From Olympic champion to king of the jungle – the incredible fate of Tarzan

**From Olympic Champion to Jungle King: The Amazing Life of Tarzan**

Johnny Weissmuller, one of the world's most famous Tarzans, had a life that was more interesting than the movie script. A frail boy who contracted polio as a child, he became a five-time Olympic champion, a Hollywood star, a five-time husband, and a legendary actor who lost his fortune and faced difficult trials at the end of his life.

**Not Tarzan, First He Was an Olympic Champion**

Johnny Weissmuller was born on June 2, 1904, in the village of Freydorf, Austria-Hungary (now part of Romania). His family immigrated to the United States as a baby. After contracting polio as a child, he was advised to exercise. He chose swimming, and this decision changed his whole life.

Weissmuller swam so fast that he quickly went from being an ordinary athlete to a world record holder. He is credited with setting more than 50 world records.

In 1924, Johnny won gold medals in the 100-meter and 400-meter freestyles and in the 4x200-meter relay at the Paris Olympics. He also won a bronze medal with the US water polo team.

In 1928, he added two more gold medals at the Amsterdam Olympics. As a result, his Olympic record was 5 gold and 1 bronze.

**Hiding His Identity to Become a Champion**

The issue of Weissmuller's citizenship caused problems during the Olympic qualification. There is information that he used his brother's birth certificate to obtain a US passport. Therefore, Johnny's participation in the 1924 Olympics for the United States was controversial. Interestingly, this secret remained a mystery for years, behind his immense sporting fame.

One of Weissmuller's greatest sporting achievements is being credited with being the first person to swim the 100-meter freestyle in under a minute.

Johnny retired from professional sports undefeated. But he still had the world's most famous jungle hero, Tarzan, ahead of him.

**"Can You Carry a Girl?"**

In the early 1930s, Hollywood was looking for a new Tarzan. Tall, strong, athletic, and a natural in front of the camera, Weissmuller was the ideal candidate. He himself later recalled his screen test, saying that the studio gave him a simple task: can you climb a tree and carry a girl? His answer was proven in practice: "I can."

In 1932, the film "Tarzan the Ape Man" was released, starring Johnny Weissmuller. And immediately his second life began.

The former athlete created Tarzan so skillfully that people forgot about Johnny. Between 1932 and 1948, Weissmuller starred in 12 films in the image of Tarzan. His Tarzan was physically much stronger and more reserved than previous screen versions. The famous "Tarzan scream" became a separate phenomenon in the history of cinema. However, this scream was not recorded completely naturally. In the sound department, Weissmuller's voice was specially processed, and the famous scream that went down in cinema history appeared.

His most famous partner was Maureen O'Sullivan, who played the role of Jane. The on-screen relationship of this couple became so famous that their characters became inseparable.

The role of Tarzan's son Boy was played by Johnny Sheffield. Weissmuller personally taught him to swim, seeing that he was not afraid of water. They had a very close relationship for several years.

**On the screen, Tarzan, in life...**

After the role of Tarzan, Weissmuller played another famous character - Jungle Jim. He appeared in 16 "Jungle Jim" films and then in 26 episodes of the television series.

But it was not easy to return the fame of Tarzan. In the 1950s, he gradually moved away from acting and began to engage in business. However, his entrepreneurial endeavors were not successful.

Weissmuller said that he earned about $ 2 million from his films. But he lost most of this fortune. He even considered himself unsuccessful as a businessman and said that it would be better to stay in the movie business.

The fact is that Weissmuller squandered his fortune on a luxurious life, ships and other expenses. Later, he was engaged in a swimming pool construction company, health food stores and other businesses, but they did not bring much success.

**His Personal Life Was Not Left Out of the Cinema either**

Johnny Weissmuller was married five times. His second wife was the famous Mexican actress Lupe Velez. Their marriage was marked by quarrels, divorces and reconciliations, and officially ended in 1939.

With his third wife, Beryl Scott, he had three children - John Scott, Wendy Ann and Heidi Elizabeth. Heidi died in a car accident in 1962. This tragedy was one of the hardest blows in Weissmuller's life.

**The Last Years of Tarzan**

In the last years of his life, Weissmuller was far from his former fame. He worked as a simple receptionist at the Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas in the early 1970s.

Johnny Weissmuller's life was a strange contradiction: millions of people remembered him on the screen as the immortal Tarzan, but his real life was much more complicated - illness, a huge victory at the Olympics, fame in Hollywood, a failed business, family tragedies and difficult times in old age...

But the young man who set a record in the pool in the 1920s and the Tarzan who jumped from tree to tree in the 1930s and 40s were the same person. Weissmuller conquered Olympus, Hollywood. He became Tarzan. But in life's struggles he was an ordinary person, like all other people. And perhaps this is his greatest legacy: the name of the Olympic champion remained in the history of sports, and the cry of Tarzan lived forever in the history of cinema.

Johnny Weissmuller did not even turn 80, he died on January 20, 1984, in Acapulco, Mexico, at the age of 79.