Cheeta, chimpanzee and Tarzan movie star, dies at 'roughly 80'

Entertainment Weekly ^ | Dec. 27, 2011 | Annie Barrett

[Free ThinkerNY]

Cheeta the chimpanzee, who starred in Tarzan movies alongside Olympic swimmer-turned-actor Johnny Weissmuller in the 1930s and ranked #1 on EW.com’s list of the 10 Best Monkeys at the Movies, died of kidney failure Saturday. According to the Suncoast Primary Sanctuary’s outrach director, Cheeta was “roughly 80 years old, loved fingerpainting and football and was soothed by nondenominational Christian music.”

Roughly 80?! Way to live, chimp! That’s amazing! (Cheeta was an anomaly; the average zoo chimp dies around age 35-45.) I sure hope my favorite chimp lives that long.

[Oztrich Boy]

I forgot how ‘HOT’ Jane was

Her first Tarzan movie was pre-Hays Code

CHANGE

[djf]

Didn’t he have like a two-pack a day habit?

LNAO!!!

[Notwithstanding]

Is Shirley Temple (that other child star of the ‘30s) next?

[Mercat]

I was just thinking of Tarzan this week after watching the previews for John Carter which comes out in March. Both were written by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

[nuconvert]

Wow. I had no idea he was still alive.

[ETL]

acting chimps sometimes were prone to emotional upset and acting-out

"Several episodes featured a pet female chimp named "Bingo", who was dressed exactly the same as Costello. Bingo was fired from the show after biting Costello."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Abbott_and_Costello_Show

[commish]

Wow, such a long life. Had no idea he was with us for so long.

That said I have a question - how can one have ‘non-denominational’ Christmas music. CHRISTmas is a CHRISTian holiday which just by it being ‘CHRISTmas’ music makes it Denominational.

[Tax-chick]

“Non-denominational” is what you hear on your local Christian radio station. It cannot be identified as distinctively Catholic, Orthodox, Presbyterian, Methodist, etc., as a rule.

[Tax-chick]

He lived a constructive peaceful life, with no chip on his shoulder apparently.

A good example.

[ETL]

thanks...for posting the pics. Had a crush on Mareen O’Sullivan since I was a kid.....

You're welcome.

I don't recall watching the show much as a young kid, but after seeing Mareen O’Sullivan in these photos, my crush starts today.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

There was a pre-Hays version of the Maltese Falcon that was a lot steamy than the Bogart version.

[ETL]

An 80 year old chimp? Not likely. It seems the role of “Cheeta” was played by several different animals just as “Lassie” the dog was.

Or Arnold the Pig from Green Acres. Many pigs, male and female, were used.

From Wiki...

"The character of Cheeta was a composite role created through the use of numerous animal actors. According to journalist R. D. Rosen, "In each Tarzan movie, the Cheeta role [was] played by more than one chimp, depending on what talents the scene called for."[1] Known and alleged performers of the role include: (See link for details)"

ie: "Cheetah-Mike, a male chimpanzee owned by Suncoast Primate Sanctuary after being donated from Noell's Chimp Farm in Palm Harbor, FL.[14] Alleged to have been born about 1931 (claimed age in February 2008 was 77)"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheeta#The_Cheeta_role

[commish]

“Non-denominational” is what you hear on your local Christian radio station. It cannot be identified as distinctively Catholic, Orthodox, Presbyterian, Methodist, etc., as a rule.

Oh DUH on me, that sounds reasonable. LOL..... Here I was trying to imagine a Muslim CHRISTmas song --- Jingle bombs Jingle Bombs, Bomb the infidels, Oh what it is to blow christians all to hell........

[ETL]

I grew up watching those Tarzan movies on Saturday afternoons in the ‘60s. I cannot believe Cheeta has been alive all this time.

And supposedly 35 years prior to the 60s!

[Tax-chick]

LOL - good effort on non-Christian Christmas music ;-).

It was an odd choice of words in the article - as if they’d done experiments and found that Cheeta really didn’t like Catholic pop music, or went crazy if they tried Baptist Hymnal tunes.

[ETL]

I forgot how ‘HOT’ Jane was. No wonder Tarzan was always in a hurry to get home.

Some notes on the first chimp to play Cheeta...

"Jiggs, a male chimpanzee born about 1929 owned and trained by Tony and Jacqueline Gentry,[3][4][5][6] who originated the role and appeared in the first two Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan films, Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) and Tarzan and His Mate (1934),[7][8] as well as the Tarzan serials Tarzan the Fearless (1933), starring Buster Crabbe,[8][9] and The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935), starring Herman Brix, which was also released in feature-film form as Tarzan and the Green Goddess (1938).[8][10] In the Brix films, which were more faithful to Edgar Rice Burroughs' original stories than the Weissmuller ones, Jiggs was cast as Nkima, not Cheeta. He also appeared in Her Jungle Love (1938), starring Dorothy Lamour, his last film..."

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

**********************************************

Dorothy Lamour

[ETL]

more Dorothy Lamour...

[traderrob6]

“It seems the role of “Cheeta” was played by several different animals just as “Lassie” the dog was.”

But not this one:

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

[traderrob6]

Not really:

“Cheeta, a male chimpanzee born about 1960, formerly owned by Tony Gentry and now residing at the C.H.E.E.T.A. Primate Sanctuary (Creative Habitats and Enrichment for Endangered and Threatened Apes) in Palm Springs, California. Claimed by Gentry to have been born in 1932 or later in the 1930s and to have portrayed Cheeta in most of the Johnny Weismuller and Lex Barker Tarzan films, and for that reason long celebrated as the longest-lived chimpanzee. Both claims were debunked by journalist R. D. Rosen in 2008 in an article that settled the animal’s true age and established that he had not appeared in any movies, let alone in the role of Cheeta.”