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Gordon Scott
Portland, Oregon, USA
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 televi…
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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).
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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2017
Tarzan: Lord of the Movies
Movie Host / Tarzan (Archived Footage)
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1998
In Search of Tarzan with Jonathan Ross
Movie Self
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1997
Investigating Tarzan
Movie Self
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1996
Tarzan at the Movies, Part 2: The Many Faces of Tarzan
Movie Tarzan (archive footage)
- 1977
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1973
Women in Cell Block 7
Movie (Archive Footage)
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1968
The Movie Orgy
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1967
Top Secret
Movie John Sutton
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1967
Danger!! Death Ray
Movie Bart Fargo
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1965
The Tramplers
Movie Lon Cordeen
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1965
Hercules and the Princess of Troy
Movie Hercules
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1965
L'Attaque de Fort Adams (Une aventure de Buffalo Bill)
Movie Buffalo Bill
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1964
Buffalo Bill, Hero of the Far West
Movie Buffalo Bill
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1964
Thunder of Battle
Movie Coriolanus
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1964
Hero of Rome
Movie Mucius
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1963
The Lion of St. Mark
Movie Manrico Venier
More credits
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1963
The Tyrant of Lydia Against the Son of Hercules
Movie Goliath / Gordian
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1963
The Beast of Babylon Against the Son of Hercules
Movie Nippur
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1963
The Conquest of Mycenae
Movie Glauco / Hercules
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1963
The Shortest Day
Movie Soldato (uncredited)
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1963
Zorro and the Three Musketeers
Movie Zorro
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1962
A Queen for Caesar
Movie Julius Caesar
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1962
Gladiator of Rome
Movie Marcus
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1962
Kerim, Son of the Sheik
Movie Kerim
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1962
The Pot Carriers
Movie Producer
-
1961
Romulus and Remus
Movie Remus
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1961
Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World
Movie Maciste / Samson
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1961
Goliath and the Vampires
Movie Maciste (Goliath)
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1960
Tarzan the Magnificent
Movie Tarzan
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1960
Tarzan and the Trappers
Movie Tarzan
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1959
Look Back in Anger
Movie Producer
-
1959
Tarzan's Greatest Adventure
Movie Tarzan
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1958
Tarzan's Fight for Life
Movie Tarzan
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1957
Tarzan and the Lost Safari
Movie Tarzan
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1956
The Steve Allen Show
TV show Self
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1955
Tarzan's Hidden Jungle
Movie Tarzan
