Gordon Scott, actor who portrayed Tarzan, dies at 80

[NedNickerson]

He was my favorite Tarzan.

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'Tarzan' Gordon Scott dies in Baltimore

Actor Gordon Scott, right, portraying Tarzan, poses with actress Eve Brent, portraying Jane, in this 1958 file photo. Scott, a handsome, muscle-bound actor known for his portrayal of Tarzan in the 1950s, died, Monday, April 30, 2007. He was 80. Scott, who had been living in south Baltimore, died at Johns Hopkins Hospital of post-heart surgery complications, a hospital spokesman said. (AP Photo/File)

Gordon Scott, a handsome, muscle-bound actor who portrayed Tarzan in the 1950s, has died. He was 80.

Scott, who had been living in a working class section of south Baltimore, died Monday at Johns Hopkins Hospital of post-heart surgery complications, a hospital spokesman said.

Scott made 24 movies including "Tarzan and the Lost Safari" (1957), "Tarzan's Fight for Life" (1958), "Tarzan and the Trappers" (1958), "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" (1959) and "Tarzan the Magnificent" (1960).

The cast in the 1959 movie included Sean Connery and Anthony Quayle.

Tarzan, the vine-swinging hero of the jungle, was created by the author Edgar Rice Burroughs. Scott was among a long line of actors, including Johnny Weissmuller and Larry "Buster" Crabbe, who portrayed him.

"He was an absolutely wonderful Tarzan who played the character as an intelligent and nice man who carried himself well, much as my grandfather had originally written it," Danton Burroughs told The (Baltimore) Sun.

Scott was a lifeguard at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas when he was discovered by Hollywood producer Sol Lesser, said Scott's brother Rayfield Werschkull of Portland, Ore.

He was signed to a seven-year-contract after he outperformed 200 other international candidates.

During the 1954 production of his first film, "Tarzan's Hidden Jungle," he fell in love with co-star Vera Miles. The couple married that year and divorced four years later.

After the Tarzan movies, Scott appeared in Westerns and gladiator films.

Scott's later years were spent in Baltimore, in a row house owned by Roger and Betty Thomas.

"My husband has been a fan of his since he was a child. When we were in Hollywood about eight years ago, we looked him up," said Betty Thomas. "We invited him for a visit. He came and never left."

Thomas said she last saw Scott in the hospital on Saturday. She told him, "'Gordon, we love you, and so does the dog and the bird.' He opened one eye for a moment and gave me a wink."

Although some sources said Scott was born in August 1927, his brother told The Sun he was born a year later.

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Biography:

A former GI, fireman, cowboy and lifeguard, Gordon Scott parlayed his well-developed musculature into a five-film stint as Tarzan, beginning with "Tarzan's Hidden Book" (1955). He subsequently appeared in several Italian he-man extravaganzas. Scott was formerly married to actress Vera Miles.

Also Credited As: Gordon M. Werschkul

Born: on 08/03/1927 in Portland, Oregon

Job Titles: Actor, Cowboy, Fireman, Lifeguard

Education
University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon

Milestones
1955 Screen debut "Tarzan's Hidden Jungle"
Moved to Italy in the 1960s

 

[NedNickerson]

More information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Scott

http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/gordonscott.html

http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/gordonscott2.html

http://www.angelfire.com/apes/tarzanscott/index.html

http://www.angelfire.com/apes/tarzanscott/gscottbio.html

http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0779194/

http://www.escena.ya.com/tarzana54/scott1.html

 

[NedNickerson]

http://videowatchdog.blogspot.com/2007/05/cry-for-gordon-scott.html

http://disc.server.com/Indices/160642.html

A Cry for Gordon Scott

An e-mail from Dave Dowling to William Connolly, posted on the Spaghetti Western Web Board, reports that actor Gordon Scott passed away on the morning of April 30 (10:50 a.m. EST) in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

"Gordon had been hospitalized for several months recovering from heart valve surgery, among other things," Dowling writes. "Unfortunately, following surgery he had infections and was kept in ICU from time to time. Just recently the infections reoccurred and he (physically) fought to remove his IV whenever he could. In short, Gordon chose not to prolong his life. I spoke with Gordon about 6 times over the past 9 months, most recently in March. He was in good spirits then, despite still being in the hospital, and experiencing much weight loss. He was 80, father of 5, and penniless."

