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.
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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.
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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.
