Joe Lara, the star of Tarzan in Manhattan (1989) and the 1996 to 1997 follow-up TV series Tarzan: Epic Adventures is one of seven presumed to have died in a plane crash over a Tennessee lake in the United States on Saturday.
The Tarzan show focused on the character’s early years, and was one of the few Tarzan productions to actually film in Africa, filming predominantly on the Sun City resort of South Africa.
The film, Tarzan in Manhattan, was plot-wise unrelated, focusing on a modern-day Tarzan who travels to New York to rescue his beloved chimpanzee friend, meeting Jane, a cab driver.
Lara was also the star of a number of action films, including Steel Frontier, Sunset Heat and American Cyborg: Steel Warrior in the 1980s. He retired from acting in 2002 and pursued a career in country music, marrying an author, Gwen Shamblin, in 2018.
The actor, 58 years old, lived in Brentwood, Tennesse. He had one child.
The Cessna 501 business jet crashed into Percy Priest Lake in Smyrna, near Nashville, Tennessee not long after it took off from the Smyrna airport.
The National Transportation Safety Baord is still in the process of investigating the cause of the crash, as none was apparent as of today.
“On behalf of all agencies that have responded or contributed to this incident in any way, we extend our sincere condolences to the families and friends affected by this tragedy,” Rutherford County Fire Rescue Captain Joshua Sanders said in a release after the crash was announced.
“We are committed to working with our federal partners to do everything we can to bring closure to those impacted by this incident.
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