Cheeta Still Lives, World's Oldest

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Cheeta, co-star of the Tarzan series, is a 76-year-old Liberian chimpanzee.

Cheeta has just signed a record, DVD and book memoir deal after a four-decade hiatus.

Cheeta last film role was 1967's Dr. Doolittle with Rex Harrison and he's been honored as the world's oldest chimpanzee by the prestigious Guinness Book of World Records.

His first appearance in a Tarzan film however was as the son of the first Cheeta in Tarzan and His Mate.

Despite battling Type 2 Diabetes for the past nine years, Cheeta is in pretty good shape for a primate his years.

His handler and caregiver, Dan Westphall, revealed Cheeta has had a long marriage, fathering one child. In retirement, the simian enjoys watching TV and doing abstract paintings which are auctioned to benefit primate charities.

Despite starring in twelve Tarzan jungle pics as well as the titular star of Bedtime for Bonzo (his co-star being Ronald Reagan) the graying Cheeta has tried and failed seven times to get a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

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No way.

76?

Shocked

WOW.

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I always get a surprise when I find out he's still living. He must be an exception to the stories about chimps becoming mean and unmanageable when they get older.

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Think of all the stories he has to tell. Unintelligible grunts, wafting away, useless to the human ear. But if one could decipher those grunts -- oh! ... the stories of jungle adventure and lust that would unfold.

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I wonder if Cheetah ever had the opportunity to mess around with Jane?

Not our Jane, of course, but Tarzan's mate. Tarzan was away quite a bit, saving Boy from giant spiders or rescuing lost missionaries who had fallen into the hands of hungry cannibals, and Jane, back at home, surely had needs.

Might Cheetah have seen to those needs?

Something to think about.

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I understand a new biography is in the works. Tell all? I don't know.

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Me, Cheeta

It's the latest and probably the last tell-all star autobiography from Hollywood's golden age.

But this memoir is a different species entirely from the normal rags-to-riches tale of a big-screen leading man or woman - it's the life of Cheeta the chimpanzee.

Tarzan's famous co-star, who embarked on his screen career in the 1930s alongside Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan, is the subject of Me Cheeta, to be published by Fourth Estate in October.

The 75-year-old chimp, now enjoying retirement in a Palm Springs sanctuary, will not be going near the word processor personally. Fourth Estate has teamed him up with a ghostwriter but is promising a "funny, moving and searingly honest" memoir.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-510542/Tarzan-fans-set-ape-crazy-memoirs-Cheeta-chimp.html

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http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/04_01/cheetaDM1004_468x601.jpg

He looks good for his age. I only wished I had aged as gracefully.

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That chimp is about ten years older than me.

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geez, he does look good for 76.

they must have him on a exercise regiem.

His eyes are still alert.

gus....I don't know if he got any from Tarzans Jane, but I have heard stories about our jane getting late night visits from Cheeta and that orangutan from Any Which Way But Loose.

Victor Murphy was talking about that movie the other day. I wonder if he has any insight.

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Worth checking into, Chai. I'll give Vic a call.

Thanks for the heads up.

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A friend of mine once interviewed Johnny Weismuller at a nursing home in Los Angeles. Is Cheeta in any kind of a nursing home? It would be nice to compare notes on how the two got along (on and off the set).

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Cheeta is in a sanctuary. I wonder if he has any royalties from all those films? I bet they spent it for him.

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I always felt that Weismuller should have gotten more royalties than he actually did. In my opinion, Cheeta's "lame slapstick" detracted from Weismuller's athleticism. Johnny had expressed some bitterness about this. I wonder if Cheeta's book sheds any light on their problematic realtionship? Did the two reconcile before Johnny's death?

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Here we go....

Mia Farrow, Maureen O'Sullivans daughter, said her mother, who played Jane, despised Cheeta.

O'Sullivan referred to Cheeta as "that ape son of a bitch" and apparantly tried to bite her all the time, as he had taken a liking to Johnny.

Well, now we see who had the last laugh. Cheeta's enjoying the life of Riley, and O'Sullivan is 6 feet under.

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But might O'Sullivan have faked her death and is at this moment plotting to exact revenge on the despised simian creature?

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The impression that Cheeta had "taken a liking to Johnny" was mistaken. The relationship among the 3 co-stars was fraught with professional jealousy. This happens far more often in Hollywood than simple-minded movie fans realize.

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gustavratzenhofer wrote:

But might O'Sullivan have faked her death and is at this moment plotting to exact revenge on the despised simian creature?

could be.

She probably isn't holding up as well as cheeta, and could be using Mia as her enforcer.

This might be why Mia Farrow is such a crazy bitch. Her mother twister her psyche with stories of shit flinging apes at bedtime.

I have never been able to figure out why Sinatra married Farrow. I mean, he had some really hot broads as his wife both before and after Mia. Christ, look at Ava Gardner. Well, she was crazy too, bad crazy. I'd go so far to say she had a case of the bad gunkies (Lisey's Story, Stephen King). But at least she had some meat on her bones.

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I recall the time Cheetah had told a group of his buddies how easy Jane was and invited them over for some drinks and afterwards a good old fashioned chimpanzee-human gang bang would take place.

The chimps had a wonderful time pounding down the drinks and staring at Jane with desire in their eyes, but then Tarzan swung down from the trees on his vine and swooped her up, apparently in a hurry because they were attending a fashion show put on by the Chumungo tribe.

Just like that the voluptuous creature was gone, her lithe body disappearing amidst the branches and soon only the distant call of Tarzan could be heard.

The chimps sobered up quickly and looked around in a confused manner....

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Chimps.jpg

Soon the realization set in that they would not be sexually satisfied that day and they went back into the jungle, to mope and search for insects.

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Cheeta Still Lives, World's Oldest

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