‘Tarzan’ actor, Joe Lara and wife killed in plane crash

Fans of the actor Joe Lara are paying tribute after it emerged that he was among the seven people presumed to have been killed in a plane crash in Tennessee.

The 58-year-old, who played the title role in the popular Nineties series Tarzan: The Epic Adventures, died along with his wife, Gwen Shamlin Lara, 66, when a small jet, a Cessna Citation 501, crashed into a lake near the town of Smyrna.

The other victims have been named as: Jennifer J. Martin, David L. Martin, Jessica Walters, Jonathan Walters and Brandon Hannah. They were locals who were all a part of the same church.

The jet had been traveling from Smyrna Airport, located about 24 miles southeast of Nashville, to Palm Beach International Airport in Florida.

“Recovery efforts are ongoing on the lake from the Weakley Lane bridge to the Lamar Hill Boat Ramp,” John Ingle, captain and incident commander of the fire and rescue team, said in an update Sunday afternoon. “We are asking all civilian boaters to stay clear of those areas.”

Authorities say human remains and components of the jet have been recovered.

“The debris field is approximately a half of a mile wide,” Ingle said Sunday.

According to TMZ, Emergency services worked through the night on Saturday before all the passengers were presumed dead. An investigation is underway to determine what might’ve caused the crash.

Joe first appeared as Tarzan in the TV movie Tarzan In Manhattan before reprising the role in the follow-up TV series.

While he was best known for Tarzan, he had many other acting credits including Steel Frontier, Sunset Heat, Gunsmoke: The Last Apache, American Cyborg: Steel Warrior, The Magnificent Seven, Baywatch and Tropical Heat.

Joe gave up acting in 2002 to pursue a career in country music.

Gwen was a diet guru and founded the Remnant Fellowship Church in 1999. She and Joe hosted their own YouTube channel, ‘Life With Gwen And Joe’, which gave fans an insight into their life together.

The pair married in 2018. They leave behind two grown-up children from Gwen’s first marriage.