William Joseph Lara
“Tarzan” actor dies in plane crash
William Joseph “Joe” Lara in his prime role as Tarzan
© imago images / Everett Collection
William Joseph “Joe” Lara was reportedly killed in a plane crash. The “Tarzan” mime was only 58 years old.
Seven people are said to have died in a plane crash of a small Cessna C501 aircraft in the United States. One of them was according to a report from CNN 58-year-old actor William Joseph Lara, better known as Joe Lara. He played the eponymous jungle dweller in the TV movie “Tarzan in Manhattan” as well as in the TV series “Tarzan: Epic Adventures” in the mid-1990s.
In addition to Lara, six other people are said to have died in the crash in Percy Priest Lake south of Nashville, Tennessee. His wife, the non-fiction author Gwen Shamblin Lara, was among the fatalities. The auxiliaries have meanwhile switched from a rescue to a salvage mission. It is therefore assumed that none of the passengers are still alive. Nothing is known about the exact circumstances of the crash.