|
Sheriff's deputies responding Tuesday night to
reports of a family disturbance in the Hope Ranch suburb of
Santa Barbara found the actor's wife, Valeerie Lundeen, 62, dead
from multiple stab wounds inside the home, the sheriff's office
said in a statement.
Deputies immediately identified the suspected killer as the
couple's son, Cameron Ely, 30, whom they found on the property
outside after a brief search.
The younger Ely posed an unspecified threat to the deputies,
leading them to open fire on him, the statement said. He was
fatally wounded, but none of the four deputies involved in the
shooting was hurt, according to the sheriff's account.
The deputies were being placed on paid administrative leave
pending an investigation, it said.
The elder Ely, 81, described in the sheriff's account as
disabled, was also found at the home and taken to an area
hospital for evaluation. There was no immediate word on what may
have precipitated the stabbing.
Ely is best known for playing the title role in the original
prime-time TV "Tarzan" series, which ran from fall 1966 until
fall 1969 - first on NBC, then on CBS.
He was the 14th screen actor to inhabit the role of the jungle
hero created by Edgar Rice Burroughs since "Tarzan of the Apes"
was released as a silent movie nearly a half century earlier.
Ely performed most of his own stunts, although the famed Tarzan
yell was dubbed from a recording of Johnny Weissmuller, the
Olympic champion swimmer who starred as Tarzan in a dozen
Hollywood film during the 1930s and '40s.
In the 1980s, Ely hosted the game show "Face the Music" and
twice hosted the Miss America Pageants. He and Lundeen, a former
Miss Florida USA, married in 1984 and had three children,
including Cameron.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Cynthia
Osterman)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
