Action star Ron Ely, best known for his work as Tarzan, has died at the age of 86, following a full life where he performed all of his own stunts that was marred by family tragedy.
His daughter Kirsten, confirmed he passed away peacefully on September 29 in an emotional tribute, uploaded to her Instagram on Wednesday.
Ely, a Texas native, was best known for his work as the eponymous character on the hit NBC show Tarzan, where he famously performed almost all of his own daring stunts during its two-year run between 1966 and 1968.
He also handled dangerous animals including tigers, lions and chimpanzees in locations including Brazil, Mexico and other central America nations.
As a result, he suffered 24 major injuries, including two broken shoulders and various lion and chimpanzee bites in just two years.
Though he enjoyed playing the macho jungle man, he later admitted he was glad to leave the character behind, having suffered a variety of injuries including lion bites and broken bones
Action star Ron Ely (pictured), best known for his work as Tarzan, has died at the age of 86
Ron Ely as Tarzan, pictured with Diana Ross (pictured, left) Cindy Birdsong (pictured, centre-right) and Mary Wilson (pictured, right)
Ely worked with animals including chimpanzees during his tenure as Tarzan
Ely’s life was marred by family tragedy, after his son Cameron (pictured as a youth, centre) killed his mother Valerie (pictured, centre-right) in 2016
Ely was known for his macho characters, including Doc Savage
‘Quite frankly, I don’t know that I could have even done anymore. I was mentally and physically worn out. At the very least I would have needed a few months to recover. My body was a wreck’, he said.
‘I had so many muscle pulls and tears and busted shoulders, wrists and bones. Every part of me had been hurt.’
Ely’s interpretation of Tarzan didn’t speak in the monosyllabic grunts often associated with the character, originally created by novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs. He was instead an educated bachelor who had grown sick of civilization and had returned to African jungle where he was raised.
He got the role after a former American football player, Mike Henry, pulled out of the project at the last minute.
‘Mike… didn’t like chimpanzees and from the moment he got on set, things went south in a hurry,’ Ely told the Daily Express in 2013.
A chimp attacked Henry and injured his jaw when the show’s pilot was being filmed, and Ely was cast in his place at the last moment.
Following the death of Tarzan actor Ron Ely at 86, Dailymail.com is taking a closer look at the tragedies that filled his life in his final years. Ely’s September 29 death came less than five years after his family was devastated by a series of violent events. Pictured in October of 2015
Ely’s second wife, Valerie Lundeen Ely was fatally stabbed at 62 by their son Cameron Ely, 30, in the family’s home in the Santa Barbara, California suburb of Hope Ranch in 2019
‘I met with them on a Monday and when they offered me the role I thought: ‘No way do I want to step into that bear trap. You do Tarzan and you are stamped for life’,’ Ely said.
‘Was I ever right! But my agent convinced me it was a quality show and was going to work. So on the Friday I was on a plane to Brazil to shoot the first episode’, he added.
While Ron Ely was not quite as well-known as Johnny Weismuller, the Olympic swimmer who played Tarzan in movies in the 1930s and 1940s, Ely helped form the image of the shirtless, loincloth-wearing character further immortalized by Disney.
‘He was an actor, writer, coach, mentor, family man and leader,’ Kirsten Ely said in an Instagram post. ‘He created a powerful wave of positive influence wherever he went. The impact he had on others is something that I have never witnessed in any other person – there was something truly magical about him.’
In the early 1980s, Ely was host of the Miss America pageant and met Valerie, a Miss Florida, there. They married in 1984. The couple had three children, and Ely retired from acting to focus on his family in 2001.
Ely passed away peacefully at the age of 86 last month
He played Tarzan for two years between 1966 and 1968
Though he was most famous for Tarzan, he worked on other films and TV shows including Doc Savage
He gave up acting and became a family man, though decided to return to the silver screen in 2014
‘Late in life I had a young family. I decided to stop acting and work at home, as an author, that way I could be with the kids all through school and be able to attend their sports games and things,’ he told London’s Daily Express in 2013, expressing interest in the time at reentering acting. He would return briefly in the 2014 TV movie Expecting Amish.
Ely also played the titular character in the 1975 action film Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, but otherwise had mostly small roles in TV and films, including the 1958 movie musical South Pacific.
He also wrote a pair of mystery novels featuring a detective named Jake Sands, 1994’s Night Shadows and 1995’s East Beach.
His death came less than five years after his family was devastated by a series of violent events.
Ely’s second wife, Valerie Lundeen Ely, a one-time beauty queen, was fatally stabbed at 62 by their son Cameron Ely, 30, in the family’s home in the Santa Barbara, California suburb of Hope Ranch.
Authorities with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office subsequently fatally shot Cameron outside of the home, which led to litigation in ensuing years.
Less than a year after the incident, in October of 2020, Ron named the Santa Barbara County Sheriff in a federal wrongful death suit, saying first responders were negligent in their actions involving both his late wife and son, People reported after reviewing documents in the case.
Ron said in legal docs that officers fired more than 20 shots at Cameron as he attempted to turn himself into custody after killing his mother.
His death came less than five years after his family was devastated by a series of violent events
He suffered several severe injuries during his time on the set of Tarzan
Five officers who responded to the incident did not provide Valerie with any medical assistance in the wake of the deadly stabbing, Ron said in his suit.
