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:'' This article is about a famous chimpanzee. For the feline animal, see Cheetah.''
'Cheeta' aka 'Jiggs' (born April 9, 1932) is a male chimpanzee noted for appearing in numerous movies and television shows, most famously many Hollywood Tarzan films of the 1930s and 1940s, in which he portrayed a fictional chimp of the same name. Cheeta was bought from Henry Trefflich, a New York animal importer and dealer.
While inextricably associated in the public mind with Tarzan, Cheeta as a character was a product of the movies, never appearing in any of the original Tarzan novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. There are in fact no chimpanzees at all in the novels, the closest analog to Cheeta therein being Tarzan's monkey companion N'kima, who appears in several of the later books.

Contents

Movie career

Retirement

In popular culture

See Also:

Notes

Movie career

The role of Cheeta was originally played by a different chimpanzee, who appeared as such in the first two Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan films, ''Tarzan the Ape Man'' (1932) and ''Tarzan and His Mate'' (1934), and apparently also in a Tarzan serial starring Buster Crabbe, ''Tarzan the Fearless'' {1933), filmed simultaneously. In the serial there was also an uncredited human double for the Cheeta role, six year old American actor David Holt.^[1][2]
The first movie appearance this chimpanzee was in the second Weissmuller film cited above, in which he appeared uncredited as a young chimpanzee riding on the back of the original Cheeta. He was then cast in the role of Cheeta himself in the other Weissmuller Tarzans that followed, such as ''Tarzan Escapes'' (1936), ''Tarzan Finds a Son!'' (1939), and ''Tarzan's New York Adventure'' (1942), as well as the Lex Barker Tarzan films that followed, such as ''Tarzan's Magic Fountain'' (1949). He appeared in twelve Tarzan movies in all.
Cheeta also appeared in roles as other chimpanzees, including Ramona the Chimp in ''Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla'' (1952) and Chee-Chee in ''Doctor Dolittle'' (1967) with Rex Harrison, the chimp's last role before retirement.
On March 31, 1995, Cheeta's career was honored with a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars. His star is at 110 South Palm Canyon Drive.^[3] To date, there have been four unsuccessful attempts to secure a star for Cheeta on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the most recent two in 2005 and 2006 spearheaded by filmmaker Matt Devlen who is again organizing another campaign for 2007.

Retirement

In retirement Cheeta lives at a primate sanctuary called Creative Habitats and Enrichment for Endangered and Threatened Apes (or CHEETA) in Palm Springs, California. He watches television and makes paintings which are sold to benefit primate-related charities. He often watches his old films with his grandson, Jeeter, and also likes to leaf through books (presumably with lots of pictures) and "play" the piano.^[4][5]
Cheeta became the longest lived known chimpanzee upon reaching the age 64 in 1996. He is cited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's oldest primate (presumably meaning oldest ''non-human'' primate).
The October 4 2006, edition of the Palm Springs newspaper, ''The Desert Sun'', reported that Cheeta received his first-ever visit from famed primatologist Jane Goodall the previous day.
Cheeta is still alive at the age of 75 as of 2007. His 75th birthday was celebrated on April 9, 2007, at his "Casa de Cheeta" in Palm Springs in an event hosted by Dan Westfall and Diane Weissmuller, (Johnny Weissmuller, Jr.'s widow). Many Palm Spring celebrities and press attended.

In popular culture

★ Cheeta baptized a popular Brazilian candy, "Bala Chita", which also features the chimp on the package. Many people in Brazil believe that Cheeta is female, due to the fact that Cheeta is a female name in Portuguese.

See Also:

★ List of apes

Notes

1.
2. cheetathechimp.org
3. Cheeta's star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars
4. Tarzan's Cheeta's Life as a Retired Movie Star By John Roach for National Geographic News May 9, 2003
5. Pictures of Cheeta celebrating his 75th birthday by photographer Frederic Neema