Johnny Weissmüller

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Johnny Weissmüller (1924)
Johnny Weissmüller with the newly wed Lupe Vélez (1933)

Johann Peter Weißmüller (called Johnny Weissmuller , baptized János Weißmüller ; born June 2, 1904 in Szabadfalu ( German  Freidorf ), Kingdom of Hungary , Austria-Hungary ; † January 20, 1984 in Acapulco , Mexico ) was an American swimmer , Water polo player , five-time Olympic champion and film actor . He was the first person to swim the 100-meter distance in under a minute. After the end of his swimming career, he became world famous as a Tarzan actor in twelve films.

Life

When Weissmüller was seven months old, his parents, the Danube Swabians Petrus Weißmüller (1876–1938) and Elisabeth Kersch (1885–1964), emigrated from Austria-Hungary to the USA, where they moved to Ellis Island , New on January 26, 1905 York arrived. The family members listed in the passenger list as Germans with Hungarian citizenship changed their names upon entry, so that János Weißmüller became Peter John Weissmuller ; the father called himself Peter Weissmuller . In their new home, the family went to Windber , a town in Somerset County , Pennsylvania , where the father found work in the coal industry . The couple's brother-in-law, Johann Ott , had emigrated to Windber in 1902 and paid for the family's Atlantic crossing. Johnny's younger brother Peter Weissmuller Jr. was born here on September 3, 1905 .

The family lived in Windber for a few years until they moved to Chicago , where Johnny and his brother grew up in a district of the Banat Swabians. Johnny Weissmüller took part in various yodelling competitions here. The yodeling eventually became the basis of he created Tarzan cry.

Weissmüller's father ran a bar and worked in a brewery with moderate success, often beat up the family and finally separated from them. Weissmüller left school at the age of twelve, lived on the street for a while and managed to get by as a lift boy and page . During his childhood he suffered from various diseases; his father later stated in a radio interview that the doctors gave his son less than 30 years of age. During this difficult time for him, Johnny Weissmüller learned to defy the circumstances and to fight. On the advice of his doctor at the time, he began to swim and thus discovered his sporting ambition and his calling in it.

Sporting successes

Johnny Weissmüller swim
Weissmuller.jpg

Personal information
Surname: Johann Peter Weißmüller
Nation: United StatesUnited States United States
Swimming style (s) : Freestyle
Society: Illinois Athletic Club
Birthday: June 2, 1904
Place of birth: Freidorf , Timisoara
Date of death: 20th January 1984
Place of death: Acapulco
Size: 1.91 m
Medal table
Olympic games 5 × gold 0 × silver 1 × bronze
Medals

At the age of 17 he became the US champion in the 50 yards freestyle for the first time  , in the same year he swam his first world record in 1: 27.4 minutes over 150 yards freestyle. As the best swimmer of his time, he was also the first person to complete the 100-meter course in less than a minute: on July 9, 1922, Weissmüller set a new world record over 100 meters in exactly 58.6 seconds in Alameda , California . At the beginning of the 1920s he developed his own swimming style and took over the so-called " American Crawl " previously developed by Charles Daniels .

In the 1920s, he became the undefeated five-time gold medalist at the Olympic Games in 1924 (100 and 400 m freestyle, 4 × 200 m freestyle relay) and 1928 (100 m freestyle and 4 × 200 m freestyle relay). The bronze medal in water polo was also awarded in 1924 .

Weissmüller officially set 51 world records . How many he actually swam is unknown because he occasionally failed to submit the record logs. Numbers such as 67 world records are passed down. In 1965 he was inducted into the hall of fame of international swimming for his outstanding sporting achievements .

Film career

Weissmüller was the first athlete to make a career thanks to his success in Hollywood film studios . Between 1932 and 1948 he played the role of the jungle man in twelve Tarzan films, which made him world famous. A single sentence on the screen was enough for him:

Jane: "Jane."
Tarzan: "Jane."
Jane: “And you? You? "
Tarzan: “Tarzan! Tarzan! "
Jane: "Tarzan."
Tarzan: "Jane. Tarzan. Jane. Tarzan. "

Weissmüller justified his rather moderate acting talent with the words: “The audience forgives my acting because they know that I am an athlete.” He is still considered the most famous Tarzan actor of all time.

