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Johnny Weissmuller 1904 - 1984

Johnny Weissmuller was born on June 2, 1904 in Timișoara, Timisoara County, TM Romania, and died at age 79 years old on January 20, 1984 in Acapulco, Gro. Mexico.

Johnny Weissmuller

June 2, 1904

Timișoara, Timisoara County, TM, Romania

January 20, 1984

Acapulco, Gro., Mexico

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Johnny Weissmuller Johnny Weissmuller (1904 - 1984)

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Johnny Weissmuller's History: 1904 - 1984

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Introduction

Johnny Weissmuller Born June 2, 1904 in Timisoara, Timis County, Romania Died January 20, 1984 in Acapulco, Mexico (pulmonary edema following a series of strokes) Birth Name Peter Johann Weissmüller Nickname Big John Height 6' 3" (1.91 m) Johnny Weissmuller was born as Peter Johann Weißmüller in the city of Timisoara in Romania. Weissmüller was one of two boys born to Petrus Weissmuller, a miner, and his wife Elisabeth Kersch, who were both Banat Swabians, an ethnic German population in Southeast Europe. A sickly child, he took up swimming on the advice of a doctor. He grew to be a 6' 3", 190-pound champion athlete - undefeated winner of five Olympic gold medals, 67 world and 52 national titles, holder of every freestyle record from 100 yards to the half-mile. In his first picture, Glorifying the American Girl (1929), he appeared as an Adonis clad only in a fig leaf. After great success with a jungle movie, MGM head Louis B. Mayer, via Irving Thalberg, optioned two of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan stories. Cyril Hume, working on the adaptation of Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), noticed Weissmuller swimming in the pool at his hotel and suggested him for the part of Tarzan. Weissmuller was under contract to BVD to model underwear and swimsuits; MGM got him released by agreeing to pose many of its female stars in BVD swimsuits. The studio billed him as "the only man in Hollywood who's natural in the flesh and can act without clothes". The film was an immediate box-office and critical hit. Seeing that he was wildly popular with girls, the studio told him to divorce his wife and paid her $10,000 to agree to it. After 1942, however, MGM had used up its options; it dropped the Tarzan series and Weissmuller, too. He then moved to RKO and made six more Tarzans. After that he made 16 Jungle Jim (1948) programmers for Columbia. He retired from movies to run a private business in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan Spouse (5) Maria Bauman (23 April 1963 - 20 January 1984) ( his death) Allene Gates (29 January 1948 - 1963) ( divorced) Beryl Scott (20 August 1939 - 29 January 1948) ( divorced) ( 3 children) Lupe Velez (8 October 1933 - 16 August 1939) ( divorced) Bobbe Arnst (28 February 1931 - 6 October 1933) ( divorced) Trade Mark (3) muscular pectorals Best known as one of the most popular on screen Tarzan and for inventing his trademark roar. Showing his swimming skills in Tarzan films.
06/2

1904

Birthday

June 2, 1904

Birthdate

Timișoara, Timisoara County, TM Romania

Birthplace

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Ethnicity & Family History

German descent but born in Romania.
Nationality & Locations

Romanian. American. Raised in the United States.
Professional Career

He was the chest-beating, loin-clothed hero in Tarzan movies for two decades. Although there were other Tarzans before and after him, Mr. Weissmuller was the most popular. His first jungle picture was "Tarzan the Ape Man" in 1930. The last movie in the series was the 1947 "Tarzan and the Mermaids." Many of his Tarzan films included costar Maureen O'Sullivan as his mate, Jane. A handsome 200-pounder in 1930, Mr. Weissmuller was working out at the Hollywood Athletic Club's pool when he was "discovered" by novelist Cyril Hume, who was writing a screenplay for a picture about Tarzan, the jungle hero created by author Edgar Rice Burroughs. After a screen test, the former swimmer became the daring, chest-thumping king of the jungle. "I went to the back lot at MGM, they gave me a G-string and said, 'Can you climb a tree? Can you pick up that girl?' I could do all that, and I did all my own swinging because I had been a YMCA champion on the rings," Mr. Weissmuller once explained. When producer Sol Lesser wouldn't give him a larger share of the profits, and suffering increasing weight and age, he left the film series and formed his own company, John Weissmuller Productions. In 1948, he made the first of his "Jungle Jim" movies. That series had some of the flavor of Tarzan but featured Mr. Weismuller in bush jacket rather than loin cloth. He also abandoned swinging through trees on vines and wrestling crocodiles. In addition to movies, he played Jungle Jim on television for 10 years. He had tried to break out of the jungle motiff with a 1946 film, "Swamp Fire." In later years he said, "I played a Navy lieutenant in that one. I took one look and went back to the jungle."
01/20

