Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Cheetah: R.I.P.

Cheetah, the chimpanzee who starred alongside Tarzan in the franchise films of the early 1930s, died Saturday. He had experienced kidney failure earlier that week, and was thought to be 80 years old.

Cheetah, also known as Cheetah-Mike, acted as Tarzan's comic sidekick "Cheeta" and was one of several chimpanzees who appeared in the films of 1932 to 1934, with Johnny Weissmuller in the starring role.

Around 1960, after living on Weissmuller's estate, Cheetah retired to Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor, Fla.

Read the Rest of the Obit, here.

1 comment:

Priscilla said...

I loved him! Best actor of the Tarzan films. I assume the chimp in the Bedtime for Bonzo was a different one?