Ron Ely, the actor who played “Tarzan” in the 1960s NBC series by the same name,” died at age 86.
Ely’s daughter, Kirsten Casale Ely, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that her father died Sept. 29 at his home in Los Alamos, California.
“The world has lost one of the greatest men it has ever known – and I have lost my dad,” Kirsten Ely said in an Instagram post.
“He was an actor, writer, coach, mentor, family man and leader. He created a powerful wave of positive influence wherever he went. The impact he had on others is something that I have never witnessed in any other person – there was something truly magical about him.”
In 2019, his then-62-year-old wife, Valerie Lundeen Ely, was stabbed to death at their Santa Barbara, California, home by their 30-year-old son, Cameron Ely, who was subsequently shot and killed by police. Ron Ely, who was home during the stabbing, challenged the prosecutor’s report that his son’s shooting was justified.
In the early 1980s, Ely was host of the Miss America pageant and met Valerie, a Miss Florida, there. They married in 1984. The couple had three children, and Ely retired from acting to focus on his family in 2001.
The Associated Press contributed to this report,
