Johnny Weissmuller

Johnny Weissmuller (June 2, 1904 – January 20, 1984) was an Austrian-born American swimmer and actor. He 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 played Tarzan in twelve motion pictures. Other actors also played Tarzan, but Weissmuller was the best-known.

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. In 1970, he attended the British Commonwealth Games in Jamaica where he was presented to Queen Elizabeth. He also made a cameo appearance with former co-star Maureen O'Sullivan in The Phynx (1970).

Related Topics:
1950s - Chicago - 1965 - Fort Lauderdale, Florida - International Swimming Hall of Fame - 1970 - British Commonwealth Games - Jamaica - Queen Elizabeth - Maureen O'Sullivan - The Phynx - 1970

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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.

Related Topics:
1973 - Las Vegas, Nevada - 1974

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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.

Related Topics:
1976 - Motion picture - Art Carney - Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood - 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.

Related Topics:
1977 - 1979 - Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital - Woodland Hills, California - Acapulco, Mexico

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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

Related Topics:
January 20 - 1984 - Edema - Acapulco

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

His former co-star and movie son, Johnny Sheffield, said 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."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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

Related Topics:
Hollywood Walk of Fame - Hollywood

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~