There was a famous American Olympic Gold Medal winner who has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame He also had a problem that began on the day he was born.
Johnny Weissmuller was born in Freidorf, a city that has been claimed by Austria, Hungary, and Romania in it’s long history. When he was still a baby, the family moved to the USA to Windmer, Pennsylvania. Before he was ever famous, Johnny was a true life hero saving many lives as a lifeguard on Lake Michigan.
One day he was training with his brother, Peter, rowing a boat beside him when they heard a terrific explosion. A ferry boat filled with picnic-bound mothers and their children sank. Johnny and Peter managed to pull 30 of the 85 victims back to the surface. Only half of those survived and the brothers were heartsick, despite their valiant efforts.
During that time, Johnny developed the unique swimming style that would later win him 5 gold medals .
In order to participate in the Olympic Games, Johnny used his brothers birth certificate . After winning Olympic Gold as a swimmer, he was later discovered at The Hollywood Athletic Club while working as a swimwear model for BVD. The latest remake of Edgar Rice Burroughs ” Tarzan” was being cast and Weissmuller went on to make a dozen movies as the Ape Man with his sidekick, Cheetah .
After Tarzan, Weissmuller moved to early television in many episodes of “Jungle Jim:” which showed in reruns for years on Saturday morning between the cartoons. Only such iconic figures as The Lone Ranger, Superman, and Davey Crockett could compare to the jungle king.
His fame became world wide as an action star surpassing the later, modest success of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was inspired as a child of five or six when he saw Weissmuller dedicate an Olympic swimming complex in his home town. During World War Two, theater goers stood and cheered when the Nazis riled the ape man, who then declared, ” Now Tarzan make War!
When Fidel Castro was leading the revolution in Cuba, Johnny was there to attend a celebrity golf match in the last days of the Havana casinos. His entourage of station wagons was detained by the rebels until he demonstrated the blood curdling Tarzan yell. The caravan of duffers was released and escorted straight away to the tournament.
In the less glorious twilight of his life, Johnny Weissmuller found himself in financial difficulties from his divorces and unwise business choices. His movie and television fortunes were squandered and at one time he found himself working outside a Las Vegas casino as a greeter. He earned a living shaking hands and posing for pictures until he took a fall and injured his hip. He suffered a stroke and spent his last years at the little hotel that he co-owned with John Wayne in Acapulco. The former swimming champion often floated on an inner tube, paddling in circles with his remaining good arm.
At the very end, the Jungle King was lowered into the grave to the sound of his trademark jungle yodel. With him, he took the secret of his foreign birth which was only discovered by his son years later . Fresh flowers often appeared mysteriously at the grave site .
Reaching the peak of twin careers, as an Olympian and as a movie actor, Johnny Weissmuller is an example that one doesn’t have to be born on American soil to be a great American.
Here are some links I wrote about Hollywood :
Leading Men of Classic Movies : Gary Cooper John Wayne and Tarzan in Acapulco
Liz Taylor and Richard Burton in “Cleopatra!”
Marilyn Monroe and other Leading Ladies of Classic Movies
Top 10 Books and the Movies that made them Famous
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