I had been mostly unfamiliar with Ron Ely when I met him at the Chicago Hollywood Show on October 1, 2011 – although it had only been less-than four months earlier that I had seen him during the screening of an episode of Superboy called The Road to Hell at the 2010 Superman Celebration in Metropolis. In this film, he played the ‘future’ retired version of Superman – so you could say, that he did in fact once play the man 0f (albeit flabby) steel. So when I met him, I recognized him from that (although not putting it together at the time). But Ron Ely’s real claim to fame was that he had starred as the lead in the NBC TV series Tarzan from 1966-1968.
Well known as one of the most famous of the more-than 40 actors to have portrayed Tarzan, he has apparently been a bit reclusive on the fan circuit and so it was a big deal that he was making a couple of limited appearances. I knowing this, I snatched up the nice autographed 8×10 and photo opportunity with him for a total of $25. He was a friendly guy, standing firm and tall just as he always had. Even at age 73, he still wasn’t a guy that I’d like to have crash into me whilst swinging from a vine.
I told Mr. Ely that I would be seeing him the following weekend at the Burbank Hollywood Show. True to my word, I greeted him the following weekend on October 8. He recognized me and said, “Yep, you said you’d be here.”
Celebrities of the Fall 2011 Chicago Hollywood Celebrities Show will continue…
$25 for an autographed photo AND a picture with the person is very reasonable. If only all of the celebrities were this considerate of their fans.
Bill
February 19th, 2012
My favorite role of his was as the host of the, “Face the Music” game show.
Peter
February 20th, 2012