year Movie title Original title Co-Actor
1932 Tarzan, the ape man Tarzan the Ape Man Maureen O'Sullivan , Neil Hamilton , C. Aubrey Smith
1934 Tarzan's retribution Tarzan and his mate Maureen O'Sullivan, Neil Hamilton, Paul Cavanagh
1936 Tarzan's revenge Tarzan escapes Maureen O'Sullivan, John Buckler , Herbert Mundin
1939 Tarzan and his son Tarzan Finds a Son! Maureen O'Sullivan, Johnny Sheffield , Ian Hunter
1941 Tarzan's secret treasure Tarzan's Secret Treasure Maureen O'Sullivan, Johnny Sheffield, Reginald Owen
1942 Tarzan's adventures in New York Tarzan's New York Adventure Maureen O'Sullivan, Johnny Sheffield, Charles Bickford
1942 Tarzan and the Nazis Tarzan's triumphs Frances Gifford , Johnny Sheffield, Stanley Ridges
1943 Tarzan, conqueror of the desert Tarzan's Desert Mystery Nancy Kelly , Johnny Sheffield, Otto Kruger
1945 Tarzan and the Amazons Tarzan and the Amazons Brenda Joyce , Johnny Sheffield, Henry Stephenson
1946 Tarzan and the female leopard Tarzan and the Leopard Woman Brenda Joyce, Johnny Sheffield, Acquanetta
1947 Tarzan is being hunted Tarzan and the Huntress Brenda Joyce, Johnny Sheffield, Patricia Morison
1948 Tarzan in danger Tarzan and the Mermaids Brenda Joyce, George Zucco , Linda Christian

Before his career as Tarzan, Weissmüller appeared on the screen in the 1925 German film Paths to Strength and Beauty . From 1948 to 1956 he shot another sixteen-part film series in the lead role of Jungle Jim , which shows him as the ruler of the jungle, and a television series of the same name in 26 episodes.

The world fame as Tarzan is a general reason for the lack of role offers in addition to the lack of acting qualities. After 1956 he only had a small guest appearance in the comedy Won Ton Ton, The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976).

Musical excursions

Weissmüller was an avid yodeler . With it he won several competitions. The main part of the famous Tarzan scream was also mixed together from yodelers. Later Tarzan films took the world famous jungle scream as an example.

Appearances on television

  • 1954, 1956, 1967: The Ed Sullivan Show (US television show)
  • 1971: The current sports studio ( ZDF ) - During this broadcast, which was broadcast live, a chimpanzee tore Weissmüller's wife Maria Baumann's wig from her head and threw it on the floor.

Private life

Weissmüller was married five times: to Bobbe Arnst (1931–1933), Lupe Vélez (1933–1939), Beryl Scott (1939–1948), Alleen Gates, later McCleland (1948–1962) and Maria Baumann (1963 until his death 1984). He had three children with his third wife, Beryl Scott: Johnny Weissmuller Jr. (September 23, 1940 - July 27, 2006), Heidi Elizabeth Weissmuller (July 31, 1944 - November 19, 1962) and Wendy Anne Weissmuller (born June 1 1942).

In the 1970s he had to realize that his heart was no longer able to cope with the high demands of a former competitive athlete. During this time he was inpatient treatment several times, among other things because of a broken leg and hip. There was also a stroke. He then spent a short time in an American retirement home in California (the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital ), but left this because he felt uncomfortable with the other residents.

In 1984 Weissmüller died impoverished after several strokes in Acapulco , Mexico . When his coffin was lowered into the ground, the world-famous jungle scream rang out at the request of his wife Maria Baumann. His gravestone in Acapulco simply says: "Johnny Weissmüller 1904–1984". There is now a stele with a plaque on it. There is also a memorial plaque on his former house.

His last wife, Maria Weissmüller , who was born in Berlin , died on March 7, 2004 after a long and serious illness at the age of 83 in a hospital in Acapulco. She was buried at her husband's side.

Honors

literature

  • Johnny Weismuller Jr .: Tarzan My Father . ECW Press, Toronto 2002.

Web links

Commons : Johnny Weissmüller  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johnny Weissmüller on genealogy.ro.Retrieved September 23, 2009
  2. ↑ Peter Luley: Urschrei im Urwald , for one day , last accessed on January 22, 2008
  3. ↑ Johnny Weissmüller in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  4. ^ Lutz Maurer: Der Tarzan-Jodler , on FAZ.NET , last accessed on January 22, 2008
personal data
SURNAME Weissmuller, Johnny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weissmuller, Peter John; Weissmuller, Johnny; Weissmüller, Johann (Hans); Weissmüller, Janos; Weißmüller, János (baptismal name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American swimmer, water polo player, and film actor
DATE OF BIRTH June 2, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Szabadfalu , Kingdom of Hungary , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH 20th January 1984
Place of death Acapulco , Mexico