Johnny Weissmuller Jr. -- dockworker, actor, yacht racer July 31, 2006|Robert Selna, Chronicle Staff Writer

Johnny Weissmuller Jr., a San Francisco longshoreman and son of the famed actor and Olympic swimmer, has died at age 65.

Mr. Weissmuller, who died from liver cancer Friday, is probably best known because his father won five Olympic gold medals in swimming and later starred in 12 Tarzan films. He died in 1984 of pulmonary edema.

But the younger Mr. Weissmuller also led a full and eclectic life, serving in the Navy, appearing in film, television and stage roles and working as a longshoreman on Bay Area docks. More recently, he wrote a book about his father.

Mr. Weissmuller's mother, Beryl Scott, was the third of his father's five wives. He was born in San Francisco in 1940, after his parents moved to the city so his father could perform in Billy Rose's Aquacade, a water ballet show at the 1940 Golden Gate International Exposition.

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Johnny Weissmuller, Jr. (23 September 1940 — 27 July 2006) was an American actor and longshoreman. He also authored a book about his father, the five-time Olympic Games gold medalist Johnny Weissmuller, who achieved additional fame playing the title role in the Tarzan movies of the 1930s and 1940s.

Weissmuller's mother was Beryl Scott, the third of his father's five wives. He was born in San Francisco, where his father was performing at the Golden Gate International Exposition in a water ballet show called Billy Rose's Aquacade.

The younger Weissmuller graduated from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he was on the swim team. He joined the United States Navy, using his swimming acumen to specialize in underwater demolition.

In 1958 Weissmuller Jr. got his first screen role in the Mickey Rooney film Andy Hardy Comes Home. Weissmuller Jr.'s subsequent credits include parts in THX 1138 and American Graffiti. His last movie role was as a bounty hunter in the 1988 release Wildfire. Weissmuller Jr. also appeared as a guest star in two episodes of The Streets of San Francisco.

Weissmuller Jr. returned to San Francisco in 1973. He worked as a longshoreman, but also appeared in Bay Area stage productions. His longest-running stage role was as Chief Bromden in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at the Little Fox Theater in San Francisco.

Weissmuller Jr. also belonged to yacht clubs in San Francisco, Hawaii and Acapulco. He took part in several Transpac yacht races from California to Hawaii.

"He was really a swashbuckler; he filled the room," said his wife, Diane Weissmuller.

Weissmuller Jr.'s memoir, Tarzan, My Father, was published in 2002 by ECW Press in Toronto. In 2005, he retired from the docks to begin writing a book about work as a longshoreman.

Weissmuller Jr. died from liver cancer on 27 July 2006, aged 65.

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