Joe Lara, Star of ‘Tarzan: The Epic Adventures,’ Dies in Plane Crash at 58
The actor-musician from San Diego first played the King of the Jungle in 'Tarzan in Manhattan' in 1989.
They were not on the list.
Joe Lara, the star of TV’s Tarzan: The Epic Adventures, died Saturday with his wife and five others in the crash of a small jet near Nashville, authorities said. He was 58.
A Cessna C501 plunged into Percy Priest Lake near Smyrna, Tennessee, after taking off from Smyrna Rutherford County Airport at about 11 a.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. Authorities did not release registration information for the plane, which was headed to Palm Beach International Airport in Florida.
Rutherford County rescue crews were at the scene of the crash late Saturday and planned to work through the night, Rutherford County Fire Rescue Capt. Joshua Sanders said at a news conference. He indicated that there were no survivors.
“Our efforts have transitioned from a rescue effort to that of a recovery effort. … We are no longer … looking for live victims at this point,” he said.
Among those on board with Lara was his wife, author and diet guru Gwen Lara, who founded the faith-based Weigh Down Workshop and, in 1999, the Remnant Fellowship Church. They married in 2018.
Born in San Diego on Oct. 2, 1962, William Joseph Lara started out as a model before he landed the lead in the 1989 CBS telefilm Tarzan in Manhattan, which found the King of the Jungle in New York trying to rescue his chimp, Cheetah.
He then played the Edgar Rice Burroughs character on the 1996-97 first-run syndicated series Tarzan: The Epic Adventures, filmed in South Africa. He produced that series as well.
Lara also appeared in such action movies as Sunset Heat (1992), American Cyborg: Steel Warrior (1993), Final Equinox (1995) and Doomsdayer (2000) and series including Baywatch and Conan.
He played guitar and released an album, Joe Lara: The Cry of Freedom, in 2009.
Lara and his wife lived in Brentwood, Tennessee. Survivors also include his daughter, Liana.
Filmography
Film
Year Title Role Notes
1988 Night Wars American Soldier
1992 Sunset Heat Todd
1993 American Cyborg: Steel Warrior Austin
1995 Steel Frontier Yuma Direct-to-video
1995 Hologram Man Decoda
1995 Live Wire 2: Human Timebomb Price
1995 Final Equinox Lugar
1996 Warhead Gen. Kraft
1998 Armstrong Ponytail
1999 Lima: Breaking the Silence Victor
1999 Operation Delta Force 4: Deep Fault McKinney
2000 Strike Zone Dunk Stevens Direct-to-video
2000 Very Mean Men Detective Miller
2000 Doomsdayer Jack Logan
2001 Dead Man's Run Derek
2001 Death Game Micky Haiden
2002 Starfire Mutiny Sam Talbot Direct-to-video
2018 Summer of '67 Soap Opera Actor
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1989 Tarzan in Manhattan Tarzan Television film
1990 Gunsmoke: The Last Apache Wolf
1992 Danger Island Matt
1993 Tropical Heat Devon Madsen Episode: "Tess"
1993 Baywatch Frank Randall Episode: "Tentacles: Part 2"
1996–1997 Tarzan: The Epic Adventures Tarzan 22 episodes
1997 Operation Delta Force Johan Nash Television film
1998 Conan the Adventurer Kamikon Episode: "The Cavern"
1998 In Search of Tarzan with Jonathan Ross Self Television film
2000 The Magnificent Seven Pace McCormick Episode: "Penance"
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