American film, TV actor and author died in Santa Barbara,
California on September 29th. His daughter Kirsten reported his death to the
media on October 23rd. Ron was 86. Most remembered for playing TV’s
Tarzan in 1966 replacing Mike Henry. The show ran 57 episodes. Ely also hosted
the Miss America pageant in 1980 and 1981. Ronald Pierce Ely was born on June
21, 1938, in Hereford, Texas. He graduated from Amarillo (Texas) High School in
1956 and then attended the University of Texas at Austin for a year before
heading to California. He made his screen debut playing a pilot in the 1958
film adaptation of “South Pacific”, then signed a contract with 20th Century
Fox. He was mostly remembered for his several TV series including ‘The
Aquanauts’ 1960-1961 and ‘Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze’ (1975). He became a writer
of mystery novels, featuring the character Jake Sands Night Shadows 1994
East Beach 1995. On October 15, 2019, his son, 30-year-old Cameron Ely,
stabbed his 62-year-old mother, Valerie Ely, to death. Ron and Valerie had been
married approximately 35 years. Cameron Ely was shot to death by sheriff's
deputies later that evening. He was unarmed and his father unsuccessfully filed
charges over the shooting. No charges were filed against the deputies. Ron
appeared in two Euro-westerns: “Alleluia and Sartana, Sons of God” 1972 as Alleluia/Hallelujah,
and “Cry of the Black Wolves” 1972 as Bill Robin/Robinson.
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