Cheetah, Tarzan's Companion Chimp, Has Died

Outlived his co-stars Johnny Weissmuller (d. 1984) and Maureen O'Sullivan (d. 1998). Out-acted Weissmuller.

Was better looking too.

I'd say Weissmuller was rather handsome in his early days.



Later on, though, he was inclined to be somewhat doughy, and he ended up looking a lot like Lon Chaney, Jr. -- not a good thing.

I'm in shock. Frankly, I had no idea that chimps lived that long or that this one was still alive. RIP, Cheetah.

PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) — A Florida animal sanctuary says Cheetah, the chimpanzee sidekick in the Tarzan movies of the early 1930s, has died at 80. But other accounts call that claim into question.

Debbie Cobb, outreach director at the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary along Florida's Gulf Coast, said Wednesday that her grandparents acquired Cheetah around 1960 from "Tarzan" star Johnny Weissmuller and that the chimp appeared in Tarzan films between 1932 and 1934. During that period, Weissmuller made "Tarzan the Ape Man" and "Tarzan and His Mate."

But Cobb offered no documentation, saying it was destroyed in a 1995 fire.

Also, some Hollywood accounts indicate a chimpanzee by the name of Jiggs or Mr. Jiggs played Cheetah alongside Weissmuller early on and died in 1938.

In addition, an 80-year-old chimpanzee would be extraordinarily old, perhaps the oldest ever known. According to many experts and Save the Chimps, another Florida sanctuary, chimpanzees in captivity live to between 40 and 60. Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee, Fla., has a chimp it says is around 73.

A similar claim about another chimpanzee that supposedly played Weissmuller's second banana was debunked in 2008 in a Washington Post story. Writer R.D. Rosen discovered that the primate, which lived in Palm Springs, Calif., was born around 1960, meaning it wasn't oldest enough to have been in the Tarzan movies of Hollywood's Golden Age.

Cobb said Cheetah died Dec. 24 of kidney failure and was cremated.

"Unfortunately, there was a fire in '95 in which a lot of that documentation burned up," Cobb said. "I'm 51 and I've known him for 51 years. My first remembrance of him coming here was when I was actually 5, and I've known him since then, and he was a full-grown chimp then."

More than one chimpanzee appeared as Cheetah in the Tarzan movies of the 1930s and '40s.

Film historian and Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osbourne said the Cheetah character "was one of the things people loved about the Tarzan movies because he made people laugh. He was always a regular fun part of the movies."

In his time, the Cheetah character was as popular as Rin Tin Tin or Asta, the dog from the "Thin Man" movies, Osbourne said.

"He was a major star," he said.

At the animal sanctuary, Cheetah was outgoing, loved finger painting and liked to see people laugh, Cobb said. But he could also be ill-tempered. Cobb said that when the chimp didn't like what was going on, he would fling feces and other objects



Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Did-Cheetah-from-1930s-Tarzan-flicks-die-2427995.php#ixzz1hry5YfqU

I worked for a man that competed with Weissmuller for the Tarzan role. This was in the 1970s. He said that Johnny had better political ties, which is why he won out. This guy showed me photos of himself taken at that time, and I could see it. He was, when I knew him, a fat old man, owner of a building company.

It was all politics? Gee, Edgar, I think that guy was either deluding himself or pulling your leg. Weissmuller was a five-time Olympic gold medalist when he signed his contract with MGM. He was already a well-known personality, and was a travelling spokesmodel for BVD. I don't think anybody else was up for the Tarzan role at all -- Weissmuller was hired specifically to play that role.

And later on, when he'd gotten too flabby to be running around the jungle half-nekkid, he became Jungle Jim, wearing neatly starched and ironed khakis.

The guy I told about applied for the role. He was possibly in the Olympics also. Photos of him in swimming trunks and newspaper clippings were very similar to those of Weissmuller. I have not thought of the man in years. His last name may possibly be Hall, but I am no longer certain what it was. He is bound to have died some time ago, as he did not look that healthy then.

Oh no.

Some experts are challenging the claim that the chimp was over 80 years old.

Yeah, that would probably be a Guiness world record. But, according to the AP, there is another animal shelter for primates not far down the road from where "Cheetah" supposedly died where they claim to have one chimp that's around 75 yrs.

There will never be another one, the animal rights people would have a fit.