WEISSMULLER, JOHNNY

born June 2, 1904, Freidorf, near Timisoara, Rom. died Jan. 20, 1984, Acapulco, Mex. American swimmer Johnny Weissmuller, who won three gold medals at the 1924 Olympics in Paris and 1/4 byname of Peter John Weissmuller, original name Jonas Weissmuller American freestyle swimmer of the 1920s who won five Olympic gold medals and set 67 world records. He became even more famous as a motion-picture actor, most notably in the role of Tarzan, a "noble savage" who had been abandoned in a jungle as an infant and was reared by apes. Weissmuller, whose parents immigrated to the United States when he was three, attended school only through the eighth grade but was trained in swimming at the Illinois Athletic Club in Chicago. He was a member of several championship relay and water-polo teams that represented the club during the 1920s. In individual freestyle swimming he was U.S. outdoor champion at 100 yards (1922-23, 1925 [no competition 1924]), 100 metres (1926-28), 200 metres (1921-22), 400 metres (1922-23, 1925-28 [no competition 1924]), and 800 metres (1925-27); and U.S. indoor titleholder at 100 yards (1922-25, 1927-28) and 220 yards (1922-24, 1927-28). At the 1924 Olympic Games he won three gold medals, for the 100-metre and 400-metre freestyle and the 800-metre relay (he also won a bronze medal as a member of the U.S. water-polo team); in 1928 he won two more gold medals, for the 100-metre freestyle and 800-metre relay. Despite his athletic records, Weissmuller is best known for his motion-picture role as Tarzan of the Apes, a character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Weissmuller starred in 12 Tarzan films between 1932 and 1948, beginning with Tarzan the Ape Man (1932). He later created the role of Jungle Jim, a guide, for both television and motion pictures. His autobiography, Water, World, and Weissmuller, appeared in 1967.