In the early 80s, he became known for hosting the Miss America pageant
American actor Ron Ely, best known for playing the title role of Tarzan in the 1960s, has died aged 86. Born in Texas in 1938, Ronald Pierce Ely was the lead in the famous show from 1966 to 1968.
The hit series first aired on NBC television network and on set, the actor broke a number of bones and was reported to have been attacked by animals while performing his own stunts, the BBC reports. The Tarzan star died at his home in Santa Barbara, California, on September 29.
On Instagram, Ely’s daughter, Kirsten Casale Ely, announced his death and paid tribute on Wednesday. In the post, she said: “The world has lost one of the greatest men it has ever known – and I have lost my dad.
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“My father was someone that people called a hero. He was an actor, writer, coach, mentor, family man and leader. I knew him as my dad – and what a heaven sent honour that has been. To me, he hung the moon.”
In the 1970s, Ely played the lead in the film Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze. He later appeared in hit programmes like Love Boat and Wonder Woman.
And by the early 1980s, he became known for hosting the Miss America pageant. After retiring from acting in 2001, Ely became an author and published two mystery novels, but made a brief return to acting for one television film, Expecting Amish a decade ago in 2014.
Back in 1959, Ely married his high school sweetheart, before divorcing two years later. While hosting the Miss America pageant in the early 1980s, where he met his second wife Valerie Lundeen and the couple went on to have three children.
Lundeen was stabbed to death aged 62 by their son, Cameron, at their California home in 2019, the BBC reports.. He was then shot dead by police after being deemed a threat by attending officers and Ely filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the force, though the judge ruled the officers had acted in self-defence.
