Gordon Scott

Gordon Scott was an American film and television actor known for his portrayal of the fictional character Tarzan in five films and one compilation of three madeasapilot television episodes of the Tarzan film series from 1955 to 1960 Gordon Scott was the eleventh Tarzan starting with Tarzans Hidden Jungle He was discovered poolside and offered a sevenyear contract a loin cloth and a new last name Due in part to his muscular frame and 6foot3inch 191metre height he was quickly signed to replace Lex Barker as Tarzan by producer Sol Lesser Lesser had Gordon change his name because Werschkul sounded too much like Weismueller Scotts Tarzan movies ranged from rather cheap reedited television pilots to largescale action films with highproduction values shot on location in Africa In his early Tarzan films he played the character as unworldly and inarticulate in the mold of Johnny Weissmuller an earlier Tarzan portrayer In Scotts later films after a change in producers he played a Tarzan who was educated and spoke perfect English as in the original Edgar Rice Burroughs novels Scott was the only actor to play Tarzan in both styles Fearing he would become typecast as Tarzan Scott moved to Italy and became a popular star in epics of the péplum genre known in the United States as swordandsandal featuring handsome bodybuilders as various characters from Greek and Roman myth Scott was a friend of Steve Reeves and collaborated with him as Remus to Reevess Romulus in Duel of the Titans Scott also played Hercules in a couple of international coproductions during the mid1960s As the péplum genre faded Scott starred in spaghetti westerns and Eurospy films His final film appearance was in The Tramplers filmed in 1966 released in the United States in 1968