Johnny Weissmuller (Born as Johann Peter Weißmüller; June 2, 1904 – January 20, 1984) was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor who was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven world records. After his swimming career, he became the sixth actor to portray Tarzan in films, a role he played in twelve motion pictu...
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Johnny Weissmuller (Born as Johann Peter Weißmüller; June 2, 1904 – January 20, 1984) was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor who was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven world records. After his swimming career, he became the sixth actor to portray Tarzan in films, a role he played in twelve motion pictures. Dozens of other actors have also played Tarzan, but Weissmuller is by far the best known. His character's distinctive, ululating Tarzan yell is still often used in films.
Weissmuller was a Banat German, born to Peter Weißmüller and his wife Elisabeth Kersch, in the Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary. The ship's roster from his family's arrival at Ellis Island lists his birthplace as Freidorf, now a district of Timişoara, Romania,. It has been claimed that he was actually named Peter by his parents, but when he arrived in the US he used...
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