The legendary American film actor Johnny Weissmuller, known for the cult role of Tarzan, was born on June 2, 1904 in the Romanian city of Timisoara. When the baby was born, they called him Peter, but in connection with his subsequent move to the United States, his parents decided to give his son a more American name, and the boy began to be called Johnny.
Emigration
After Peter Weissmuller and his wife Elizabeth Kersch settled in a new place, they tried to make Johnny record as being born in the US state of Pennsylvania, since the boy was only seven months old at that time. At that time, immigrants from Austria-Hungary who emigrated to America were faced with social problems, and it was better to get documents issued in one of the US states for a child .
The Weissmüller family settled in Chicago, my father bought a beer bar, and my mother began working as a cook in a nearby restaurant. Initially, things went well, but soon the business fell into decay. Loans taken from the bank did not help, and Weissmüller Sr. went bankrupt. After that, the head of the family started drinking, quickly turned into a chronic alcoholic, underwent several rehabilitation courses, but everything was in vain. It got to the point that Peter carried away from the house and sold everything that came to hand for nothing. Elizabeth tried to fight, but after her husband raised a hand against her, she filed for divorce. The Weissmüller family broke up, the children stayed with their mother.
Swimming
Johnny dropped out of school, began to look for jobs where he had to, and once got a job as a lifeguard in a water sports complex. The tall young man liked swimming coach Bahrach William, and he invited him to his team. The mentor was not mistaken in his calculations, Johnny Weissmüller immediately proved himself to be a talented athlete and won the fights of fifty and two hundred meters at the next competitions, leaving all the rivals far behind. The coach was extremely pleased, he understood that he had found a real nugget.
So there was a new American swimmer named Weissmuller. In July 1922, Johnny broke the world record of Hawaiian athlete Duke Kahanamoku at a distance of one hundred meters freestyle. Its result of 58.6 seconds was the first swim in the history of swimming, lasting less than one minute.
Sports achivments
In February 1924, at the Olympic competitions in Paris, Johnny Weissmuller again defeated Dewey Kahanamoku in the hundred-meter race and became the champion. Then he won the four-hundred-meter freestyle race, and was also the first in a four-meter relay race of 400 meters.
The athlete’s personal time record for a hundred meters was 57.4 seconds. So the star by the name of Johnny Weissmuller came up and remained at the zenith of big sport for a long time. A sport that requires the return of all physical strength has become a part of his life. During his sports career, the swimmer set 67 records and won the US title 52 times.
Participation in promotions
In 1929, Johnny Weissmuller signed a contract with a company that produces clothes for walking and sports. He began to travel around the country, participate in various talk shows, performances on the water and theatrical competitions. Then the athlete first starred in the movie. It was a mythological film where the role of Johnny Weissmüller was the appearance of the spring god Adonis, whose clothes were just a fig leaf. Critical moralists objected to this outfit, but in this case their opinion was not taken into account, since historical truth was important, and the gods did not wear clothes.
Start a movie career
Actor Johnny Weissmuller became in 1932, when he signed a seven-year contract with the Metro-Goldwin-Mayer film studio. That was the beginning of the cult series of adventure films with Tarzan, the monkey man. The picture was a huge success, and Johnny instantly became famous.
"Tarzan" is an unexpected film for the public, previously American cinema produced melodramatic comedies or westerns with action films. And suddenly a creature similar to a man appears on the screen, but with the habits of a monkey, flies from one tree to another, shouts something incomprehensible. But gradually, the audience began to sympathize with the inhabitant of the jungle, the events on the screen lined up in a logical chain, Tarzan helped the weak, saved his little brothers who were in trouble, in a word, did everything that people do. Humanity became the leitmotif of everything that happened, a good start dominated, and this attracted moviegoers. "Tarzan" is a multi-part film, people were looking forward to the next film with the adventures of a beloved hero. The friend of Tarzan Jane and the chimpanzee Chita also did not leave anyone indifferent.
