Chimp from 1930s US 'Tarzan' films dead at 80

Cheetah, a chimpanzee said to have performed in the "Tarzan" films of the 1930s, has died at the age of 80, according to the Florida sanctuary where he lived.

"It is with great sadness that the community has lost a dear friend and family member on December 24, 2011," the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor, Florida announced on its website.

Cheetah was said to have performed in "Tarzan the Ape Man" (1932) and "Tarzan and His Mate" (1934), classic films about a man reared in the jungle starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan.

Similar claims were made about another very old chimpanzee, named Cheeta, which lives in California. But a writer researching that chimp in 2008 found considerable evidence it was too young to have appeared in the films, and its owners have accepted the findings on their website, cheetathechimp.org.

The average life span of a wild chimpanzee is around 45 years.
Several chimpanzees were used in the filming of the "Tarzan" movies and subsequent films, during a period when the primates were widely used in Hollywood and often mistreated.

The Florida chimpanzee -- which reportedly arrived at the sanctuary in 1960 -- loved finger-painting and watching football, and was soothed by Christian music, the sanctuary's outreach director Debbie Cobb told the Tampa Tribune.
"He could tell if I was having a good day or a bad day. He was always trying to get me to laugh if he thought I was having a bad day. He was very in tune to human feelings," Cobb was quoted as saying.

Ron Priest, a sanctuary volunteer, told the Tribune that Cheetah stood out because he could walk upright with a straight back like a human, and was distinguished by other talents.

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

Chimp Actor Org Passes Away At The Age Of 80, Public Mourns Wrong Chimp

Chimpanzee and small-time actor from the early 1930s, Org has finally passed away from kidney failure on Christmas Eve at The Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor, Florida. Org was born around 1930 and therefore thought to be around the age of 80 at his time of death. Org had a number of small acting roles between 1932 and 1934, though they weren’t in the Tarzan movies as has been reported.

Here’s where the mix-up comes in, and where the BBC have accidentally misreported the death*. Claims have been circling the social networking world that the chimp was an actor called Cheetah who appeared in a series of 1930s Tarzan movies playing a character of the same name. In fact, Cheetah was portrayed by a series of chimps called Jiggs, Jiggs Jr, Jiggs III and so on, all of whom died many years ago.

The Guardian have untangled the threads of this strange story, which presumably resulted from a lack of proper records being kept back in the 1930s, not to mention the fact that chimpanzees are not currently required to produce birth certificates.

Org, today you trended on Twitter under the wrong name. But here at Bleeding Cool we’ll remember you for your real one, and also for flinging your poo at people when they annoyed you. Goodnight, sweet prince.

R.I.P.

Org The Chimp

1930-2011

*The story has now been updated with phrases like “it is claimed” inserted in there.