Elmo Lincoln (born Otto Elmo Linkenhelt; February 6, 1889 – June 27, 1952) was an American stage and film actor whose career in motion pictures spanned the silent and sound eras. He performed in over 100 screen productions between 1913 and 1952, and was the first actor to portray on film novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs' fictional "jungle" character Tarzan, initially appearing in that role in the 1918 release Tarzan of the Apes.
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Early years
Lincoln was born Otto Elmo Linkenhelt in Rochester, Indiana. He had six siblings, and he left home at 18 to begin a railroad career as a brakeman on a train. He went on to be a boxer, sailor, and stevedore before he became an actor.
Career
Lincoln began acting for director D. W. Griffith, who changed the performer's name. Lincoln's first role was in The Battle of Elderbush Gulch (1914), followed by Judith of Bethula (1914), The Birth of a Nation (1915), and Intolerance (1916).
Tarzan films
Stellan Windrow, who initially portrayed the title character in 1918's Tarzan of the Apes, went into military service five weeks after filming began. Lincoln replaced Windrow, although author Edgar Rice Burroughs objected to the choice. Lincoln became best known for that role. (Gordon Griffith played Tarzan as a child in the same movie). He portrayed the character twice more—in The Romance of Tarzan (also 1918) and in the 1921 serial The Adventures of Tarzan.
Following the end of the silent movie era, Elmo left Hollywood and tried his hand at mining. He also had a salvage business in Salt Lake City. In the late 1930s, he returned to the film industry, most often employed as an extra. He appeared, uncredited, in two Tarzan films in the 1940s—as a circus roustabout in Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942), and as a fisherman repairing his net in Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949).
Final role
His final work saw him also playing a brief, uncredited role in the 1952 film Carrie, starring Laurence Olivier. According to Tarzan of the Movies, by Gabe Essoe, Lincoln was quite proud of his work in this film, as he was an admirer of Olivier.
Death
Lincoln died of a heart attack on June 27, 1952, at age 63. He is interred in a niche at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7042 Hollywood Boulevard.
Biography
Lincoln's daughter, Marci'a Lincoln Rudolph, recounts his life in her 2001 book My Father, Elmo Lincoln: The Original Tarzan (ISBN 1-58690-000-5).
Partial filmography
1910s
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch (1913, Short) - Cavalryman
John Barleycorn (1914)
Judith of Bethulia (1914)
Brute Force (1914, Short) - In Club (Prologue) / Tribesman (The Old Days)
Buckshot John (1915) - The Sheriff
The Birth of a Nation (1915) - Blacksmith (uncredited)
The Slave Girl (1915, Short) - Bob West
The Absentee (1915) - The Toiler - in the Prologue
Her Shattered Idol (1915) - Ben - a Blacksmith
Jordan Is a Hard Road (1915)
Hoodoo Ann (1916) - Officer Lambert
The Half Breed (1916) - The Doctor (uncredited)
Gretchen the Greenhorn (1916) - Mystery Ship Captain
Intolerance (1916) - The Mighty Man of Valor (uncredited)
The Children of the Feud (1916) - Bad Bald Clayton
The Fatal Glass of Beer (1916)
The Bad Boy (1917) - Yeggman
Betsy's Burglar (1917)
Might and the Man (1917) - McFadden
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp (1917) - Magic Genie
1920s
Elmo the Fearless (1920) - The Stranger
Under Crimson Skies (1920) - Captain Yank Barstow
The Flaming Disc (1920) - Elmo Gray / Jim Gray
Devotion (1921) - Robert Trent
The Adventures of Tarzan (1921) - Tarzan
Quincy Adams Sawyer (1922) - Abner Stiles
Rupert of Hentzau (1923) - Simon
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) - (uncredited)
The Rendezvous (1923) - Godunoff
Fashion Row (1923) - Kaminoff
All Around Frying Pan (1925) - Foreman Slade
Whom Shall I Marry (1926)
King of the Jungle (1927, Serial)
1930s
Union Pacific (1939) - Card Player (uncredited)
Blue Montana Skies (1939) - Mack (uncredited)
Wyoming Outlaw (1939) - U.S. Marshal Gregg
Timber Stampede (1939) - Townsman (uncredited)
Colorado Sunset (1939) - Dairyman Burns
The Real Glory (1939) - Townsman (uncredited)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) - Minor Role (uncredited)
1940s
Stage to Chino (1940) - Townsman (uncredited)
Reap the Wild Wind (1942) - Minor Role (uncredited)
Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942) - Circus Roustabout (uncredited)
Bandit Ranger (1942) - Townsman in Bank (uncredited)
Fighting Frontier (1943) - Barfly who knocks Ike down (uncredited)
Frontier Fury (1943) - Sam Stewart (uncredited)
The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) - Minor Role (uncredited)
Black Arrow (1944, Serial) - Chief Arano (uncredited)
When the Lights Go On Again (1944) - Farmer #2 (uncredited)
The Man Who Walked Alone (1945) - Turnkey
Escape in the Fog (1945) - Cop (uncredited)
The Return of the Durango Kid (1945) - Luke Blake (uncredited)
Badman's Territory (1946) - Dick Broadwell (uncredited)
Rolling Home (1947) - Racing Official
A Double Life (1947) - Detective (uncredited)
Tap Roots (1948) - Sergeant (uncredited)
Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949) - A Fisherman (uncredited)
1950s
Hollywood Story (1951) - Elmo Lincoln (uncredited)
Iron Man (1951) - Minor Role (uncredited)
Carrie (1952) - Minor Role (uncredited) (final film role)
