Johnny Weissmuller Jr.

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Succumbed to cancer in his native city, San Francisco on July 27, 2006.

He was born during the World's fair where his father, Johnny Tarzan
Weissmuller was headliner of Billy Rose's Aquacade on Treasure Island.
Raised in Santa Monica and Ben Lomond, John became interested in acting
in his teens and appeared in many TV shows and movies. In San
Francisco, he played the 'Chief' in the stage production of "One Flew
Over the Cuckoo's Nest" for over 10 years. He also appeared in George
Lucas's films "American Graffiti" and "THX1138".

John is survived by his wife, Diane and step-son, Chad; his daughter
Gray and two grandsons, Tyler and Spencer Medsker. He also leaves his
nephews Adam and Nate Julie Penniman and his sister Wendy.

He will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

Services will be in San Francisco.

[d***@comcast.net]

He was just in the news a week ago-


Weissmuller's son fights museum over swimmer's mementos, medals
By Ashley Fantz
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
07/23/2006

Although he was most famously known as the big-screen Tarzan, to the
people at the International Swimming Hall of Fame, Johnny Weissmuller
embodied the history of his sport.

The five-time Olympic champion paraded around the Fort Lauderdale,
Fla., institution's pool with Esther Williams at its lavish 1965 grand
opening, televised on CBS, said the hall's president, Bruce Wigo.
Weissmuller praised the hall on TV's "The Ed Sullivan Show" and, as the
Hall's honorary chairman, he wore the organization's signature blue
blazer to swimming tournaments.

But now the athlete's son, 65-year-old Johnny Weissmuller Jr., wants to
take back his father's every memento and medal from the hall.

"They are mine," Weissmuller Jr. said in a voice weakened by terminal
cancer during a phone interview from his home in San Francisco.
Diane Weissmuller, his wife, said the couple is due the Olympian's
collection because Weissmuller Sr. said so in his will.

Until he sees and verifies the document, Wigo won't hand over the
items, which includes five gold medals, one bronze medal, several
photographs, a Tarzan loincloth, and Weissmuller's swimsuit from the
1928 Olympics.

"I have an obligation to the museum to know for sure that this is what
Johnny Weissmuller wanted," he said. "I have no idea what his son's
intentions are with them."

The Olympian never signed a written agreement giving his collection to
the hall.

"It was always a verbal agreement with Johnny that we would display
them and share them with the community," Wigo said. "After 30 years,
why now? Why do they want them now?"

For years, the waterfront shrine had fallen into disrepair. Its
showcases were crumbling, its statues of Olympic greats rusting or
falling apart.

The museum had not itemized its collection. The last time anything was
appraised was 1991. And there was virtually no security system.

In 2004, countless medals and other pieces of swimming history dating
back to the 1896 Olympics were stolen; Weissmuller's were among them. A
janitor with a criminal history pulled off the elaborate caper,
replacing real items with fakes over days. Police arrested the janitor
and the museum got the items back in September 2005.

"There have been just too many shenanigans at the Hall of Fame," Diane
Weissmuller said. "We don't feel the items are secure."

The museum now has a security system and has begun to take inventory of
its collection.

The Weissmullers also have said they are upset that none of the items
at the Hall is insured.

"One serious hurricane and everything Johnny Weissmuller earned could
be wiped out," Dianne Weissmuller said.

Wigo said it's too expensive to insure the museum's collection.

"How do you put a price on a Weissmuller gold medal?" he said. "You
can't. It's priceless and irreplaceable."

The Weissmullers hope to display the Olympian's memorabilia in a museum
on the West Coast.

"We just want what belongs to the family," Diane Weissmuller said.

[d***@comcast.net]

Johnny Weissmuller Jr. -- dockworker, actor, yacht racer
Robert Selna, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, July 31, 2006




Johnny Weissmuller Jr., a San Francisco longshoreman and son of the
famed actor and Olympic swimmer, has died at age 65.

Mr. Weissmuller, who died from liver cancer Friday, is probably best
known because his father won five Olympic gold medals in swimming and
later starred in 12 Tarzan films. He died in 1984 of pulmonary edema.

But the younger Mr. Weissmuller also led a full and eclectic life,
serving in the Navy, appearing in film, television and stage roles and
working as a longshoreman on Bay Area docks. More recently, he wrote a
book about his father.

Mr. Weissmuller's mother, Beryl Scott, was the third of his father's
five wives. He was born in San Francisco in 1940, after his parents
moved to the city so his father could perform in Billy Rose's Aquacade,
a water ballet show at the 1940 Golden Gate International Exposition.

Mr. Weissmuller joined the Navy after graduating from the University of
Southern California, where he was on the swim team, according to his
wife, Diane Weissmuller. In the Navy, he used his swimming acumen to
specialize in underwater demolition. During college and his stint in
the Navy, he acted in films and television shows.

In 1973, Mr. Weissmuller moved back to San Francisco and landed a job
as a longshoreman, but still found time to act on the stage. His
longest-running stage role was as Chief Bromden in "One Flew Over the
Cuckoo's Nest" at San Francisco's Little Fox Theater. He also raced
yachts as a member of the San Francisco, Hawaii and Acapulco yacht
clubs.

"He was really a swashbuckler; he filled the room," said Diane
Weissmuller, his wife of nearly 30 years.

She said that unlike some children of movie stars, Mr. Weissmuller did
not live in his father's shadow.

"He really cared about his father, but in some ways his own career was
more diverse, and in many ways I think he was a more caring and
generous man. He never wanted attention, which was one of the reasons
he liked San Francisco more than Los Angeles."

In 2002, ECW press in Toronto published Mr. Weissmuller's memoir about
his life with his father, called "Tarzan, My Father," which is still in
print. In 2005, he retired as a longshoreman and began working on a
book about work on the docks.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Weissmuller is survived by his daughter,
Heidi Medsker of Denver; his stepsons, Chad Johnson of Erie, Colo., and
David Gari of San Rafael; and his sister, Wendy Weissmuller of Scotts
Valley. At Mr. Weissmuller's request, there will be no service. The
family requests donations to the California Pacific Medical Center,
Department of Transplantation.

[GS]

Post by d***@comcast.net
Johnny Weissmuller Jr. -- dockworker, actor, yacht racer
Robert Selna, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, July 31, 2006
Johnny Weissmuller Jr., a San Francisco longshoreman and son of the
famed actor and Olympic swimmer, has died at age 65.

<snip>

Post by d***@comcast.net
In 1973, Mr. Weissmuller moved back to San Francisco and landed a job
as a longshoreman, but still found time to act on the stage. His
longest-running stage role was as Chief Bromden in "One Flew Over the
Cuckoo's Nest" at San Francisco's Little Fox Theater.

<snip>

Post by d***@comcast.net
"He really cared about his father, but in some ways his own career was
more diverse, and in many ways I think he was a more caring and
generous man. He never wanted attention, which was one of the reasons
he liked San Francisco more than Los Angeles."

Appropriately, he appeared in two episodes of The Streets of San
Francisco.