Johnny Weissmuller Buster Crabbe. In a total of 12 Tarzan films, Weissmuller earned an estimated $2,000,000 and established himself as what many movie historians consider the definitive Tarzan. Although not the first Tarzan in movies (that was Elmo Lincoln), he was the first to be associated with the now traditional ululating, yodeling Tarzan yell. During an appearance on television's "The Mike Douglas Show" in the 1970s, Weissmuller explained how the famous yell was created. Recordings of three vocalists were spliced together to get the effecta soprano, an alto and a hog caller. Edgar Rice Burroughs himself paid oblique tribute to Weissmuller's powerful
Tarzan yell lion's role that looked a lot like the gorilla from "Dumbo", and the 1971 Disney live action/animated feature "Bedknobs and Broomsticks". Elmo Lincoln recreated his victory cry in a 1952 episode of "You Asked for It". Donkey Kong has also been known to use the Tarzan yell (although it sounds like "Ooo-wa-ooo-aaooaaooaa-ooo!"). His Tarzan yell is first heard in "" and later was used in "DK Jungle Climber", "Donkey Kong Country Returns" and later in "". Tarzan's yell is used as a melodic refrain in the Baltimora single "Tarzan Boy". This refrain plays in place of an ordinary Tarzan yell