Born Gordon Werschkul in Portland, Oregon in 1927, Scott had held down a broad variety of jobs -- including fireman and military judo instructor -- prior to being discovered by producer Sol Lesser while working as a lifeguard in Las Vegas. He replaced Lex Barker in the coveted role of Tarzan in TARZAN'S HIDDEN JUNGLE, during the filming of which he fell in love with and married his leading lady, Vera Miles. Miles was pregnant with their first child at the time Alfred Hitchcock wanted to cast her in the lead of VERTIGO; he was furious and replaced her with Kim Novak, subsequently casting her in the supporting role of Janet Leigh's sister in PSYCHO. Scott, on the other hand, rose in stardom, making three more entertaining Tarzan features for Lesser and another feature culled from episodes filmed for an unsold Tarzan tele-series. When Lesser sold his interests in the Tarzan character to producer Sy Weintraub, Scott had the best fortune of his career, starring in the well-named TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE (1959, featuring Sean Connery in a supporting role) and TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT (1960, featuring John Carradine and Jock Mahoney). Only the sentimental could seriously argue that Johnny Weissmuller was a superior Tarzan to Gordon Scott, who -- in addition to being 6' 3", handsome, with a massive build -- was also the superior actor.

Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott in DUEL OF THE TITANS.

Evidently Scott and Weintraub didn't get along, and Scott was subsequently replaced in the Tarzan role by the leaner, almost-ten-years-older Jock Mahoney. Scott's friend Steve Reeves arranged for Scott to star opposite him in the Sergio Leone-penned saga of Romulus and Remus, released here in the States as DUEL OF THE TITANS. My childhood memory of the publicity campaign attending this release was the closest thing to having two demigods descend from Olympus: "Giant Against Giant!" Movies simply didn't get any bigger. Remember, this was before King Kong had met Godzilla, and the spectacle of two colossal men engaged in battle on the widescreen was virtually unprecedented. It turned out to be a good movie too, in which Scott gives what may well be the performance of his career as a hero who, poisoned with jealousy of his brother, turns villainous.

Scott's introduction into Italian filmmaking sustained him through the remainder of a sadly dwindling career, but he made good films there. He assumed the role of Maciste in (renamed for America) GOLIATH AND THE VAMPIRES and SAMSON AND THE 7 MIRACLES OF THE WORLD (directed by Riccardo Freda, a worthy follow-up to his best Tarzan movies), and THE LION OF THEBES, CONQUEST OF MYCENAE and the unfortunately named but fabulous ZORRO AND THE THREE MUSKETEERS. He drifted into Italian spy pictures just before the end of his career, making his last screen appearance in 1967.

I've heard gossip about Scott's Italian years that describe him as the wildest of a wild pack, and gossip of more recent vintage that held that alcoholism, reckless living, and a preference for a footloose lifestyle had conspired to harm Scott's career and destroy his personal life. Certainly the beer-bellied, ballcap-wearing man seen at autograph shows over the past 10-15 years bore no resemblance to the mythic figure Scott had formerly been. I wanted very much to devote an issue of VIDEO WATCHDOG to an in-depth interview with him, as I considered him a great star, but somehow we could never get a proper commitment, perhaps because he was unsure where he was going to be from one month to the next. I still want to do my Gordon Scott issue someday, but now it will have to be in the manner of a career appreciation.

Hollywood rise and fall stories are a dime a dozen. If the story of Gordon Scott seems especially tragic, it is because he achieved such incredible heights of heroism on the silver screen and left us with such indelible memories of intelligent virility and confidence. He was a Tarzan that Edgar Rice Burroughs would have recognized as his own, and been proud of.

I blogged about Gordon Scott last year, and I can only hope that someone showed him my words of appreciation. I remain ever hopeful that the best of his films will someday make it to DVD -- if Paramount is reading this, you own the TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE and TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT, so what's the holdup?

Sadly, Gordon Scott is now gone... so bring on the Gordon Scott!

 

[NedNickerson]

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?disc=160642;article=149931;title=Spaghetti Western Web Board

Gordon Scott, 80; bodybuilder and actor played Tarzan in 6 films
By Frederick N. Rasmussen, Baltimore Sun
May 3, 2007

Gordon Scott, an actor known for his portrayal of jungle superman Tarzan in six films and later roles in westerns and sword-and-sandals gladiator movies, died Monday at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore of complications from several heart surgeries. He was 80.

Scott had spent the last five years living with friends Roger and Betty Thomas in Baltimore. Betty Thomas said that since October, the former film star had been in failing health and was in and out of a nursing home and several hospitals.

