Johnny Weissmuller

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.