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Gordon Scott

Acting Born Aug 3, 1926 Portland, Oregon, USA 24 credits

Biography

Gordon Scott was an American film and television actor known for his portrayal of the fictional character Tarzan in five films (and one compilation of three made-as-a-pilot television episodes) of the Tarzan film series from 1955 to 1960. Gordon Scott was the eleventh Tarzan, starting with Tarzan’s Hidden Jungle. He was "discovered" poolside, and offered "a seven-year contract, a loin cloth, and a new last name."

"Due in part to his muscular frame and 6-foot-3-inch [1.91-metre] height, he was quickly signed to replace Lex Barker as Tarzan" by producer Sol Lesser. Lesser had Gordon change his name because "Werschkul" sounded too much like "Weismueller".

Scott's Tarzan movies ranged from rather cheap re-edited television pilots to large-scale action films with high-production values shot on location in Africa. In his early Tarzan films, he played the character as unworldly and inarticulate, in the mold of Johnny Weissmuller, an earlier Tarzan portrayer. In Scott's later films, after a change in producers, he played a Tarzan who was educated and spoke perfect English, as in the original Edgar Rice Burroughs novels. Scott was the only actor to play Tarzan in both styles.

Fearing he would become typecast as Tarzan, Scott moved to Italy and became a popular star in epics of the péplum genre (known in the United States as sword-and-sandal), featuring handsome bodybuilders as various characters from Greek and Roman myth. Scott was a friend of Steve Reeves, and collaborated with him as Remus to Reeves's Romulus in Duel of the Titans. Scott also played Hercules in a couple of international co-productions during the mid-1960s. As the péplum genre faded, Scott starred in spaghetti westerns and Eurospy films. His final film appearance was in The Tramplers (filmed in 1966; released in the United States in 1968).

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Known for

The Steve Allen Show

as Self
Film

The Movie Orgy

as Self (archive footage)
Film

Romulus and Remus

as Remus
Film

The Shortest Day

as Soldato (uncredited)

Full filmography

  • The Steve Allen Show (1956) as Self
  • The Movie Orgy (1968) as Self (archive footage)
  • Romulus and Remus (1961) as Remus
  • The Shortest Day (1963) as Soldato (uncredited)
  • Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959) as Tarzan
  • Kolossal - The Magnificent Macisti (1977)
  • Tarzan and the Trappers (1958) as Tarzan
  • Tarzan's Fight for Life (1958) as Tarzan
  • The Lion of St. Mark (1963) as Manrico Venier
  • A Queen for Caesar (1962) as Julius Caesar
  • Zorro and the Three Musketeers (1963) as Zorro
  • Women in Cell Block 7 (1973) as (Archive Footage)
  • Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World (1961) as Maciste / Samson
  • Tarzan the Magnificent (1960) as Tarzan
  • Buffalo Bill, Hero of the Far West (1964) as Buffalo Bill
  • Tarzan's Hidden Jungle (1955) as Tarzan
  • Gladiator of Rome (1962) as Marcus
  • Hero of Babylon (1963) as Nippur
  • Investigating Tarzan (1997) as Self
  • The Conquest of Mycenae (1963) as Glauco / Hercules
  • Thunder of Battle (1964) as Coriolanus
  • Danger!! Death Ray (1967) as Bart Fargo
  • Tarzan and the Lost Safari (1957) as Tarzan
  • The Tyrant of Lydia Against the Son of Hercules (1963) as Goliath / Gordian