Cheetah is Dead

He was a star of the silver screen during Hollywood’s Golden Age, but Cheetah, the original chimpanzee sidekick in Johnny Weissmuller’s “Tarzan” movies of the early 1930s, passed away quietly Saturday at a Florida primate facility. He was believed to be 80 and succumbed to liver failure.

Though some reports disputed that this was the original Cheetah, the chimp’s amazing longevity — a normal lifespan is usually about 40 years — helped continue his celebrity as did the continuing popularity of the MGM “Tarzan” series that starred swimming champion Weissmuller as Edgar Rice Burroughs’ loincloth-clad “King of the Jungle.”

We've lost many great actors this year... Harry Morgan, Jane Russell, Elizabeth Taylor... And now Cheetah.  I did a little research and learned that, in spite of an incredible body of work, Cheetah never received an Academy Award... Just like Cary Grant.

But we'll remember....

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