Editing Ron Ely (section)

==Career==
[[File:Barbara Bouchet Ron Ely Fernando Lamas Tarzan 1968.jpg|thumb|216px|right|Ely as [[Tarzan]]]]
Ely won the role of Tarzan in 1966 after playing supporting roles in films such as ''[[South Pacific (1958 film)|South Pacific]]'' (1958), as an airplane navigator, ''[[The Fiend Who Walked the West]]'' (1958) and ''[[The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker]]'' (1959).{{cn|date=October 2024}}

During the filming of ''Tarzan'', Ely did almost all of his own stunts,<ref name="AP">{{Cite news |url=https://apnews.com/article/75388564292e401abeeb63e708f65099 |title='Tarzan' actor Ron Ely's wife killed; son shot by deputies |date=October 16, 2019 |agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref> and received over two dozen injuries, including two broken shoulders and several lion bites.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Gay Fireside Companion|last=Rutledge|first=Leigh W.|year=1989|publisher=[[Alyson Books|Alyson Publications, Inc.]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/gayfiresidecompa00rutl/page/146 146]|isbn=978-1-55583-164-6|url=https://archive.org/details/gayfiresidecompa00rutl/page/146}}</ref>

Ely's height (6'4"){{cn|date=October 2024}} and athletic build also won him the title role in the film ''[[Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze]]'' (1975), as well as various guest shots. He was in five episodes of the series ''[[Fantasy Island]]''; in one, in 1978, he portrayed [[Mark Antony]] in a [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] military short tunic and breastplate and starred in the ''[[Wonder Woman (television series)|Wonder Woman]]'' two-part episode, "The Deadly Sting".{{cn|date=October 2024}}

Ely starred on the series ''[[The Aquanauts]]'' in 1960–1961, in the western adventure film ''[[The Night of the Grizzly]]'' (1966) opposite [[Clint Walker]], and later appeared in [[Jürgen Goslar]]'s slavery movie ''Slavers'' (1978). In the 1980s, he hosted the musical [[game show]] ''[[Face the Music (U.S. game show)|Face the Music]]'', as well as the 1980 and 1981 [[Miss America|Miss America Pageants]], replacing longtime host [[Bert Parks]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.missamerica.org/organization/history/#1980s |title=Our History {{!}} Miss America 2.0 |website=[[Miss America]] |access-date=October 16, 2019}}</ref> He starred in a 1987–1988 revival of the 1960s adventure series ''[[Sea Hunt]]'' as Mike Nelson, the role played by [[Lloyd Bridges]] in the original series.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

In the 1990s, Ely's roles included a retired alternate universe variant of [[Superman]] in the ''[[Superboy (TV series)|Superboy]]'' episode "The Road to Hell", and hunter Gordon Shaw in the ''[[Tarzán]]'' episode "Tarzan the Hunted".{{cn|date=October 2024}} Until about 2001, he appeared on such shows as ''[[Sheena (TV series)|Sheena]]'' and ''[[Renegade (TV series)|Renegade]]''.{{cn|date=October 2024}} He wrote two [[mystery novel]]s featuring [[private investigator]] Jake Sands: ''Night Shadows'' (1994) and ''East Beach'' (1995).<ref name="BBC" />

Ely retired from acting in 2001, returning with an appearance in the television film ''[[Expecting Amish]]'' (2014).<ref name="BBC">{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50074653 |title=Ron Ely: Woman found dead at Tarzan star's California home |website=[[BBC News]] |date=October 16, 2019 }}</ref>