Ron Ely, the tall, musclebound actor who played the title character in the 1960s NBC series “Tarzan,” has died. He was 86.

But he reached a new level of success in 1966 when he landed the titular role in NBC’s TV series “Tarzan,” a modern reimagining of the jungle by novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs created in 1912.

Following his parents' death in Africa, John Clayton has been be raised by an ape, was known by the name Tarzan, but eventually left Africa and for his parents' home in England, along with the ...