Johnny Weissmuller, 65, Son of Tarzan
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Johnny Weissmuller, the son of Tarzan film star and five-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer Johnny Weissmuller, died Thursday of liver cancer in a San Francisco hospital. He was 65.
His last few months were filled with excitement, including driving part of the California leg of the multicontinent Gumball Rally 3000 auto race, his wife said.
Weissmuller was an underwater demolition specialist in the Navy who went on to work as a stage actor and longshoreman in San Francisco in the 1970s.
He also penned a memoir about life with his father, who died in 1984 of pulmonary edema. “Tarzan, My Father” was published in 2002.
He retired last year to write a book about working on the docks.
In July, Weissmuller Jr. petitioned the International Swimming Hall of Fame Museum to return his father’s medals and other memorabilia, which were stolen two years ago from the museum and returned in September.