An unknown hotel lifeguard in the 1950s, Scott managed to beat out 200 other would-be Tarzans from across the world who had auditioned for the part by climbing trees, jumping into pools and swinging from ersatz vines for six hours.

He was an impressive physical and athletic specimen, standing 6 feet 3, weighing 218 pounds and gifted with 19-inch biceps.

In 1953, he was awarded a seven-year contract by producer Sol Lesser, becoming the 11th Tarzan in replacing Lex Barker as the "Jungle King," who was created by novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs.

After his first film, "Tarzan's Hidden Jungle" (1955), Scott married co-star Vera Miles. The couple divorced four years later.

The film was followed by "Tarzan and the Lost Safari" (1957), "Tarzan's Fight for Life" (1958 ), "Tarzan and the Trappers" (1958 ), "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" (1959), with co-stars Sean Connery and Anthony Quayle, and "Tarzan the Magnificent" (1960).

"He was an absolutely wonderful Tarzan, who played the character as an intelligent and nice man who carried himself well, much as my grandfather had originally written it," said Danton Burroughs of Tarzana. "He also gave a wonderful rendition of Tarzan's call which didn't have so much yodel in it."

But Scott, having had his fill of Tarzan, moved to Italy in 1960 and appeared in films such as "Hercules" and "Buffalo Bill, Hero of the Far West."

His last film, "The Tramplers," made in 1966 with co-stars Joseph Cotten and James Mitchum, was released in 1968.

Scott supported himself later by attending autograph shows and film conventions and living off residuals.

"He was always a big spender and loved to party," his brother, Rayfield Werschkull, said. "If he had one weakness, it was women. They were always hitting on him."

In a recent interview with the weekly Baltimore City Paper, Scott said that being an actor "is one thing I never thought about doing, but once you're in it, it spoils you for anything else if you're successful at it. The money's so easy, you meet beautiful people. My God, that's the ideal situation — kind of a fantasy world. It's the best way to travel too. First class, and you get to see a lot of interesting places."

Born Gordon M. Werschkull on Aug. 3, 1926, in Portland, Ore., he took up bodybuilding as a teenager. He attended the University of Oregon for a year after high school and was drafted into the Army in 1944, serving as a drill sergeant and military policeman until 1947.

After the war he moved to Las Vegas, where he became a lifeguard at the Sahara Hotel. He changed his last name to Scott after landing the role of Tarzan.

He had at least three marriages, family members said, and is believed to have had at least three children.

In addition to his brother, known survivors include two sisters, Janice McKeel of Salem, Ore., and Betty Lou Hyatt of Sisters, Ore.

Plans for a memorial service to be held in Oregon in June were incomplete.

 

[unclaimedblessing]

He and Lex Barker were the most handsome of the "Tarzans".

 

[Riverrick]

This is a film montage of all of the movie Tarzans, including Gordon Scott.

Its long (10 min) but well done and interesting. And who doesn't love looking at a bunch of well built guys with their shirts off?

​

 

[thelaw2047]

Gordon Scott was one of the best Tarzan actors ever. My sympathy and prayers goes out to his family and friends.

 

[BINOWGAYLATER]

I thought he was super ! I used to get hard to him way before I knew how to wank ! Him and Hopalong Cassidy were my main men !!
80 seems so young !!!

 

[NedNickerson]

 

[levenshulme31]

Aaaawwww (aaww aawaaaaaaa aaahaa)

 

[Nonimus]

Sorry, but Johnny Weissmuller was Tarzan

 

[buzzj]

Didn't he have GREAT legs!

 

[NedNickerson]

Gordon Scott's last interview, published in a Baltimore newpaper just 2 days after he died:
The Last of the Strongmen
http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=13574

 

[eddielee]

There goes the last of the "great" Tarzans.

 

[CuppaJoe]

Anyone who stays in shape or works out at the gym today can get a good dose of motivation from the films of Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott. In the 1950's. there were no 'GNC', or 'Vitamin Shoppes' with all the high-tech over-the-counter supplements. Steriods also, were not part the scene. They built their bodies with nothing but barbells and a healthy diet. Hard to believe in our modern world of shortcuts and instant this & that.

 

[TaylorKinneyishot]

Any nudes of him?

 

[gsdx]

Any nudes of him?

Sorry for the censor block, but no frontal nudity in Hot Topics.

 

[pat grimshaw]

the youtube links in this thread are as dead as Gordon Werschkul

 

[TaylorKinneyishot]

why no nudes here?