In Remembrance: Johnny Weissmuller Jr.

     Johnny Weissmuller Jr., the son of the famed Tarzan actor who followed his father into both acting and competitive swimming, has passed away on July 27, 2006 in San Francisco. He was 65.

     Born on September 23, 1940 in San Francisco to Weissmuller Sr. and his third wife Beryl Scott, Weissmuller was a member of the swim team while attending Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. He also swam for UCLA and the University of Southern California. Weissmuller joined the Navy after graduating from USC and specialized in underwater demolition.

     Although he made his acting debut opposite Mickey Rooney in 1958’s Andy Rooney Comes Home, Weissmuller wouldn’t appear on the big screen again until he received a small role in director George Lucas’s 1971 debut film THX-1138. He worked with Lucas again on the director’s follow-up picture American Graffiti (1973). He would only act sporadically in films and television though. He contributed a voice to the animated Tarzan satire Tarzoon: Shame Of The Jungle (1975). In addition to small handful of made-for-TV movies, Weissmuller also guest starred in two episodes of the cop drama The Streets Of San Francisco.

     In 1973, Weissmuller returned to San Francisco, where he worked as a longshoreman. He still found time participate in various Bay Area theater productions. His longest running role was as Chief Bromden in a production of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest at San Francisco’s Little Fox Theater.

     Weissmuller was an avid sailor, belonging to yacht clubs in San Francisco, Acapulco and Hawaii. He took part in several of the Transpac yacht races between California and Hawaii.

     In 2002, he published his autobiography Tarzan, My Father.

     Weissmuller’s final screen appearance was in the 1988 drama Wildfire.