Ron Ely

Ron Ely was an American actor and novelist whose most prominent screen roles were the title character in the NBC series Tarzan from 1966 to 1968 and the lead in Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975). Born in Hereford in 1938, he broke into film with supporting parts, including an airplane navigator in South Pacific (1958). His height and athletic build helped him land the role of Doc Savage, and he also starred in the western The Night of the Grizzly (1966) opposite Clint Walker. Ely starred in The Aquanauts in 1960 and 1961, and later played Mike Nelson in a 1987 to 1988 revival of the adventure series Sea Hunt. He hosted Face the Music and the 1980 and 1981 Miss America Pageants, and appeared on Fantasy Island and Wonder Woman. He wrote two mystery novels in the 1990s, retired from acting in 2001, and returned for the television film Expecting Amish (2014). He died in 2024.