Little is known about the first movie Tarzan, Stellan
Windrow, who can still be seen swinging through the trees in Tarzan
of the Apes (released in January, 1918, ninety years ago this month)
because his replacement actor, Elmo Lincoln, was afraid of heights and
did all his filming closer to the ground. Windrow’s parents were Swedish
physicians, and while his father Sven Vindruvva (the Swedish version of
"Windrow") remained in Sweden, his mother moved to Chicago where Stellan
Windrow was born on September 2, 1893. His parents divorced, so mother
and son stayed in Chicago where the boy grew up and earned a degree in
Philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1915. He also excelled in
athletics, winning events in swimming, track & field, and medals in
discus and shotput. Not surprising when we find him at six feet-four inches
tall, and weighing 200 pounds. He also excelled in photography which was
useful to him in later life.
He had become friends with several Hollywood celebrities
like Wallace Beery and was immediately signed by producer Bill Parsons
for Tarzan of the Apes in 1917. The company relocated to Morgan City, Louisiana
to shoot the film. (The Morgan City location was later destroyed due to
off-shore oil drilling.) But after only five weeks on location, the Swedish
Navy drafted him as an ensign, and off he went to serve his country in
WWI. Enter Elmo.
After the war, Stellan Windrow settled in London where
he married Marjorie Desborough, and the couple moved to the USA when the
first of their two daughters was born in 1920. He worked at Paramount Pictures,
playing bit parts in many movies before moving to Paris in 1923 where his
two daughters were educated. By the end of the 1930s he returned to the
USA as a freelance photographer for the American Red Cross, both during
and after the war. Both Gabe Essoe and Jerry Schneider refer to him in
their respective books on Tarzan films as "Winslow Wilson," but there is
no indication that he used this name in his acting career. His fellow cast
members in Tarzan of the Apes called him "Steamboat" because “S.S.Windrow”
sounded like a steamboat name. Windrow died on November 25, 1958 in New
York City.
For more information on him, visit Ed Stephan’s extensive
website at http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Tarzan/stellan/
..."Ye Editor"
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