5 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Lex Barker

[Loving the Classics]

On this day in 1919 Lex Barker came into the world. Here are 5 things you may not have known about our beloved Tarzan.

1. He was from a prominent New York family, who disowned him when he decided to become an actor.

2. His fifth wife, Carmen Cervera, is a former Miss Spain.

3. He rose to the rank of major during WWII.

4. He briefly considered become a singer.

5. He is a direct descendant of the founder of Rhode Island.

 

Brenda

[Dargo]

And the 6th thing you might not have known about Lex Barker is:

 

In 1957, as he found it harder to find work in American films, Barker moved to Europe (he spoke French, Italian, Spanish, and some German) In 1966, Barker was awarded the "Bambi Award" as "Best Foreign Actor" in Germany, where he was a major, very popular, star. He even recorded two songs in German: "Ich bin morgen auf dem Weg zu dir" ("I'll be on the way to you tomorrow", composed by Martin Böttcher, the composer of some of the soundtracks of the Karl May movies) and "Mädchen in Samt und Seide" ("Girl in Silk and Velvet", composed by Werner Scharfenberger). He returned to the United States occasionally and made a handful of guest appearances on American television episodes. But Europe, and especially Germany, was his professional home for the remainder of his life.

 

(...and thus David Hasselhoff would pattern his career after Barker's...moral of the story: If you want to have a long and successful acting career stateside, whatever ya do, DO NOT ever accept any roles as either the bare-chested Tarzan OR as a bare-chested Los Angeles County Lifeguard...well, unless you like to travel and see some beautiful parts of Europe, anyway!)

 

[nakano]

He spoke French.

[Vertigo2]

Cheryl Crane asserts in her autobiography, "Detour", that Barker molested her when he was married to her mother, Lana Turner.

[DownGoesFrazier]

There's virtually NOTHING that I know about Lex Barker.

[JamesJazGuitar]

There's virtually NOTHING that I know about Lex Barker.

 

I'm in the same boat.   But now I do know that Lex had some very nice looking wife's.   

[FredCDobbs]

Lex in LA DOLCE VITA:

 

[NipkowDisc]

And the 6th thing you might not have known about Lex Barker is:

 

In 1957, as he found it harder to find work in American films, Barker moved to Europe (he spoke French, Italian, Spanish, and some German) In 1966, Barker was awarded the "Bambi Award" as "Best Foreign Actor" in Germany, where he was a major, very popular, star. He even recorded two songs in German: "Ich bin morgen auf dem Weg zu dir" ("I'll be on the way to you tomorrow", composed by Martin Böttcher, the composer of some of the soundtracks of the Karl May movies) and "Mädchen in Samt und Seide" ("Girl in Silk and Velvet", composed by Werner Scharfenberger). He returned to the United States occasionally and made a handful of guest appearances on American television episodes. But Europe, and especially Germany, was his professional home for the remainder of his life.

 

(...and thus David Hasselhoff would pattern his career after Barker's...moral of the story: If you want to have a long and successful acting career stateside, whatever ya do, DO NOT ever accept any roles as either the bare-chested Tarzan OR as a bare-chested Los Angeles County Lifeguard...well, unless you like to travel and see some beautiful parts of Europe, anyway!)

 

does hasselhoff speak german?

[Dargo]

does hasselhoff speak german?

 

Nope, evidently unlike Barker, I don't think he does. Only sings the lyrics of some songs in that language, I believe.

 

You know, kind'a like how the Beatles did in Hamburg back in their early days.

 

(...sorry...maybe mentioning The Hoff and the Beatles in the same breathe isn't quite proper, huh!) LOL

[bOb39]

And he was wounded twice in Italy during the war.

[HoldenIsHere]

I must admit that I don't know who Lex Barker is.

[scsu1975]

I must admit that I don't know who Lex Barker is.

He's somewhat better known than Jess Barker.

[Dargo]

He's somewhat better known than Jess Barker.

 

Aah, but not NEARLY as well known as Jess' brother Bob.

 

(...and that's the truth...with no consequences)

[Vertigo2]

Aah, but not NEARLY as well known as Jess' brother Bob.

 

(...and that's the truth...with no consequences)

Or his cousin, Carnival.

[Bogie56]

He's somewhat better known than Jess Barker.

And his dog, BIG

[Bogie56]

I must admit that I don't know who Lex Barker is.

His Ma wasn't very nice though

[HoldenIsHere]

His Ma wasn't very nice though

 

She was just misunderstood.

[Arturo]

I must admit that I don't know who Lex Barker is.

Lex Barker was.best known as a Tarzan (the first after Weismuller hung up his loincloth?), as one of Lana Turner's many husbands, and in that mode, a wife beater and apparently, child molester.

[Bogie56]

Lex Barker was.best known as a Tarzan (the first after Weismuller hung up his loincloth?), as one of Lana Turner's many husbands, and in that mode, a wife beater and apparently, child molester.

Soooo, what are you saying ...?

