Elmo Lincoln
Elmo Lincoln was an American stage and film actor whose career in motion pictures spanned the silent and sound eras. He performed in over 100 screen productions between 1913 and 1952, and was the first actor to portray on film novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs' fictional "jungle" character Tarzan, initially appearing in that role in the 1918 release Tarzan of the Apes.
Early years
Lincoln was born Otto Elmo Linkenhelt in Rochester, Indiana. He had six siblings, and he left home at 18 to begin a railroad career as a brakeman on a train. He went on to be a boxer, sailor, and stevedore before he became an actor.Career
Lincoln began acting for director D. W. Griffith, who changed the performer's name. Lincoln's first role was in The Battle of Elderbush Gulch, followed by Judith of Bethula, The Birth of a Nation, and Intolerance.Tarzan films
Stellan Windrow, who initially portrayed the title character in 1918's Tarzan of the Apes, went into military service five weeks after filming began. Lincoln replaced Windrow, although author Edgar Rice Burroughs objected to the choice. Lincoln became best known for that role.. He portrayed the character twice more—in The Romance of Tarzan and in the 1921 serial The Adventures of Tarzan.Following the end of the silent movie era, Elmo left Hollywood and tried his hand at mining. He also had a salvage business in Salt Lake City. In the late 1930s, he returned to the film industry, most often employed as an extra. He appeared, uncredited, in two Tarzan films in the 1940s—as a circus roustabout in Tarzan's New York Adventure, and as a fisherman repairing his net in Tarzan's Magic Fountain.
Final role
His final work saw him also playing a brief, uncredited role in the 1952 film Carrie, starring Laurence Olivier. According to Tarzan of the Movies, by Gabe Essoe, Lincoln was quite proud of his work in this film, as he was an admirer of Olivier.Death
Lincoln died of a heart attack on June 27, 1952, at age 63. He is interred in a niche at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.For his contribution to the motion picture industry, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7042 Hollywood Boulevard.
Biography
Lincoln's daughter, Marci'a Lincoln Rudolph, recounts his life in her 2001 book My Father, Elmo Lincoln: The Original Tarzan.Partial filmography
1910s
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch - CavalrymanJohn Barleycorn Judith of Bethulia Brute Force - In Club / Tribesman Buckshot John - The SheriffThe Birth of a Nation - Blacksmith The Slave Girl - Bob West The Absentee - The Toiler - in the PrologueHer Shattered Idol - Ben - a BlacksmithJordan Is a Hard Road Hoodoo Ann - Officer LambertThe Half Breed - The Doctor Gretchen the Greenhorn - Mystery Ship CaptainIntolerance - The Mighty Man of Valor The Children of the Feud - Bad Bald ClaytonThe Fatal Glass of Beer The Bad Boy - YeggmanBetsy's Burglar Might and the Man - McFaddenAladdin and the Wonderful Lamp - Magic GenieTreasure Island - Prologue PlayerTarzan of the Apes - TarzanThe Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin - Marcas, the BlacksmithThe Romance of Tarzan - TarzanThe Greatest Thing in Life - The American SoldierThe Road Through the Dark - Pvt. SchultzElmo the Mighty - Capt. Elmo ArmstrongThe Fall of Babylon - The Mighty Man of Valour1920s
Elmo the Fearless - The StrangerUnder Crimson Skies - Captain Yank BarstowThe Flaming Disc - Elmo Gray / Jim GrayDevotion - Robert TrentThe Adventures of Tarzan - TarzanQuincy Adams Sawyer - Abner Stiles- Rupert of Hentzau - SimonThe Hunchback of Notre Dame - The Rendezvous - GodunoffFashion Row - KaminoffAll Around Frying Pan - Foreman SladeWhom Shall I Marry
- ''King of the Jungle''