Johnny Weissmuller

 Johnny Weissmuller (June 2, 1904 – January 20, 1984)

Weissmuller was a competition swimmer and actor. He was known for playing Edgar Rice Burroughs' ape man Tarzan in films of the 1930s and 1940s and for having one of the best competitive swimming records of the 20th century. Weissmuller was one of the world's fastest swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals for swimming and one bronze medal for water polo. He was the first to break the one minute barrier for 100-meter freestyle, and the first to swim 440-yard freestyle under five minutes. He won fifty-two U.S. national championships and set more than 50 world records. After retiring from competitions, he became the sixth actor to portray Tarzan, a role he played in twelve feature films. Dozens of other actors have also played Tarzan, but Weissmuller is by far the best known. Weissmuller's distinctive Tarzan yell is still often used in films in his legacy. He then moved to the role of Jungle Jim (1948) for Columbia. He made 13 Jungle Jim films between 1948 and 1954. He retired in 1965, moving to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he was founding chairman of the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) and was inducted into the ISHOF that same year. In 1970, he attended the British Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, where he was presented to Queen Elizabeth II. That same year, he appeared with former co-star Maureen O'Sullivan in The Phynx (1970). Weissmuller was married five times, and had three children. Later in life, he moved to Mexico with his fifth wife, Maria. On January 20, 1984, Weissmuller died from pulmonary edema at the age of 79. He is buried just outside Acapulco, Valle de La Luz at the Valley of the Light Cemetery in Mexico.