He hung out with chimpanzees, rode on the backs of wild animals, wrestled crocodiles and alligators, and even swung through the vines while shouting at the top of his lungs.
This wasn’t Tarzan. This was Johnny Weissmuller.
Before captivating audiences worldwide as the jungle hero, Weissmuller reigned supreme in the water. He is often regarded as one of the greatest swimmers of all time.
On July 21, 1922, just after turning 18, Weissmuller became the first person to swim the 100-meter freestyle in under a minute, clocking in at 58.6 seconds in Alameda, California. This achievement shattered the previous record by a full two seconds.
While Weissmuller held this record for just under two years, he had the satisfaction of being the one to break it again.
In February 1924, still not yet 20, Weissmuller shaved another second off his own record. His dominance in the 100-meter freestyle went unchallenged for another decade, marking the longest period a single swimmer held the top spot in this event since records began.
Johnny Weissmuller started swimming at the age of eight, learning the basics at Fullerton Beach on Lake Michigan. Remarkably, less than ten years later, he was already a world record holder. Fifteen years after that, he was an Olympic champion. Twenty years later, he was a hero in every sense of the word. Thirty years later, he was one of the most recognizable faces—and physiques—on the planet, swinging through the jungle in MGM films wearing nothing but a loincloth.
Not bad for the son of German immigrants who grew up in a single-parent household in a poor neighborhood of Chicago. Poverty in Illinois played a significant role in shaping both Weissmuller’s life and his most iconic role, Tarzan.
Born during the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Johnny Weissmuller moved to the United States at just seven months old. By the time he passed away at age 79 in 1984, he was a national hero and global icon. He received the rare honor of a 21-gun salute from President Ronald Reagan and accolades from both sides of the Cold War, as well as from the Vatican.
Weissmuller’s achievements over nearly eight decades are hard to fully encapsulate. With his lifelong coach, Bill Bachrach, he became the ultimate swimming champion. They worked together to refine Weissmuller’s unique stroke techniques, which led to his development of a patented crawl stroke. Weissmuller also ventured into athletic wear, endorsing and designing a streamlined one-piece tank suit and the first male swim trunk, making him one of the first sports figures to endorse and design sports apparel.
Weissmuller’s record-setting career is legendary. In 1922 alone, he won nine National Championships and set 24 official world records. By 1923, he held most of the world’s swimming records for distances from 50 meters to 500 yards, adding nine more world records and fifteen new US records that year. On June 23, 1922, Weissmuller set a 100-yard open water time of 52.8 seconds. At the 1924 Paris Olympics, he won three gold medals in freestyle (400m, 100m, and the 800m relay) and a bronze in water polo. His victory in the 100m freestyle, where he bested the great Duke Kahanamoku—a surfing pioneer and both a rival and a friend—is often cited as one of the greatest swimming races of all time.
As noted in his biography, “Johnny Weissmuller was the star of the 1924 Olympic Games,” as described in the book Young Olympic Champions. “For the first time, a swimmer had stolen the show from all other great athletes. He had his place in history; everyone knew that.”
Four years later in Amsterdam, Johnny Weissmuller not only secured two more gold medals but also led the U.S. delegation as the standard bearer in the Opening Ceremony, alongside General Douglas MacArthur, representing over 4,000 athletes.
Weissmuller’s swimming success earned him global recognition. He was invited to Japan by Crown Prince Chichibu for the royal wedding, received a commendation and medal for athletic excellence from French President Gaston Doumergue, an award from Queen Wilhelmina of Holland, an honorary medal from the King of Belgium, and had a private audience with President Calvin Coolidge.
On January 3, 1929, Weissmuller retired from competitive swimming at the peak of his career, holding virtually all freestyle records across various distances from 50 to 500 yards. He retired with 67 world records (51 in individual events), 52 national championship gold medals, and his record of 38 individual US National titles stood until well into the 1980s. More than 35 years after his death, and nearly a century after his prime, Weissmuller remains the only Olympic gold medalist to have medaled in two different sports.
Despite his water achievements, his fame soared when he transitioned to acting. In the summer of 1931, while swimming at the Hollywood Athletic Club, he was spotted by MGM screenwriter Cyril Hume. Hume was working on a new film project, which became Tarzan the Ape Man. Seeing Weissmuller, Hume knew he had found the perfect actor to bring Tarzan from page to screen.
For many, Weissmuller became the definitive screen Tarzan, portraying Viscount Greystoke in twelve films over 17 years, with each movie drawing around 140 million viewers. Even today, when people hear the name “Tarzan,” they often think of Weissmuller’s iconic yell. This famous holler was inspired by the yodeling he learned as a boy in the German Freidorf community of Chicago, where he grew up in a shared house with his mother. The Tarzan yell was even played for homesick troops during World War II. During the war, Weissmuller also trained soldiers to swim underwater through burning oil.
Renowned author and professor of literature Edward Said once described Weissmuller’s portrayal of Tarzan: “Everything about Weissmuller was flowing, harmonious, and natural. Weissmuller’s Tarzan was pure existence, a sort of degree zero transmuted onto the figure and motions of an Adonis-like man.”
“He was the natural hero in an age of heroes with supernatural or extra-human powers. Weissmuller embodied the man whose entirely human powers allowed him to exist in the jungle with dignity and prestige.”
As Tarzan, Weissmuller wrestled live alligators, rode bareback on horses and African rhinoceroses, and stood atop elephants leading herds. His fearless adoption of the role, combined with his Olympic athleticism, cemented his place as the quintessential Tarzan. He belongs in the pantheon of iconic characters, alongside Sean Connery’s 007, Christopher Lee’s Dracula, and Basil Rathbone’s Sherlock Holmes. Unlike others who played characters, Weissmuller was, and remains, Tarzan. Producers even added extra swimming scenes to his films to highlight his prowess, likening him to a modern-day Theoi Einalioi, a status continually recognized over the past century.
In 1965, Weissmuller became the first honoree at the newly established Swimming Hall of Fame, and in 1983, he was one of the twenty founding inductees of the US Olympic Hall of Fame. In February 1950, Weissmuller was named the “Greatest Swimmer of the First Half-Century.” The Associated Press statement read: “There was no doubt that the tall, panther-like Weissmuller, a product of the public pools of Chicago, was to speed swimming what Jack Dempsey was to boxing, Babe Ruth to baseball, and Bob Jones to golf. He shone in his field with brilliance and power.”
Weissmuller’s greatest act, however, was not at the Olympics or in his film roles. On July 28, 1927, while training for the Chicago River marathon in Lake Michigan, he and his brother Peter witnessed a passenger steamboat capsizing. The Weissmuller brothers repeatedly dove into the 90-meter-deep lake, pulling up over two dozen people from the wreckage and attempting resuscitation on the unconscious. While 27 of the 71 passengers died, the Weissmullers’ actions saved eleven lives. Johnny was awarded the key to the city of Chicago for his bravery. Remarkably, he won the marathon race just two days later, setting a new record.
Johnny Weissmuller was a hero greater off the screen than the one he portrayed on it.