 

Just kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[HoldenIsHere]

Lex Barker was.best known as a Tarzan (the first after Weismuller hung up his loincloth?), as one of Lana Turner's many husbands, and in that mode, a wife beater and apparently, child molester.

 

Oh, wow, I didn't know any of that.

[returning]

There was never evidence for the Cheryl Lane thing. No police, no judge.

 

 

It should be stated here that Barker denied her allegations until the day he died, not that a denial under the circumstances probably means all that much.

 

 

Although Mara Corday did not read about the man who revealed, after Lana Turner’s death, that Lana granted permission to say Lex never molested her daughter, Cheryl Crane, and that Lana, not Cheryl, had killed gangster Johnny Stompanatta, Mara stated, “I knew it all along. Lex was doing the movie with me at the time of the so-called molesting. It was in August and he didn’t go back to his house! I asked Lex if maybe he had a weak moment...‘No, not only did I not molest her—I felt sorry for her. I told Lana to fix her up—she could be a pretty girl.’”

 

 

look at this interview (before the book of Crane came out):

Would Lana Turner talk of Lex Barker that way if he had done anything bad to her one and only daughter? Would’nt she say: Leave me alone, I don’t want to talk about him? She talks without hate, she even has warm words for him (in the beginning of their romance).

 

What kind of woman was Lana Turner?

 

An MGM executive said of her, ‘She was amoral. If she saw a stagehand with tight pants and a muscular build, she’d invite him into her dressing room.’ When another studio executive chastised her for picking up a gas station attendant for casual sex, she retorted. ‘Don’t worry, honey. Who’s gonna believe it?’ Her make-up man Del Armstrong said she was, ‘always the aggressor, but once she slept with a guy she’d lose interest. Except with Tyrone Power.’ ‘Ty was the love of her life’, good friend Esther Williams commented. ‘She never got over him.’

[wouldbestar]

According to Kirk Douglas, he was very anti-Semitic.  In one of his books, Douglas tells of being at a party early in his career where he first met Barker who did not know he was Jewish.  Barker commented on the number of Jews there and his displeasure of it-boy, was he in the wrong business. 

 

I've heard the story that Lana let Cheryl take the blame for the murder; Cheryl denies it.  Also some bios of Lana say she believed the molestation and promptly threw Barker out; others go with what's been said here.  In both cases we will probably never know the truth.  Barker seems a mix of positives and negatives  just like everybody else.   

[Princess of Tap]

I always felt that Cheryl Crane's extreme response to Gangster Johnny Stompanato physically threatening her mother was a direct result of her fear of her mother's lovers, after Lex Barker raped her, while her mother was in the hospital suffering from a miscarriage.

 

She was left alone with him because her grandmother went to the hospital to be with Lana.

 

In Cheryl's autobiography she produced the medical records and I for one believe her.

[Princess of Tap]

There was never evidence for the Cheryl Lane thing. No police, no judge.

 

 

It should be stated here that Barker denied her allegations until the day he died, not that a denial under the circumstances probably means all that much.

 

 

Although Mara Corday did not read about the man who revealed, after Lana Turner’s death, that Lana granted permission to say Lex never molested her daughter, Cheryl Crane, and that Lana, not Cheryl, had killed gangster Johnny Stompanatta, Mara stated, “I knew it all along. Lex was doing the movie with me at the time of the so-called molesting. It was in August and he didn’t go back to his house! I asked Lex if maybe he had a weak moment...‘No, not only did I not molest her—I felt sorry for her. I told Lana to fix her up—she could be a pretty girl.’”

 

 

 

 

Would Lana Turner talk of Lex Barker that way if he had done anything bad to her one and only daughter? Would’nt she say: Leave me alone, I don’t want to talk about him? She talks without hate, she even has warm words for him (in the beginning of their romance).

 

What kind of woman was Lana Turner?

 

An MGM executive said of her, ‘She was amoral. If she saw a stagehand with tight pants and a muscular build, she’d invite him into her dressing room.’ When another studio executive chastised her for picking up a gas station attendant for casual sex, she retorted. ‘Don’t worry, honey. Who’s gonna believe it?’ Her make-up man Del Armstrong said she was, ‘always the aggressor, but once she slept with a guy she’d lose interest. Except with Tyrone Power.’ ‘Ty was the love of her life’, good friend Esther Williams commented. ‘She never got over him.’

Applying today standards to that crime is a disservice to all women who had to go through that at that time.

[Princess of Tap]

According to Kirk Douglas, he was very anti-Semitic. In one of his books, Douglas tells of being at a party early in his career where he first met Barker who did not know he was Jewish. Barker commented on the number of Jews there and his displeasure of it-boy, was he in the wrong business.

 

I've heard the story that Lana let Cheryl take the blame for the murder; Cheryl denies it. Also some bios of Lana say she believed the molestation and promptly threw Barker out; others go with what's been said here. In both cases we will probably never know the truth. Barker seems a mix of positives and negatives just like everybody else.

I don't go with that--I don't have any friends who are anti-semites or who have been accused of **** a girl.