Ron Ely, star of original ‘Tarzan’ TV show, dies at 86
Ron Ely, the star of the original “Tarzan” TV series, has died at age 86.
The actor died on Sept. 29 at the Santa Barbara, California, home of his daughter Kirsten. She confirmed his passing on Instagram Wednesday, but did not reveal a cause of death.
The 6-foot-4 Ely was relatively new to Hollywood when he was cast as the beloved character for the NBC series in 1966. The show ran for 57 episodes across two seasons, filming in multiple countries with Ely performing all of his own stunts.
The part was initially set to go to former NFL linebacker Mike Henry, who earlier played Tarzan in three different films, but he abruptly quit after getting his jaw ripped open by a chimp.
“I met with [producers] on a Monday, and when they offered me the role, I thought, ‘No way do I want to step into that bear trap,’” Ely reflected in a 2013 interview. “But my agent convinced me it was a quality show and was going to work. So on the [next] Friday I was on a plane to Brazil to shoot the first episode.”
The arduous production left Ely battered, bruised and relieved when the show was eventually canceled in 1968.
‘My body was a wreck. I had so many muscle pulls and tears and busted shoulders, wrists and bones. Every part of me had been hurt,” he said in the same interview.
A second shot at stardom came when Ely was cast as another titular pulp hero in “Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze” which was a box office flop in 1975 but spurred numerous unrealized reboot attempts.
Born on June 21, 1938, in Hereford, Texas, Ely attended the University of Texas for one year before striking out for California.
After debuting in 1958’s “South Pacific,” he signed on for a contract with 20th Century Fox. He appeared in bit roles in multiple TV shows and starred in the CBS adventure series “The Aquanauts” before landing the role of Tarzan.
He continued to work frequently into the early 2000s, with prominent guest-starring roles in film and TV.
In the mid-’90s, he embarked on a professional writing career and published two mystery novels featuring private eye Jake Sands.
In his earlier life, he was married to his high school sweetheart Helen Janet Triplett until their divorce in 1961.
In 1984, he married Valerie Lundeen, the winner of the 1981 title for Miss Florida USA. Together they had three children, daughters Kirsten and Kaitland and son Cameron.
His life was marred on Oct. 15, 2019, when police fatally shot 30-year-old Cameron after he stabbed Lundeen to death in their Santa Barbara County home.
The Ely family was later on the losing side of a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office, who they claimed used unjustified deadly force against Cameron.
“My greatest comfort is knowing that my dad is with my momma and my brother,” Kirsten wrote in her Instagram tribute. “It is also my greatest sadness because I miss them all so much that it’s etched into my soul.