Johnny Sheffield Dies At 79

Above, Johnny Sheffield in a publicity photo as Bomba, the Jungle Boy.

Johnny Sheffield, who became the son of Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan, died of a heart attack. He was 79.

The Celebrity Cafe reported:

Former child actor Johnny Sheffield, who is best known for playing Boy in the Tarzan movie series during the late 1930s and ‘40s, died of a heart attack at his home in Chula Vista, California last Friday, the LA Times has confirmed. The late actor’s widow, Patty, has stated that Johnny suffered a heart attack four hours after falling off a ladder while pruning a palm tree.

“He was a jungle boy to the end,” Patty said.

Following his stint in the Tarzan movies, Sheffield starred in his own jungle movie series as Bomba, The Jungle Boy. He made 12 Bomba movies from the late-1940s to the early 1950s.

A local Los Angeles television station played the Bomba movies in the early 1960s daily during the summer months. They were entertaining little movies.

He later retired from acting and took up real estate.