Cheeta

Inextricablement associé à Tarzan dans l'esprit du public, le personnage du chimpanzé Cheeta n'est cependant jamais apparu dans aucun des romans originaux de Tarzan d'Edgar Rice Burroughs, et seuls les derniers livres montrent Tarzan avec un compagnon singe appelé N'kima. Ce sont les adaptations filmées qui ont introduit le personnage de Cheeta. Plusieurs singes, tous aujourd'hui décédés, ont été utilisés pour l'interpréter.

Parmi les interprètes, réels ou prétendus, de Cheeta au cinéma on retrouve :

• Jiggs (voir infra).
• David Holt, acteur américain qui réalisa le doublure dans Tarzan l'intrépide (1933) (non crédité au générique).
• Jiggs, Jr (également appelé Jiggs II), chimpanzé mâle né en 1935 dressé par Tony et Jacqueline Gentry, supposé être apparu dans de nombreuses adaptations de Tarzan et d'autres films.  Stated to have gone to the Baltimore Zoo when Gentry went into the service in World War II, his ultimate fate is unknown  ⇔ .
• A chimpanzee stated to have been a juvenile understudy to Jiggs in one of the Weissmuller Tarzan films, who one one occasion accompanied Weissmuller and a 14-foot boa constrictor on a visit to newspaper columnist Nelson B. Bell.
• A chimpanzee stated to have portrayed Cheeta for ten years from approximately 1933 until retirement in 1943. This Cheeta's last film was presumably Tarzan's Desert Mystery (1943), as the first film of its successor was Tarzan and the Amazons (1945).
• Cheta, a chimpanzee of undetermined gender born about 1937 trained by George Emerson, stated to be the current chimpanzee under contract by Metro for the Tarzan films in Mar, 1943.
• A chimpanzee stated to have replaced the 1933-1943 Cheeta, cast in 1944 with a trainer from the St. Louis Zoo hired as handler for Tarzan and the Amazons (1945).
• A chimpanzee trained by Albert Antonucci who had apparently played Cheeta for three years as of April, 1949; Antonucci is known to have been Cheeta's trainer for the films Tarzan and the Huntress (1947) and Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949), so presumably this Cheeta played in these films and the intervening Tarzan and the Mermaids (1948); Antonucci himself was stated to be slated for an acting role in the next Tarzan film, to be titled Tarzan and the Golden Lion (presumably a working title for the actual next film in the series, Tarzan and the Slave Girl (1950), but if so his role was uncredited or performed under a stage name. It is not known if he continued to serve as Cheeta's handler in that film, or indeed if "his" Cheeta was the one who appeared in it.
• Harry, a male chimpanzee born about 1944, possibly the same as the above, stated to be playing Cheeta in the Tarzan films in May, 1948.
• Cheeta, a chimpanzee owned and trained by Pinky Jackson, who made personal appearances in promotion of the Tarzan films at six Sidney Lust theaters in Maryland in early December, 1950. Possibly the Cheeta who appeared in the then current Tarzan film, Tarzan and the Slave Girl (1950).
• Cheeta, a female chimpanzee born about 1948 owned by Ed Rogers, stated to have appeared in 42 films, including Tarzan films as Cheeta and the television program Truth or Consequences as Beaulah. Died at age 9 on September 6, 1957 in Cypress, California, shot by deputy sheriffs after breaking out of her cage, attacking her owner, and charging at a group of children.
• Zippy, a male chimpanzee born about 1951 owned and trained by Ralph Quinlan, stated to have appeared as Cheeta in Tarzan films of the mid-1950s.
• C.J., un Orang-outan mâle qui a joué le rôle de Cheeta dans le remake Tarzan, l'homme singe (Tarzan, the Ape Man) et, de manière plus célèbre, le rôle de Clyde dans un film de 1978 avec Clint Eastwood Doux, dur et dingue (Every Which Way But Loose).
• Cheetah-Mike, a male chimpanzee alleged to be in his early 70s and stated to have been "one of the original 'Cheetahs' from Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan movies," who has resided at the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor, Florida since 1957, when he was acquired from the estate of Weissmuller.
• Cheeta, a male chimpanzee born about 1960, formerly owned by Tony Gentry and now residing at the C.H.E.E.T.A. Primate Sanctuary (Creative Habitats and Enrichment for Endangered and Threatened Apes) in Palm Springs, California. Claimed by Gentry to have been born in 1932 or later in the 1930s and to have portrayed Cheeta in most of the Johnny Weismuller and Lex Barker Tarzan films, and for that reason long celebrated as the the longest-lived chimpanzee. Both claims were debunked by journalist R. D. Rosen in 2008 in an article that settled the animal's true age and established that he had not appeared in any movies, let alone in the role of Cheeta.

Ces dernières années un chimpanzé mâle (prétendument né quelques mois avant le 9 avril 1932) dont le vrai nom est "Jitts" a été présenté comme étant apparu dans de nombreux anciens films et émissions de télévision, et notamment dans des films de Hollywood des années 1930 et 1940 mettant en scène le personnage de Tarzan. Ce singe a même été considéré comme le plus vieux singe qui ait jamais existé avec un âge attribué de 77 ans en 2009. En fait le journaliste R.D. Rosen, dans un article du Washington Post, a établi le véritable âge de cet individu né vers 1960, et qu'il n'aurait en fait jamais joué dans aucun film.

Ainsi, la première apparition de cet individu, qui aurait eu lieu dans le deuxième film Tarzan avec Johnny Weissmuller et Maureen O'Sullivan, Tarzan et sa compagne et son identification comme le Cheeta qui est aussi apparu dans L'Extravagant docteur Dolittle (1967) avec Rex Harrison, ne seraient donc que des supercheries.

Jitts aurait atteint le record du chimpanzé le plus âgé connu, avec l'âge de 64 ans en 1996 et toujours en vie et vivant au sanctuaire des primates de la fondation C.H.E.E.T.A, aurait un peu moins de cinquante ans, ce qui représente malgré tout un âge fort avancé pour un chimpanzé.

Dan Westfall, le soigneur de Jitts, a créé la fondation C.H.E.E.T.A, le sigle de "Creative Habitats and Enrichment for Endangered and Threatened Apes", qui se consacre aux singes à la retraite qui ont fait carrière dans le spectacle. C.H.E.E.T.A. héberge Cheeta-Jitts, Jeeter (son petit-fils), Maxine et Sandy qui ont travaillé à Las Vegas, et les orang-outans Daphne et Squeakers.

Jitts regarde la télévision et fait des peintures qui sont vendues pour des actions de charité à l'intention des primates. Il regarde souvent des vieux films avec son petit-fils, Jiggs.