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

• 2017Tarzan: Lord of the Movies — Host / Tarzan (Archived Footage)
• 1996Tarzan at the Movies, Part 2: The Many Faces of Tarzan — Tarzan (archive footage)
• 1977Kolossal - The Magnificent Macisti
• 1973Women in Cell Block 7 — (Archive Footage)
• 1967Danger!! Death Ray — Bart Fargo
• 1967Top Secret — John Sutton
• 1965Hercules and the Princess of Troy — Hercules
• 1965L'Attaque de Fort Adams (Une aventure de Buffalo Bill) — Buffalo Bill
• 1965The Tramplers — Lon Cordeen
• 1964Buffalo Bill, Hero of the Far West — Buffalo Bill
• 1964Hero of Rome — Mucius
• 1964Thunder of Battle — Coriolanus
• 1963The Beast of Babylon Against the Son of Hercules — Nippur
• 1963The Conquest of Mycenae — Glauco / Hercules
• 1963The Lion of St. Mark — Manrico Venier
• 1963The Shortest Day — Soldato (uncredited)
• 1963The Tyrant of Lydia Against the Son of Hercules — Goliath / Gordian
• 1963Zorro and the Three Musketeers — Zorro
• 1962A Queen for Caesar — Julius Caesar
• 1962Gladiator of Rome — Marcus
• 1962Kerim, Son of the Sheik — Kerim
• 1962The Pot Carriers — Producer
• 1961Goliath and the Vampires — Maciste (Goliath)
• 1961Romulus and Remus — Remus
• 1961Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World — Maciste / Samson
• 1960Tarzan and the Trappers — Tarzan
• 1960Tarzan the Magnificent — Tarzan
• 1959Look Back in Anger — Producer
• 1959Tarzan's Greatest Adventure — Tarzan
• 1958Tarzan's Fight for Life — Tarzan
• 1957Tarzan and the Lost Safari — Tarzan
• 1955Tarzan's Hidden Jungle — Tarzan

Appearances as themselves (4)

• 1998In Search of Tarzan with Jonathan Ross — Self
• 1997Investigating Tarzan — Self
• 1968The Movie Orgy — Self (archive footage)
• The Steve Allen Show — Self