Monkey Business

In 2006, I ran across a news item—the chimpanzee that portrayed Cheeta in all of the Johnny Weissmuller-era Tarzan movies from the 1930s was turning seventy-four years old, and not only that, the article stated that he was the world’s oldest living nonhuman primate as verified by the Guinness Book of World Records. I found it incredible that he was still alive, as he must have outlived everyone else involved with those movies, cast, and crew. Not to mention the fact that he had lived more than twenty years longer than the average chimpanzee. This was one fantastic specimen of simianity and story-wise it was right down my alley.

I immediately put a call through to Palm Springs, California, where Cheeta was living out his retirement years with Dan Westfall, the nephew of Tony Gentry, Cheeta’s original owner and trainer. I told him I wanted to fly to California as soon as possible and do a photographic portrait of Cheeta, which he agreed to,