Johnny Weissmuller, whose Tarzan was associated with Kipling's Mowgli by many, created his own image of a savage with a good heart. In total, twelve episodes were shot, each of which carried a charge of positive emotions. The actor took part in the film project from the very beginning, discussed the script, rehearsed individual episodes, although at that time there was the practice of one take in Hollywood, in order to save the film and the working time of the actors, which was quite expensive. Weissmüller went through the stage several times with his partner Jane, and only then the cameraman turned on the camera. The actor never insisted on extra payment.
Methods
Tarzan’s fees at that time looked more than impressive and amounted to more than two million dollars. The commercial success of the film was consistently high. The scriptwriters used a method that can be called "To Be Continued ...", when the end of the previous series remains as if unsaid, and the cinema-goer leaves the room somewhat puzzled: "What next?" Further development of the plot should be fully reflected in the next film. Everyone knows this, and when a new series is released, cinemas are always crowded.
Johnny Weissmuller, whose films about Tarzan were shot before 1948, took part in several film projects, less spectacular, but giving the actor the opportunity to show his dramatic abilities. However, the success of the film does not always depend on the level of professionalism of the actor, a weak script can ruin the film in the bud. Fortunately for directors, game and specific film projects have the ability to change the script during work on the film. The film "Tarzan" belonged to just such a category, it was play and specific at the same time.
And although the tape was black and white, the jungle still looked impressive, thanks to the work of production designers. The surroundings mattered, the scenes that were shot in the pavilion were carefully furnished with decorations, the vines had to be brought in real ones, and special acoustic devices were installed for the famous cry of Tarzan to sound believable.
Jim from the Jungle
When Weissmüller played in the final series of Tarzan and the Mermaids, the scripts for the next global film project, which started at the Columbia Pictures studio, were ready. Guide "Metro-Golvin-Mayer" did not mind the actor's participation in the new film, and Johnny began to work.
In total, from 1948 to 1954, thirteen episodes of the movie "Jim from the Jungle" were shot. The plots of the new film somewhat echoed Tarzan, but there were already fewer flights from branch to branch, and more dramaturgy.
Later years
In 1958, the actor returned to Chicago and founded his own company, a network of swimming pools with lanes. However, the business project did not receive development, since there were few people who wanted to go swimming. Johnny had other commercial endeavors, but they did not bring success, although the actor persistently called the projects by his name.
In the end, the actor left Chicago for Florida, where he became the head of the "Hall of Fame" with international status.
In the fall of 1966, Weissmüller inaugurated a television series showing the appearance of Tarzan and his exciting adventures. There were many fragments from old films in it, viewers could familiarize themselves with each story individually.
England
In 1970, the actor attended the Commonwealth Games, held in the UK, where he was introduced to the queen. With him was a former partner, the performer of the role of Jane in the movie "Tarzan", Maureen O'Sullivan.
Weissmuller lived in Florida until 1973, then moved to Las Vegas, where he became the representative of the Metro-Goldwin-Meyer movie company at the hotel. His responsibilities included meeting the guests, accompanying them while traveling around the city, as well as presence in gambling establishments.
In 1976, Johnny Weissmuller last starred in the movie, in an inconspicuous episodic role. And then he was seen at a reception ceremony in the Bodybuilding Hall of Fame. The actor did not appear in public again.
The health of Tarzan began to deteriorate, the leg fracture obtained in 1974 did not grow together. I had to stay in a clinic for a long time, where Weissmüller found out about serious problems with his heart. In 1977, the actor suffered several strokes. Two years later, he and his wife left for Acapulco, which he always considered the best paradise on earth and where the last film about Tarzan was shot with his participation.
Personal life
The private life of Johnny Weissmuller was quite stormy, he got married five times and divorced four times. The first wife of the actor was the singer of the chanson Bobby Arnst, with whom they lived together for two years, from 1931 to 1933. The next choice was the actress Lupe Veles, the marriage lasted six years, from 1933 to 1939. Then came Beryl Scott, who gave her husband a son and two daughters. The next wife is a little-known actress Allen Gates, with her the actor lived for fourteen years, from 1948 to 1962. And finally, a certain Maria Bauman, who was with Weissmüller from 1963 until his death on January 20, 1984.
The actor was buried in Acapulco, in the cemetery of Hollywood movie stars.