Gordon Scott, Hollywood Tarzan, dies

BALTIMORE, May 3 (UPI) -- Actor Gordon Scott, who played Tarzan in six films in the 1950s, died Monday in Baltimore of complications from several heart surgeries.

He was 80, the Baltimore Sun said Thursday.

Scott was a hotel lifeguard when he beat out 200 other actors to replace Lex Barker as Tarzan.

His first film, "Tarzan's Hidden Jungle" (1955), was followed by "Tarzan and the Lost Safari" (1957), "Tarzan's Fight for Life" (1958), "Tarzan and the Trappers" (1958), "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" (1959) and "Tarzan the Magnificent" (1960).

He moved to Italy in 1960 and appeared in films such as "Hercules" and "Buffalo Bill, Hero of the Far West."

Scott, who was born Gordon M. Werschkull on Aug. 3, 1926, in Portland, Ore., moved to Las Vegas after World War II and became a lifeguard at the Sahara Hotel.

Family members say he had at least three marriages and is believed to have had at least three children, the newspaper said.