Johnny Weissmuller is Tarzan. Tarzan is Johnny Weissmuller.
A lot of people didn't know about Edgar Rice Burroughs when Johnny Weissmuller made Tarzan famous, and vice-versa, and provided future careers for a lot of people who could not act at all but could look okay in small costumes.
JW was huge and athletic long before there were any real bodybuilders to do this sort of role. There were lots of stock players available to come on screen and make him look even bigger and more athletic.
All he had to do was swim, parade around in his bit of cloth and smile at Maureen O'Sullivan.
And 40 years later, elementary school kids were still saying, "You talk like Tarzan, walk like Jane and smell like Cheetah."
A great many kids had no idea that a fight between a lion and a tiger could not have happened since the two animals lived on different continents.
A lot of people didn't know about Edgar Rice Burroughs when Johnny Weissmuller made Tarzan famous, and vice-versa, and provided future careers for a lot of people who could not act at all but could look okay in small costumes.
JW was huge and athletic long before there were any real bodybuilders to do this sort of role. There were lots of stock players available to come on screen and make him look even bigger and more athletic.
All he had to do was swim, parade around in his bit of cloth and smile at Maureen O'Sullivan.
And 40 years later, elementary school kids were still saying, "You talk like Tarzan, walk like Jane and smell like Cheetah."
A great many kids had no idea that a fight between a lion and a tiger could not have happened since the two animals lived on different continents.