Johnny Weissmuller is an Austiran-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor. In the 1920s, he was one of the best swimmers. Weismuller won five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal, holds fifty-two US National Championships, and set sixty-seven world records. This is more impressive after knowing that Weissmuller contracted polio at age nine and started swimming to battle the disease—as the doctor recommended.
On this day, October 12th, in 1931, Johnny Weissmuller was chosen to be ape-man Tarzan on film. He would play the role in a total of thirteen movies. Despite the fact that he was not the first Tarzan actor to be featured in films, Weismuller was the first to be associated with the traditional yodeling Tarzan yell. He explained in an interview that recording three vocalists (an alto, soprano, and hog caller) and splicing them together created the famous yell. His iconic yell is still often used in films.