Gordon Scott (born Gordon Merrill Werschkul; August 3, 1926
– April 30, 2007
[) was an American film and television actor known for his portrayal of the fictional character ]Tarzan
Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...
in five films (and one compilation of three made-as-a-pilot television episodes) of the ''Tarzan'' film series from 1955 to 1960. Gordon Scott was the eleventh Tarzan, starting with ''Tarzan’s Hidden Jungle'' (1955). He was "discovered" poolside, and offered "a seven-year contract, a loin cloth, and a new last name."
Early life, education and military service
Scott was born Gordon Merrill Werschkul in Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
, Oregon, one of nine children of advertising man Stanley Werschkul and his wife Alice. He was raised in Oregon and attended the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...
, located in Eugene, Oregon, for one semester.
Upon leaving school, he was drafted into the United States Army in 1944. He served as a drill sergeant and military policeman until he was honorably discharged in 1947. He then worked at a variety of jobs until 1953 when he was spotted by a talent agent while working as a lifeguard at the Sahara Hotel and Casino
Sahara Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Meruelo Group. The hotel has 1,616 rooms, and the casino contains . The Sahara anchors the northern end of the Las Vegas ...
, located on the Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of ...
in Nevada.
Career
"Due in part to his muscular frame and height, he was quickly signed to replace Lex Barker
Alexander Crichlow Barker Jr. (May 8, 1919 – May 11, 1973), known as Lex Barker, was an American actor. He was known for playing Tarzan for RKO Pictures between 1949 and 1953, and portraying leading characters from Karl May's novels, notably a ...
as Tarzan" by producer Sol Lesser
Sol Lesser (February 17, 1890 – September 19, 1980) was an American film producer. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 and was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1961.
Biography
In 1913, while living in San F ...
. Lesser had Gordon change his name because "Werschkul" sounded too much like "Weismueller".
Scott's Tarzan movies ranged from rather cheap re-edited television pilots to large-scale action films with high-production 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
Johnny Weissmuller (born Johann Peter Weißmüller; June 2, 1904 – January 20, 1984) was an American Olympic swimmer, water polo player and actor. He was known for having one of the best competitive swimming records of the 20th century. H ...
, an earlier Tarzan portrayer. In Scott's 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
Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best-known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, he ...
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 sword-and-sandal), 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 Reeves's Romulus
Romulus () was the legendary foundation of Rome, founder and King of Rome, first king of Ancient Rome, Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus ...
in ''Duel of the Titans
''Duel of the Titans'' ( it, Romolo e Remo, lit=Romulus and Remus) is a 1961 Italian / French film directed by Sergio Corbucci and starring Steve Reeves, Gordon Scott, and Virna Lisi. The film is about twin brothers revolt against tyranny in pr ...
'' (1961). Scott also played Hercules in a couple of international co-productions
A co-production is a joint venture between two or more different production companies for the purpose of film production, television production, video game development, and so on. In the case of an international co-production, production companies ...
during the mid-1960s. As the péplum genre faded, Scott starred in Spaghetti Westerns and Eurospy
Eurospy film, or Spaghetti spy film (when referring to Italian-produced films in the genre), is a genre of spy films produced in Europe, especially in Italy, France, and Spain, that either sincerely imitated or else parodied the British James ...
films. His final film appearance was in '' The Tramplers'' (filmed in 1966; released in the United States in 1968).
Personal life
Scott was married two times. His first marriage was with Janice Mae Wynkoop of Oakland, California. They met when he was a lifeguard at Lake Temescal, located in Oakland, California. The couple married in Reno, Nevada, in 1948, and had one child, Karen Judith Werschkul (born August 26, 1948), before divorcing in 1949. He was married to actress Vera Miles
Vera June Miles ( née Ralston, born August 23, 1929) is an American retired actress who worked closely with Alfred Hitchcock, most notably as Lila Crane in the classic 1960 film '' Psycho'', reprising the role in the 1983 sequel '' Psycho II ...
, his Tarzan co-star, from 1956 to 1960. He had one son with Miles – Michael, born 1957 – and possibly several other children.[
For the last two decades of his life, Scott was a popular guest at film conventions and autograph shows.]
Death
Scott died, aged 80, in Baltimore, Maryland of lingering complications from multiple heart surgeries earlier in the year. He is buried in the Kensico Cemetery, located in Valhalla
In Norse mythology Valhalla (;) is the anglicised name for non, Valhǫll ("hall of the slain").Orchard (1997:171–172) It is described as a majestic hall located in Asgard and presided over by the god Odin. Half of those who die in combat e ...
, New York.
Filmography
Tarzan films
Other roles
See also
* List of people from Oregon
This is a list of notable people associated with the U.S. state of Oregon through birth and/or residence.
A
* Bruce Abbott (born 1954) – actor
* Kenneth Acker (born 1992) – cornerback for the San Francisco 49ers
* Duane Ackerson (194 ...
* Tarzan in film and other non-print media
Tarzan, a fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first appeared in the 1912 novel ''Tarzan of the Apes'', and then in twenty-four sequels by Burroughs and numerous more by other authors. The character proved immensely popular and qu ...
References
External links
*
Gordon Scott's final newspaper interview
Gordon Scott tribute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Gordon
1926 births
2007 deaths
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
American expatriates in Italy
American male film actors
American male television actors
Italian male film actors
Burials at Kensico Cemetery
Male actors from Portland, Oregon
Male actors from Baltimore
category:People associated with physical culture
Tarzan
United States Army non-commissioned officers
University of Oregon alumni
United States Army personnel of World War II
American military police officers