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Ron Ely, the hunky and handsome Texas native who portrayed the Lord of the Jungle on the first Tarzan series for television, has died, his daughter Kirsten told Fox News Digital. He was 86.

He died Sept. 29 at the home of one of his daughters near Santa Barbara, The New York Times reported.

Ely also hosted the Miss America pageant in 1980 and 1981, stepping in for longtime emcee Bert Parks, and presided over a syndicated game show called Face the Music around that time.

The 6-foot-4, blue-eyed Ely had appeared opposite Clint Walker in The Night of the Grizzly and with Ursula Andress in Once Before I Die in films released in 1966 when he was hired to don the loincloth in a new NBC series executive produced by Sy Weintraub.

Ely was offered the Tarzan gig after former NFL linebacker Mike Henry, who had played the Edgar Rice Burroughs creation in three ’60s films,...

By John M. Whalen

After making six Tarzan films, the last two,“Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure” (1959) and “Tarzan the Magnificent” (1960), considered among the best ever made, actor Gordon Scott hung up the loin cloth to star in movies in Italy. Producer Sy Weintraub, who had taken Tarzan out of the back lots of Hollywood and filmed on location in Africa, wanted to continue the series and put the ape man in even more exotic locations. He had India in mind for the next Tarzan adventure, but now suddenly he had to find a new Lord of the Jungle. He didn’t have to look very far. “Tarzan the Magnificent” had featured stunt man turned actor, Jock Mahoney as villain Coy Banton, in a performance that was every bit as physically demanding as it was for Scott.

Even at age 41, when “Magnificent” was made, Mahoney was in incredible shape. At six foot four,...

Tarzan Goes to India/Tarzan’s Three Challenges

Blu ray

Warner Archives

1962, 1963 / 2:35:1 / 88 Min., 92 Min. / Street Date – January 29, 2019

Starring Jock Mahoney, Simi Garewal, Woody Strode

Cinematography by Paul Beeson, Edward Scaife

Directed by John Guillermin, Robert Day

Jane Goodall fell for Tarzan at an early age – ‘he married the wrong Jane’ she said, half joking. A confirmed tree-hugger, the King of the Apes would seem to be a perfect match for the nature loving primatologist – even though the greater part of Tarzan’s big screen career played out in backlot jungles rather than the real thing.

Producer Sy Weintraub rectified that situation with Tarzan Goes to India and Tarzan’s Three Challenges – both sleekly made widescreen entertainments that put the jungle lord in his proper element. Made on location in India and Thailand, the films are a non-stop parade of cliffhanging serial thrills that revel in the raw beauty...

By John M. Whalen

If you’ve ever read one of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan novels, you know that there has always been a big difference between Tarzan as he is in the movies versus Tarzan in the books. For some reason Hollywood has never really been able to get the character exactly right. As much fun as the Johnny Weissmuller and Lex Barker Tarzan movies are, for example, they really didn’t get close to Burroughs’ concept of the ape man. The real Tarzan didn’t speak Pidgin English for one thing. He actually spoke fluent English and French. He was as at home in an English Tea Room as the son of a British Lord, as he was in the prehistoric land of Pal-ul-don. While the movies showed Tarzan as protector of the animals, and friends with cute chimpanzees, in the books Burroughs present a world where death usually came on four feet,...

Jock Mahoney in Tarzan Goes To India and Tarzan’S Three Challenges are now available On Blu-ray from Warner Archives! Ordering information can be found Here

Tarzan Goes To India (1962)

No need to land the plane when Tarzan flies to India. Just fly over an inland lake and the loin-clothed hero will leap into its blue depths! Jock Mahoney, who two years earlier portrayed Tarzan’s foe in Tarzan the Magnificent, makes his splashy debut as Tarzan in this tale about the Ape-Man’s rescue of elephants who will be doomed when a newly built dam unleashes its waters. John Guillermin directs, combining colorful subcontinent locales with battles large and thunderous (massive bull elephants), small and fierce (cobra versus mongoose), cunning and treacherous (Tarzan against human foes). No matter where the jungle, there is but one jungle lord!

John Guillermin (Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure) directs this tale of action and intrigue in the subcontinent.

Tarzan got a new lease on life when a film company finally went to Africa to pit the excellent ‘Lord of the Jungle’ Gordon Scott against a formidable phalanx of villains. Anthony Quayle, Sean Connery and Niall MacGinnis are perfect Dastards of the Darkest Continent. Also top-flight are the women in this jungle combat, wicked Scilla Gabel and naughty Sara Shane. Fun for adult kids of all ages!

Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1959 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 87 min. / Street Date November 13, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Gordon Scott, Anthony Quayle, Sara Shane, Niall MacGinnis, Sean Connery, Al Mulock, Scilla Gabel.

Cinematography: Edward Scaife

Film Editor: Bert Rule

Original Music: Douglas Gamley

Written by Les Crutchfield, Berne Giler, John Guillermin from the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Produced by Harvey Hayutin, Sy Weintraub

Directed by John Guillermin

Of all the big-screen Tarzans — Johnny Weissmuller, Lex Barker, Jock Mahoney,...

By Tim Greaves

Numerous actors have occupied the role of Sherlock Holmes over the decades, some more suited to the shoes of author Arthur Conan Doyle's famous consulting detective than others. One of the finest portrayals is that by Ian Richardson. Yet, sadly, his is also one that is often overlooked, not leastways because he played the character just twice (in a pair of 1983 films made for television), but also because his light was to be quickly eclipsed a year later by the arrival on TV screens of Jeremy Brett, whose interpretation of Holmes is considered by many to be the definitive one.

Sy Weintraub – who produced several Tarzan movies throughout the 60s and was executive producer on the popular long-running Ron Ely TV series –teamed up with Otto Plaschkes (whose producer credits include Georgie Girl and The Holcroft Covenant) with the intention of making several Holmes adventures headlining Richardson.

In the late 1960s and early 70s, few actors stood as tall in their heroic roles as Ron Ely.

From television’s Tarzan to the big screen’s Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, Ely’s 6-foot-4-inch muscular frame made the scenery cower when he stepped before a camera.

The 74-year-old actor stands just as tall today, commanding audiences with his tales of those golden days of pulp fiction on film. Warner Archive Collection has brought Ely’s best-loved roles back into the

spotlight, making the classic titles available on DVD and through its new live-streaming service, Warner Archive Instant.

Premiering on NBC in 1966, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ immortal creation, Tarzan, took to the nation’s TV screens for the first time. Still in the capable hands of producer Sy Weintraub, the TV Tarzan (the

aforementioned Mr. Ely) continued the more recent (and more authentic) interpretation of Lord Greystoke as a sophisticated,...

In the late 1960s and early 70s, few actors stood as tall in their heroic roles as Ron Ely. From television's Tarzan to the big Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, Ron Ely's 6-foot-4-inch muscular frame made the scenery cower when he stepped before a camera.

The 74-year-old actor stands just as tall today, commanding audiences with his tales of those golden days of pulp fiction on film. Warner Archive Collection has brought Ron Ely's best-loved roles back into the spotlight, making the classic titles available on DVD and through its new live-streaming service, Warner Archive Instant (clickHere).

Premiering on NBC in 1966, Edgar Rice Burroughs' immortal creation, Tarzan, took to the nation's TV screens for the first time. Still in the capable hands of producer Sy Weintraub, the TV Tarzan (the aforementioned Mr. Ron Ely) continued the more recent (and more authentic) interpretation of Lord Greystoke as a sophisticated,...

In the late 1960s and early 70s, few actors stood as tall in their heroic roles as Ron Ely. From television’s Tarzan to the big screen’s Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, Ely’s 6-foot-4-inch muscular frame made the scenery cower when he stepped before a camera. The 74-year-old actor stands just as tall today, commanding audiences with his tales of those golden days of pulp fiction on film. Warner Archive Collection has brought Ely’s best-loved roles back into the spotlight, making the classic titles available on DVD and through its new live-streaming service, Warner Archive Instant. Premiering on NBC in 1966, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ immortal creation, Tarzan, took to the nation’s TV screens for the first time. Still in the capable hands of producer Sy Weintraub, the TV Tarzan (the aforementioned Mr. Ely) continued the more recent (and more authentic) interpretation of Lord Greystoke as a sophisticated,...

September 8, 1966 was a pretty big night of television for fans of the fantastic. NBC ran a sneak peek of several new shows a week prior to the formal premiere of the prime time season. At 7:30, Ron Ely first swung on a vine across trees as Tarzan while an hour later, Captain James T. Kirk confronted the Salt Vampire on the first airing of Star Trek. While the latter has gone on to great international fame, the former series has always been somewhat eclipsed.

Warner Archive, bless their souls, has rectified that by releasing the complete first season of the two season series. You can find the first fifteen episodes on four discs comprising Tarzan Season One, Volume One while the remaining sixteen episodes are available in the second volume. Warner has done a nice job cleaning the prints and the show looks pretty darn good.

It was also a...