Ron Ely, a veteran TV actor best known for his role as an educated, urbane vine-swinger in the TV show “Tarzan,” which ran from 1966-68 on NBC, died on Sept. 29 at the home of one of his daughter’s near Santa Barbara, Calif. He was 86.
That daughter, Kirsten Ely, announced the death on Wednesday on social media. It had not been previously reported.
A tall, muscled Texas native, Mr. Ely (pronounced “EE-lee”) had made a career in the 1950s as a reliable supporting actor on major TV shows like “Father Knows Best,” “How to Marry a Millionaire” and “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” before landing the lead part in “Tarzan” in 1966.
The show, which ran for 57 episodes across two seasons, featured a Tarzan updated for a 1960s audience. Gone were the semi-verbal grunts of previous iterations; in this version, Tarzan has left the jungle and learned the ways of modern civilization before deciding to return to the creature comforts of his former home.
Gone, too, was Jane, Tarzan’s traditional love interest, though Cheetah, his chimpanzee sidekick, remained.
Mr. Ely continued acting after the show ended in 1968, with guest appearances in a long list of shows from the 1970s through the ’90s, including “The Love Boat,” “Marcus Welby, M.D.,” “Fantasy Island” and “Hawkeye.”
He also wrote two detective novels, “Night Shadows” (1994) and East Beach” (1995).
He took a break from acting in the 1990s to raise his three children, Kirsten, Kaitland and Cameron, but returned in 2014, with a role in the television movie “Expecting Amish,” about a young Amish woman whose life changes when she visits Hollywood.
“I stepped out of acting to raise a family and be able to spend more time with them here in Santa Barbara,” Mr. Ely told The Fresno Bee in 2014. “Now, all the kids are through college with advance degrees. My family asked me, ‘What are you hanging around for?’ I started looking around and this film came up. It felt so good making the movie, I wish I had never left.”
In October 2019, Mr. Ely’s wife, Valerie Lundeen Ely, was found stabbed to death at their home in Santa Barbara. Responding to calls reporting a “family disturbance,” the police arrived and shot and killed Cameron, whom they said had killed his mother and “posed a threat.”
A year later, Mr. Ely and his family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Santa Barbara sheriff’s office, claiming that Cameron had been unarmed and that officers had shot him without warning.
A jury ruled in 2022 that the police had acted in self-defense.
A full obituary will be published soon.
The post Ron Ely, Who Played an Updated Tarzan in the 1960s, Dies at 86 appeared first on New York Times.
