BELGRADE (AFP) - A tiny Serbian hamlet on the border with Romania has launched an initiative to build a monument to Johnny Weissmuller, the late actor famed for his role as "Tarzan."
Weissmuller, a five-time Olympic swimming gold-medallist, was born in 1904 in the village of Medja, in the Banat region that straddles the two countries but was then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. He died in 1984.
The inhabitants of the hamlet were inspired by the decision earlier this week by another Serbian village to erect a statue of Sylvester Stallone's famous film character, boxer Rocky Balboa, in a bid to rid itself of bad luck.
"We have been speaking for while about this possibility, but the details, the time of construction of the monument, will be developed this weekend," Nebojsa Kosnic, one of the backers of the plan, told Beta news agency Friday.
Kosnic said the initiative was highly justified by the will of the village's people to mark an important part of their history.
The house in which Weissmuller was born still exists, and several members of his family were buried in the local cemetery, said Kosnic, adding a family descendant, Tereza Stojanovic, lives in the Serbian capital Belgrade.
The monument would be the third such initiative launched in the former Yugoslavia in recent years to honour Hollywood icons.
In neighbouring Bosnia in November 2005, the southern town of Mostar unveiled a statue of late martial arts legend Bruce Lee as a symbolic protest against ethnic division.
Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse
Weissmuller, a five-time Olympic swimming gold-medallist, was born in 1904 in the village of Medja, in the Banat region that straddles the two countries but was then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. He died in 1984.
The inhabitants of the hamlet were inspired by the decision earlier this week by another Serbian village to erect a statue of Sylvester Stallone's famous film character, boxer Rocky Balboa, in a bid to rid itself of bad luck.
"We have been speaking for while about this possibility, but the details, the time of construction of the monument, will be developed this weekend," Nebojsa Kosnic, one of the backers of the plan, told Beta news agency Friday.
Kosnic said the initiative was highly justified by the will of the village's people to mark an important part of their history.
The house in which Weissmuller was born still exists, and several members of his family were buried in the local cemetery, said Kosnic, adding a family descendant, Tereza Stojanovic, lives in the Serbian capital Belgrade.
The monument would be the third such initiative launched in the former Yugoslavia in recent years to honour Hollywood icons.
In neighbouring Bosnia in November 2005, the southern town of Mostar unveiled a statue of late martial arts legend Bruce Lee as a symbolic protest against ethnic division.
Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse
