Johnny Weissmuller

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Johnny Weissmuller
Born	Peter Johann Weissmüller June 2, 1904(1904-06-02) Timisoara, Romania
Died	January 20, 1984 (aged 79) Acapulco, Mexico
Spouse(s)	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-seven world records. After his swimming career, he became the sixth actor to portray Tarzan 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, ululating Tarzan yell is still often used in films.

1 Early life
2 Swimming career
3 Motion picture career
4 Later life
5 Death
6 Posthumous
7 Filmography
8 Literature
9 References
10 External links

[edit] Early life

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He was registered as Peter Johann Weissmüller, baptized as János Weissmüller. Some sources cite his birthplace as Jászalsószentgyörgy in central Hungary but other as Freidorf (now a district of Timişoara, Romania), then a part of Austria-Hungary^[1]^[2]^[3], whereas, according to other sources ^[4]^[5], he was born in the village of Pardanj (today Međa), in Austria-Hungary (today Serbia, near the Romanian border). He was the son of German-speaking parents of Roman Catholic Petrus Weißmüller and Elisabeth Kersch, according to his birth and (Catholic) baptismal records.

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, János [Hungarian equivalent of Johannes], son of Peter Weissmuller and Elizabeth Kersch, had been baptized 6 May 1904 at St Rochus Church in Freidorf. This matches the names of his parents given in his autobiography. The passenger manifest of the "Rotterdam", which arrived in New York on 26 Jan 1905, lists Peter Weissmuller, a 29yo laborer, his 24yo wife El--iabeth (unclear), and 7mo Johann, The family is listed as Hungarian Germans, last residence: Szabadfalu (Hungarian equivalent of Freidorf) . They are going to join bril [brother-in-law] Johann Ott of Windber, Pa. On 5 Nov 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 Weissmuler and John Ott were both brewers, Ott immigrating in 1902, Weismuller in 1904.

The group known as Banat Swabians - ethnic Germans who had lived for centuries in that beautiful region and developed a distinctive dialect and cultural traits of their own - counts Weissmuller as one of its most well-known sons. When Johnny was seven months old, the family emigrated to the United States aboard the S.S. Rotterdam as steerage passengers. They left Rotterdam on January 14, 1905, and arrived at Ellis Island in New York harbor twelve days later as Peter, Elisabeth and Johann Weissmuller. The passenger lists records them as ethnic Germans and citizens of Hungary. After a brief stay in Chicago, visiting relatives, they moved to the coal mining town of Windber, 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 in 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.

After several years in Western Pennsylvania, they moved to Chicago. Johnny's father owned a bar for a time and his mother became head cook at a famed restaurant. His father worked as a brewer for the United States brewery in Chicago. His parents were later divorced, as is shown by the divorce document filed in Chicago by Elizabeth Weissmuller, although a lot of sources state incorrectly that Weissmuller's father died of tuberculosis contracted from working in coal mines and left her a widow. Peter actually lived to old age and had sired another large family. By 1930 he had married his second wife, Anna, with whom he had a son named Edward and a daughter Ruth, and a grandson named Peter. Elizabeth Weissmuller appears with her sons on the Cook County census claiming to be a widow.^{[citation needed]}

From an early age, Johnny and his brother were aggressive swimmers. The beaches of Lake Michigan became their favorite summer recreation place. He then joined the Stanton Park pool, where he won all the junior swim meets. At the age of twelve he earned a spot on the YMCA swim team.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Swimming career

Medal record
Olympic Games
Competitor for United States
Men’s swimming
Gold	1924 Paris	100 m freestyle
Gold	1924 Paris	400 m freestyle
Gold	1924 Paris	800 m freestyle relay
Gold	1928 Amsterdam	100 m freestyle
Gold	1928 Amsterdam	800 m freestyle relay
Men’s water polo
Bronze	1924 Paris	Team

When Weissmuller left school, he worked as a bellhop and elevator operator at the Plaza Hotel in Chicago and trained for the Olympics with swim coach William Bachrach at the Illinois Athletic Club, where he developed his revolutionary high-riding front crawl. He made his amateur debut on August 6, 1921, winning his first AAU race in the 50-yard freestyle.

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 an American passport.

On July 9, 1922, Weissmuller broke Duke Kahanamoku's world record on the 100-meters freestyle, swimming it in 58.6 seconds. He won the title in that distance at the 1924 Summer Olympics, beating Kahanamoku on February 24, 1924.^{[citation needed]} He also won the 400-meters freestyle and the 4 x 200 meters relay. As a member of the American water polo team, he also won a bronze medal. Four years later, at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, he won another two Olympic titles.

In all, he won five Olympic gold medals, one bronze medal, won fifty-two U.S. National Championships and set sixty-seven world records. Johnny Weissmuller never lost a race and retired from his amateur swimming career undefeated.

[edit] Motion picture career

In 1929, Weissmuller signed a contract with BVD to be a model and representative. He traveled throughout the country doing swim shows, handing out leaflets promoting that brand of swimwear, giving his autograph and going on talk shows. In that same year, he made his first motion picture appearance as an Adonis wearing only a figleaf in a movie titled Glorifying the American Girl and he appeared as himself in the first of several Crystal Champions, a movie short featuring Weissmuller and other Olympic champions at Silver Springs, Florida.

His career really began when he signed a seven year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and played the role of Tarzan in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932). The movie was a huge success and the 6'3" Weissmuller became an overnight international sensation. Even the author, Edgar Rice Burroughs, who created the character of Tarzan in his books, was pleased with Weissmuller himself, although he hated the studio's decision to present Tarzan as barely speaking English so much that he created his own concurrent Tarzan series filmed on location in Central American jungles and starring Herman Brix as a suitably articulate version of his character.

Weissmuller starred in six Tarzan movies for MGM with actress Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane and Cheeta the Chimpanzee. The last three also included Johnny Sheffield as Boy. Then, in 1942, Weissmuller went to RKO 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 with Pine-Thomas Productions led to only one film being made, Swamp Fire with Buster 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 the best-known of all the actors who have ever portrayed Tarzan. Although not the first Tarzan in movies (that honour went to Elmo Lincoln), he was the first to be associated with the now traditional ululating, yodeling Tarzan yell. (During an appearance on television's 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 - a soprano, an alto, and a hog caller!)

When he finally left that role, he immediately traded his loincloth costume for a slouch hat and safari for the role of Jungle Jim (1948) for Columbia. He made thirteen Jungle Jim movies between (1948) and (1954). Within the next year, he appeared in three more jungle movies playing himself as Screen Gems had the right to the name for their television series.

In 1955, he began production of the Jungle Jim television adventure series for Screen Gems, a film subsidiary of Columbia. The show ran for twenty-six episodes, which played over and over on network and syndicated TV for many years.

Aside from a first screen appearance as Adonis, Weissmuller only played three roles in films: Tarzan, Jungle Jim, and himself, which is astonishing when one considers that he made more than thirty films over a twenty-four year span.

According to David Wallechinsky's Complete Book of the Olympics, Weissmuller was playing in a celebrity golf tournament in 1958 when his golf cart was suddenly captured by rebel soldiers. Weissmuller sized up the situation, got out of the cart and gave his trademark Tarzan yell. The shocked rebels soon began to jump up and down, calling "Tarzan! Welcome to Cuba!" Johnny and his companions were not only not kidnapped, but were given a rebel escort to the golf course.

He 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. (b. September 23, 1940 - d. July 27, 2006), Wendy Anne Weissmuller (b. June 1, 1942) and Heidi Elizabeth Weissmuller (b. July 31, 1944 - d. November 19, 1962).

[edit] Later life

In the late 1950s, Weissmuller moved back to Chicago and started a swimming pool company. He also 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 the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Sometime in the 1960s, Weissmuller built a doomed tourist attraction called Tropical Wonderland aka Tarzan's Jungleland on US 1 in Titusville, Florida.

In September 1966, Weissmuller joined former screen Tarzans James Pierce and Jock Mahoney to appear with Ron Ely as part of the publicity for the upcoming premier of the 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 in Edinburgh where he was presented to Queen Elizabeth II.

He also made a cameo appearance with former co-star Maureen O'Sullivan in The Phynx (1970). His image appeared amongst the crowd on the cover of The Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Weissmuller lived in Florida until the end of 1973, then moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he was a greeter at the MGM Grand Hotel for a time. In 1974, he broke a hip and leg. While hospitalized he learned that, in spite of his strength and lifelong daily regimen of swimming and exercise, he had a serious heart condition.

But, according to The Toronto Star , Monday July 9, 1923, Weissmuller was diagnosed with a serious heart condition at that time and it was feared he would not be able to continue as a swimmer.

In 1976, he appeared for the last time in a motion picture playing a movie crewman who is fired by a movie mogul, played by Art 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.

Weissmuller suffered a series of strokes in 1977. For a time in 1979, he was a patient in the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. Later he and his last wife, Maria, moved to Acapulco, Mexico, which was the location of his last Tarzan movie.

[edit] Death

Johnny Weissmuller died on January 20, 1984, aged 79, from a pulmonary edema at his retirement home in Acapulco. He is buried in the Valley of The Light Cemetery there.

[edit] 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."

At his request, as his coffin was lowered into the ground, a recording of the Tarzan yell he invented was played three times.

Johnny Weissmuller has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6541 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.

His nephew, Chuck Wissmiller, and Chuck's three daughters, later starred on the A&E television series Family Plots, which ran from 2003 to late 2005.