Lawyers for Ron said in legal docs that responding officers with the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department behaved in a manner that was ‘reprehensible,’ ‘egregious, entirely unreasonable, and, accordingly, unconstitutional.’
Police said in a news release in 2019 that they were initially summoned to the home by Cameron, who tried to accuse Ron of stabbing Valerie.
Police said Valerie was ‘deceased with multiple stab wounds’ when they got to the home, and Ron said that Cameron had stabbed her.
‘Deputies searched the residence and surrounding area for Cameron Ely,’ police said. ‘During the search, the murder suspect was located outside the home.
‘The suspect told deputies that he had a gun, advanced towards the deputies, and motioned with his hands as if he were drawing a weapon. In response, four deputies fired a total of 24 rounds from their service weapons, fatally wounding the suspect.
Sheriff’s Department officials continued: ‘When deputies were able to safely approach Cameron using a ballistic shield, they found that he had feigned being armed and did not have a weapon.’
Authorities with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office subsequently fatally shot Cameron outside of the home, which led to litigation in ensuing years
Kaitland (L) and Kirsten Ely pictured in October 15, 2020 at a news conference at the family home in Santa Barbara, California
Kaitland called Valerie a ‘real-life fairy godmother’ and said Cameron was a ‘gifted athlete and musician’ whose tattoos could not be identified after he was shot nearly two dozen times
Sheriff’s Department officials said that Ron was not hurt physically in the incident, nor were any of the deputies who replied; Ron was examined at a nearby hospital for precautionary measures.
In the Ely family’s suit, they said that police had misled in their account of the incident, adding that Cameron had his ‘hands up’ which is ‘the universal act of surrender,’ when he first corresponded with deputies – who opened fire ‘less than 20 seconds after’ he emerged hitting him 22 times.
In video footage released by the Ely family obtained by Dailymail.com, Ron Ely was seen in a wheelchair as a pair of deputies made their way into the darkened home with flashlights.
A deputy asked Ron Ely, ‘Sir, what’s going on?’ at which point another deputy found Valerie’s body, saying, ‘Oh my god, Jesus – clear the house.’
In video released of the shooting, authorities told Cameron to keep his hands up prior to firing at him; and put him in handcuffs after the shooting.
In an October 15, 2020 news conference at the family home, Ely’s daughters Kirsten Casale Ely and Kaitland Ely Sweet and and attorneys John L. Burris and DeWitt M. Lacy said the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department demonstrated ‘intentional deception, ineptitude and disregard for human life’ in their conduct in the incident and its aftermath.
In response to the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s office saying that deputies ‘acted reasonably’ in their ‘use of deadly force,’ Kirsten said that evidence presented by the family exposed ‘a series of lies strung together to protect the deputies from their actions and to conceal the truth of what really happened to Cameron.’
Kaitland called Valerie a ‘real-life fairy godmother’ and said Cameron was a ‘gifted athlete and musician’ whose tattoos could not be identified after he was shot nearly two dozen times.
In video footage released by the Ely family obtained by Dailymail.com, Ron Ely was seen in a wheelchair as a pair of deputies made their way into the darkened home with flashlights
A deputy asked Ron Ely, ‘Sir, what’s going on?’ at which point another deputy found Valerie’s body, saying, ‘Oh my god, Jesus – clear the house’
A federal jury in October of 2022 in California’s Central District rejected the family’s lawsuit, according to local news outlet KEYT.
Sheriff Bill Brown told the station in a statement at the time, ‘Although we recognize that this was a tragic situation, and have great sympathy for the Ely family, the use of deadly force against Cameron Ely was justified and lawful under the circumstances.’
Kirsten told The Associated Press on Wednesday that her father died September 29 at his home in Los Alamos, California, an unincorporated community in Santa Barbara County.
She said of him: ‘The world has lost one of the greatest men it has ever known – and I have lost my dad.
Kirsten continued: ‘My father was someone that people called a hero. He was an actor, writer, coach, mentor, family man and leader. He created a powerful wave of positive influence wherever he went.’
Ely went on to rave about the impact her father ‘had on others’ is a quality she has ‘never witnessed in any other person.’
Ely (pictured in 1966) helped form the image of the shirtless, loincloth-wearing character Tarzan, further immortalized by Disney
‘There was something truly magical about him. This is how the world knew him,’ she said about her dad.
She continued: ‘I knew him as my dad – and what a heaven sent honor that has been. To me, he hung the moon.’
‘My father was my world – and what an incredible world he created. He was strong and protective. He was brilliant and ridiculously funny. He was stoic and sensitive. He was dynamic and powerful. He was my role model and inspiration. He was humble and inherently received respect – the respect he so deserved,’ Kirsten added,
Kirsten went on to write that her ‘father’s life story was one of relentless perseverance, unending dedication to his family and friends, courage to do what was right, and willing sacrifice to facilitate the dreams of those he loved.’
‘It was also a story of joy and love – something everyone close to him had the privilege of experiencing. Once you knew my father’s love, the world grew to be a brighter and more meaningful place,’
At this time, she told her followers she is doing her ‘best to walk this path of loss with the strength and grace’ her father would want for her.
‘My greatest comfort is knowing that my dad is with my momma and my brother. It is also my greatest sadness because I miss them all so much that it’s etched into my soul. I will proudly carry all of my favorite pieces of them – lovingly cemented into my heart – until we all meet again,’ she concluded.
Along with Kirsten Casale Ely, he is survived by daughter Kaitland Ely Sweet.
