Some born in Romania, others with Romanian ancestors, these celebrities enchant us all. They shine on the screen, they bring worlds and dreams in our hearts, they represent, some even without knowing, the true spirit of the nation that was first their cradle.
Although there are still no clear records regarding his place of birth, most of the biographers mention Timisoara, Romania as his birth city. Meet Johnny Weissmuller, the one and only Tarzan the Ape Man, whose ululating yell still resounds in the theaters.
There are certainly some things we cannot deny when we look back: his exceptional physique, his sex-appeal and definitely his stage presence and talent. While the physique was obviously the result of intense training – Johnny Weissmuller won five gold medals at the Olympics in 1920, won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven world records as a swimmer – we like to think that the “sex-appeal” is a an inherited trait from the Banat Swabians from Timisoara.
Can you imagine Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Hulk, Daredevil or so many other superheroes without Stan Lee? Yes, he was born in New York, but his parents were Romanian-born Jews. What would Marvel be without him today?
In 1882 when Bela Lugosi was born, his city of birth Lugoj was part of Austro-Hungarian Empire. Of course Bela is a Hungarian native, but we like to think he carried the spirit of the Romanians living under Austro-Hungarian occupation with him. You know Bela as one of the best Draculas Hollywood has ever brought in a theatre.
Interesting blog indeed. I don’t know much about Romania and I definitely didn’t know that Tarzan came from there – or Dracula!
BTW: I linked to this blog at my links page under destination blogs. I’ll have to come back some other time!
Thank you, captain. 🙂 As a matter of fact, Dracula is a real historic character who was born in Transylvania (which is a Romanian province)but ruled in a province called “Tara Romaneasca” or Wallachia – at the time when Romania was split in three countries: Transylvania, Moldova and Wallachia. One of my next entries will be about him. 🙂
what about edward g robinson? What about Lauren Bacall? And, of course Bela Karolyi? You left out some of the best!
No, Barbulescu, I didn’t leave them out. 🙂 They are on the “waiting” list for another blog entry. I just didn’t want this post to get too long… I try to stay away from the “digg-type” of lists. I promise you you’ll see all of them here soon. 🙂 In the meanwhile, if you would like to contribute with articles and photos from home, I would be so happy to publish your thoughts here!