Ron Ely

Ron Ely
Ron Ely (right) as Tarzan, 1966.
Born	Ronald Pierce Ely (1938-06-21) June 21, 1938 (age 78) Hereford, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Novelist, actor
Years active	1957–2016
Spouse(s)	Cathy Ely (1959-1961) Valerie Lundeen (1984- present) (three children)

Ronald Pierce "Ron" Ely (born June 21, 1938) is an American actor and novelist born in Hereford, Texas. Ely is best known for having portrayed Tarzan in the 1966 NBC series Tarzan and for playing the lead role in the 1975 film Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze.

Ely won the role of Tarzan in 1966 after playing various supporting parts in films such as South Pacific (1958), as an airplane navigator, The Fiend Who Walked the West (1958) and The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959), as well as a guest-starring role on Barbara Eden's first television series, the romantic comedy How to Marry a Millionaire. During the filming of Tarzan, Ely did virtually all of his stunts for the series, and suffered two dozen major injuries in the process, including two broken shoulders and various lion bites. Ely's height (6' 4") and athletic build also won him the title role in the 1975 film Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, as well as various guest shots. In a 1978 Fantasy Island episode, for example, Ely portrayed Mark Antony in a Roman military short tunic and breastplate that displayed almost as much of his physique as his Tarzan costume had.

From 1960 to 1961, Ely starred in the series The Aquanauts, and the western adventure film The Night of the Grizzly (1966) opposite Clint Walker, and later appeared in Jürgen Goslar's 1978 slavery movie Slavers, with Trevor Howard, Britt Ekland and Ray Milland. In the 1980s, Ely hosted the musical game show Face the Music, as well as the 1980 and 1981 Miss America Pageants, replacing longtime host Bert Parks. Later in the decade, Ely starred in a 1987–88 revival of the 1960s adventure series Sea Hunt as Mike Nelson, the role played by Lloyd Bridges in the original series.