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Cheetah, the impish chimpanzee who starred in the Tarzan films of the 1930s alongside Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan, died on Christmas Eve of kidney failure at the Florida primate sanctuary where he had been living since his retirement from showbiz. He was 80. ”It is with great sadness that the community has lost a dear friend and family member,” the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor announced on its website. Cheetah had performed in such classic films as Tarzan The Ape Man (1932) and Tarzan And His Mate (1934) and was one of several chimpanzees who appeared in the franchise. Sometime around 1960, Cheetah came to the sanctuary from Weissmuller’s estate in Ocala, the sanctuary said. Cheetah stood out because of his ability to stand up – shoulders tall, back straight – and walk like a person as well as his ability to vocalize on cue. Condolences poured into the sanctuary today like this one from a British fan: “I grew up watching Tarzan and Cheetah from a boy. God bless you Cheetah. Now you and Tarzan are together again.”
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Noooooooooooooo!
Why is it that when Bubba Smith or Heavy D died, there were no RIP articles for them. Bubba Smith acting in all the Police Academy movies and many tv shows and Heavy D was both a tv/film actor.
Yet a chimp, who nobody knew was alive to begin with, gets his own article.
How about start your own website and you can about who ever the hell you want to.
The question is, will he make the Oscar telecast “In Memoriam” reel?
Hilarious!! Also, a very valid question
He better be in that reel, or we’ll rise up in outrage!
Rest in Peace, Cheetah. As “exciting” as it was for humans to watch you “perform,” I’m sure you would have rather been living free as a wild chimp in Africa.
Which you could not possibly know, David PETA Lover Greybeard. This chimp had an honorable, long retirement where he received great care in his old age. He would not have had that in the wild. Probably would have had his butt repeatedly kicked by younger, stronger males and died much younger than he did because he couldn’t defend himself.
Cheetah was a source of pride to all of us monkeys. He inspired me to get into the business, and always gave me good advice: “buy banana stock, bananas are going to be big.” He was right and I’ll always appreciate it.
Cheetah had just finished the script for Transformers 4. He was the script doctor for Happy Madison.
He will be missed.
Uhm, I don’t want to spoil anyone’s primate shiva, but I understand that the “Cheetah” mentioned in this article is a hoax. Yes, a chimp died, but the one in the Tarzan films with Johnny Weissmuller died many years ago. There have been many Cheetahs over the decades.
Reportedly the oldest known chimp, though there is alot of debate as to whether this Cheeta is THE Cheeta, since record keeping was shaky and he’s had several keepers die over the years (including his longest keeper, who nearing the end of his life demanded that Cheeta be euthanized once he died. He was obviously talked out of it.) Researchers now seriously doubt Cheeta was 80, but was likely in his late 60′s-early 70′s at most. Also, there are other Cheeta’s that starred in the classic Tarzan films, one of which lived past 70 as well.
Yes, the claims that this is THE Cheeta are dubious, at best. The owners claim they got Cheeta directly from Weissmuller in 1960, but lost all records in a 1995 fire.
It will always be a mystery to me why he didn’t run a studio, after quitting his acting job. He had all it takes to become a really successful executive in this town. Apparently he preferred to party.
RIP Cheetah
Clearly a number of his offspring decided that the studio/network jobs were the way to go. And with Dad having all of the right contacts, they had no trouble finding a place in Hollywood’s executive suite.
Cheetah: The Abe Vigoda of chimpanzees.
Wow, I can’t believe the number of killjoy posts on this thread. He wasn’t the real Cheetah, he would’ve been happier living in Africa, he was a fraud and a party animal and the rest of it. Jeez, the monkey gave innocent pleasure to millions, how about a little respect?
Uh, probably because he was never in any of these movies. Chimps don’t live to be 80. Do some research. Killjoy and people posting the truth are two different things, bud.
sad to think he could have been one of the most powerful stars in hollywood if he had been able to control his love of fast cars, hard drugs and alcohol, the expensive lady chimps, and of course, his constant poo throwing.
R.I.P. Cheetah
I grew up watching the old Tarzan films on Saturday television and, in fact, I have been revisiting them as TCM has been airing the Tarzan/Bomba movies nearly every weekend these past few months. Thank you, TCM!
He was an ape, not a monkey.
Ape, monkey, who cares – he was a STAR.
His last word was “Banana”
I totally agree with the post above regarding the “killjoy” and rude comments. Cheetah should not only be respectfully remembered for his brilliant film career, but for his crucial oversight as well in his stunning “second career” as the chief campaign strategist in Michele Bachmann’s presidential quest. One of a kind, my friends, one of a kind…
“Umgawa.”
Yeah those extra 77 years he lived were wasted
How old was Cheetah when he appeared in the first Tarzan movie? Was he 1 day old or something?
R.I P little guy
Any truth to the rumor that Cheetah was going replace Andy Serkis as the motion capture actor for Caesar, in the next Apes movie.
So who’s running Universal?
Cheetah’s final words were, “What are you doing in Monkey Heaven, Steve Jobs?”
I am greatly offended by many of you who calls the deceased chimp a monkey! All of you have to go back to biology class becuase obviously you all cannot tell the difference between monkeys and apes. Monkeys are higher primates cloesly related to apes but usually sport a tail, as a box shaped ribcage with their shoulder blades located on the side of their ribcage and are usually get no bigger than a medium sized dog. Apes are tailess, have a barrel shaped ribcage with their shoulder blades parallel to their spine and are amongst the largest and the most intelligent primates. The apes are divided into to families: the Lesser Apes (gibbons and siamangs) and the Great Apes (oragutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and humans).
We all know how to read wikipedia, thanks.
..And at death, he still looked better than Joan Rivers.
Yes, let’s show him some respect… Chimpanzees are APES, not monkeys.
Just like us.