1984

Death

January 20, 1984

Death date

Stroke

Cause of death

Acapulco, Gro. Mexico
Death location

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Obituary

Johnny Weissmuller Dies at Age 79 Johnny Weissmuller, 79, the Olympic swimming gold medalist who rose to worldwide fame as "Tarzan of the Jungle" in 18 motion pictures, died of a pulmonary edema Jan. 20 at his home in Acapulco, Mexico. He was the chest-beating, loin-clothed hero in Tarzan movies for two decades. Although there were other Tarzans before and after him, Mr. Weissmuller was the most popular. His first jungle picture was "Tarzan the Ape Man" in 1930. The last movie in the series was the 1947 "Tarzan and the Mermaids." Many of his Tarzan films included costar Maureen O'Sullivan as his mate, Jane. A handsome 200-pounder in 1930, Mr. Weissmuller was working out at the Hollywood Athletic Club's pool when he was "discovered" by novelist Cyril Hume, who was writing a screenplay for a picture about Tarzan, the jungle hero created by author Edgar Rice Burroughs. After a screen test, the former swimmer became the daring, chest-thumping king of the jungle. "I went to the back lot at MGM, they gave me a G-string and said, 'Can you climb a tree? Can you pick up that girl?' I could do all that, and I did all my own swinging because I had been a YMCA champion on the rings," Mr. Weissmuller once explained. When producer Sol Lesser wouldn't give him a larger share of the profits, and suffering increasing weight and age, he left the film series and formed his own company, John Weissmuller Productions. In 1948, he made the first of his "Jungle Jim" movies. That series had some of the flavor of Tarzan but featured Mr. Weismuller in bush jacket rather than loin cloth. He also abandoned swinging through trees on vines and wrestling crocodiles. In addition to movies, he played Jungle Jim on television for 10 years. He had tried to break out of the jungle motiff with a 1946 film, "Swamp Fire." In later years he said, "I played a Navy lieutenant in that one. I took one look and went back to the jungle." He left acting in the 1950s to enter the business world. The ventures were not very successful. He estimated his movie earnings at $2 million, but once said, "As a businessman, I'd have been better staying under water." He said he made no money from reruns of his films, and in later years lent his name to such ventures as a swimming pool construction company, health food stores and cocktail lounges. His private life had always been stormy. He was married five times, first to showgirl Bobbie Arnst, who divorced him after 18 months of marriage. His second wife was fiery Mexican actress Lupe Velez. Their much-publicized quarrels, separations and reconciliations also led to divorce in 1939. San Francisco society girl Beryl Scott Ginter became his third wife, and they had three children. That marriage ended in divorce, as did his fourth to golfer Allene Gates. Mr. Weissmuller and his fifth wife, Maria, first lived in Las Vegas, where he was a host at Caesars Palace Hotel in the early 1970s. He also helped handicapped children through the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation and the International Swimming Hall of Fame. By the mid-1970s, he had contracted a heart ailment and had experienced the first of a series of strokes. He was living in the Motion Picture and Television Country Hospital in Los Angeles, when in May 1979, the hospital director complained that Mr. Weissmuller frightened other patients by making Tarzan calls in the middle of the night. Later that year, he moved to his last home, in Acapulco, located a few miles from the freshwater lake where his last Tarzan film was shot. Born John Peter Weissmuller in Romania but said he was born in Windber, Pa. so he could be in the Olympics. He was 9 years old when he contracted polio. "My doctor said I should take up some sort of exercise to build myself up," Mr. Weissmuller once recalled. "I liked it," he said. "And I found I had a natural flair for it." He was an elevator boy and bellhop at the Illinois Athletic Club when he met famed swimming coach William Bachrach, who turned him into an Olympic competitor. He first gained world attention during the 1920s, winning five gold medals at the 1924 Paris Olympics and the 1928 games at Amsterdam. Hailed by sportswriters as the greatest swimmer of the 20th century, he won 52 national championships and broke 67 world records.

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Johnny Weissmuller lived 4 years longer than the average family member when died at the age of 79.

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