Cheeta, chimpanzee and Tarzan movie star, dies at 'roughly 80'

Entertainment Weekly ^ | Dec. 27, 2011 | Annie Barrett

[Free ThinkerNY]

Cheeta the chimpanzee, who starred in Tarzan movies alongside Olympic swimmer-turned-actor Johnny Weissmuller in the 1930s and ranked #1 on EW.com’s list of the 10 Best Monkeys at the Movies, died of kidney failure Saturday. According to the Suncoast Primary Sanctuary’s outrach director, Cheeta was “roughly 80 years old, loved fingerpainting and football and was soothed by nondenominational Christian music.”

Roughly 80?! Way to live, chimp! That’s amazing! (Cheeta was an anomaly; the average zoo chimp dies around age 35-45.) I sure hope my favorite chimp lives that long.

[ETL]

Re: “It seems the role of “Cheeta” was played by several different animals just as “Lassie” the dog was.”

But not this one

The link you provided (same as mine in post 32 above) states the role of 'Cheeta' was played by numerous other chimps. The one that just died apparently was "Cheetah-Mike".

[ETL]

"long celebrated as the longest-lived chimpanzee. Both claims were debunked by journalist R. D. Rosen in 2008 in an article that settled the animal’s true age and established that he had not appeared in any movies, let alone in the role of Cheeta."

Thanks, didn't catch that in the Wiki piece.

[ETL]

“Cheetah was known for his ability to stand up and walk like a person, sanctuary volunteer Ron Priest told WFLA.

Another distinguishing characteristic: “When he didn’t like somebody or something that was going on, he would pick up some poop and throw it at them,” Priest said. “He could get you at 30 feet with bars in between.”...”

http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/28/showbiz/obit-tarzan-cheetah/index.html?eref=rss_mostpopular

[traderrob6]

Considering that the oldest known living chimp (Gregoire) died a few years back at age 66, this article becomes even more incredulous.

[ETL]

Appears Cheeta and Obama have something in common:
both need to produce a LEGIT birth certificate.

[count-your-change]

There it says this last one was born in the 60’s, if so then others played the role. The author Rosen claims this one in fact never played the part.

[twister881]

Cheetah did go off the rails and become a bit senile & misguided in his old age:

[chrisinoc]

IMHO, this Cheeta was not the one who played in the early Tarzan movies, although he could have played in other movies in the 1950-60 era.

Also this one was not a true chimpanzee. Likely he was a bonobo, a relative of the chimpanzee. They are slightly smaller in size than a chimpanzee and a much calmer personality. A male chimp can become very violent(see Travis).

[nickcarraway]

How come she’s so hot and her daughter is so blah?