328_537605.htm?chan=globalbiz_europe_more+of+today's+top+stories "Businessweek report."] ] he was born in the village of Pardanj (todayMeđa ), inAustria-Hungary (todaySerbia , 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 "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 7 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 ofWindber, 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 6, born in "Hun-German" and Peter Jr., age 5, born in Illinois. Peter Weissmuller and John Ott were both brewers, Ott immigrating in 1902, Weismuller in 1904. The ethnic group known asBanat Swabians had lived for several centuries in that region and developed a distinctive dialect and cultural traits.When Weissmuller was an infant, the family emigrated to the United States aboard the "S.S. Rotterdam" as
steerage passengers. They leftRotterdam on January 14, 1905, and arrived atEllis Island inNew York harbor twelve days later as Peter, Elisabeth and Johann Weissmuller. The passenger lists records them asethnic Germans and citizens of Hungary. After a brief stay inChicago , visiting relatives, they moved to thecoal mining town ofWindber, 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 U.S. 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 theYMCA swim team.cite web|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-id.backstory17aug17,0,2204240.column |title=From the pool to Hollywood stardom |last=Rasmussen |first=Frederick N. |date=2008-08-17 |publisher=baltimoresun.com |accessdate=2008-10-09] 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 oftuberculosis leaving her a widow).cite book|last=Weissmuller, Jr.|first=Johnny |coauthors=Weissmuller, Johnny; Reed, William |others=Burroughs, Danton |title=Tarzan, My Father |publisher=ECW Press |date=2002 |pages=25-28| isbn=1-550-22522-7] 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.wimming career
As a teen, Weissmuller dropped out of school and worked various jobs including a stint as a
lifeguard at aLake 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 anAmerican passport .On July 9, 1922, Weissmuller broke Duke Kahanamoku's world record on the 100-meters freestyle, swimming it in 58.6 seconds. [cite book |coauthors=Safire, William |title=The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge: A Desk Reference for the Curious Mind| publisher=Macmillan |date=2007 |pages=943| isbn=0-312-37659-6] He won the title in that distance at the
1924 Summer Olympics , beating Kahanamoku on February 24, 1924. [cite book |last=Christopher |first=Paul J. |coauthors=Smith, Alicia Marie |title=Greatest Sports Heroes of All Times: North American Edition |publisher=Encouragement Press, LLC |date=2006 |pages=204 |isbn=1-933-76609-3] He also won the 400-meters freestyle and the 4 x 200 meters relay. As a member of the Americanwater polo team, he also won a bronze medal. Four years later, at the1928 Summer Olympics inAmsterdam , he won another two Olympic titles. [cite book |last=Kirsch |first=George B. |coauthors=Othello, Harris; Nolte, Claire Elaine |title=Encyclopedia of Ethnicity and Sports in the United States|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=2000|pages=488|isbn=0-313-29911-0]In all, he won five Olympic gold medals, one bronze medal, won fifty-two U.S. National Championships and set sixty-seven
world record s. Johnny Weissmuller never lost a race and retired from his amateur swimmingcareer undefeated. [cite book |last=Simonton |first=Dean Keith |title=Greatness: Who Makes History and Why |publisher=Guilford Press |date=1994 |pages=156 |isbn=0-898-62201-8]Motion picture career
In 1929, Weissmuller signed a
contract withBVD to be a model and representative. He traveled throughout the country doing swim shows, handing out leaflets promoting that brand of swimwear, signingautograph s and going ontalk show s. In that same year, he made his first motion picture appearance as anAdonis , wearing only a figleaf, 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 atSilver Springs, Florida .His acting career began when he signed a seven year
contract withMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer and played the role ofTarzan 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 starringHerman Brix as a suitably articulate version of the character.Weissmuller starred in six Tarzan movies for MGM with actress
Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane andCheeta the Chimpanzee. The last three also includedJohnny Sheffield as Boy. Then, in 1942, Weissmuller went toRKO 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 withPine-Thomas Productions led to only one film, "Swamp Fire", being made, co-starringBuster 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 toElmo 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 - asoprano , analto , and a hog caller).When Weissmuller finally left that role, he immediately traded his loincloth costume for a
slouch hat andsafari for the role of "Jungle Jim" (1948) for Columbia. He made thirteen 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 forScreen 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.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).Later life
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 theInternational Swimming Hall of Fame .Sometime in the 1960s, Weissmuller built a doomed tourist attraction called
Tropical Wonderland , akaTarzan's Jungleland , on US 1 inTitusville, Florida . In September 1966, Weissmuller joined former screen TarzansJames Pierce andJock Mahoney to appear withRon 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 inEdinburgh , where he was presented to Queen Elizabeth II. That same year, he made a cameo appearance with former co-starMaureen 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 amotion picture , playing a movie crewman who is fired by a movie mogul, played byArt 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.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 inWoodland Hills, California for several weeks before moving with his last wife, Maria, toAcapulco, Mexico , the location of his last Tarzan movie.cite book |last=Fury |first=David |title=Kings of the Jungle: An Illustrated Reference to "Tarzan" on Screen and Television |publisher=McFarland & Company |date=1994 |pages=57 |isbn=0-899-50771-9]On January 20, 1984, Weissmuller died from
pulmonary edema at the age of 79. [cite book |last=Sisson |first=Richard |coauthors=Zacher, Christian; Cayton, Andrew Robert Lee |title=The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia |publisher=Indiana University Press |date=2007 |pages=902 |isbn=0-253-34886-2] At his request, he was buried in Acapulco, at the Valley of the Light Cemetery, where, also at his request, a recording of the Tarzan yell he invented was played.Posthumous
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." [cite book |last=Weissmuller |first=Johnny, Jr. |coauthors=Weissmuller, Johnny; Reed, William |others=Burroughs, Danton |title=Tarzan, My Father |publisher=ECW Press |date=2002 |pages=83 |isbn=1-550-22522-7]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
References
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 2002External links
*imdb name|id=0919321|name=Johnny Weissmuller
* [http://terrororstralis.com/home.htm Tarzan Fan Site]
* [http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/d9443f.htm#weiss Louis S. Nixdorff, 1928 Olympic games collection, 1926-1978] , Archives Center,National Museum of American History ,Smithsonian Institution .
* [http://www.ellisisland.org/search/shipManifest.asp?MID=01465013330011512576&LNM=WEISSMULLER&PLNM=WEISSMULLER&first_kind=1&last_kind=0&RF=46&PID=102352080350 The passenger list of the ship that brought the Weissmullers to Ellis Island]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/17/world/europe/17briefs-tarzanmonument.html?ex=1172725200&en=a945f654fa0398cc&ei=5070 "Serbia: Monument to Tarzan"] , "The New York Times ,February 17 ,2007 . The article states that Johnny Weissmuller was born inSerbia .
*Persondata
NAME= Weissmuller, Johnny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Weissmüller, Peter Johann
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Swimmer andactor
DATE OF BIRTH= June 2, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH= Temesvár,Austria-Hungary (nowTimişoara ,Romania )
DATE OF DEATH= January 20, 1984
PLACE OF DEATH=Acapulco ,Mexico
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.