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h2> Fifties female "Tarzan" actress passes away

by Robb Fulcher

Anita Lhoest Stringham, a much-photographed champion swimmer who went on to star in the 1950 motion picture "Captive Girl" with Johhny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe, passed away recently in Hermosa Beach following a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 69.

Stringham was born Jan. 31, 1931 in Hollywood to Fernand, a cellist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Hollywood Bowl orchestras, and Helene Lhoest.

She began swimming at age four and began gaining media attention by age 6. A family scrapbook is stuffed with clippings from the "Los Angeles Times" and "Herald Examiner,' including numerous photos of Stringham on the diving board or in the water.

In 1947 she was a national champion in the 100-meter freestyle and set a national record in the 440-meter freestyle event.

When she was 19 she won a starring role in "Captive Girl," a pleasantly escapist film in which she played a sort of female Tarzan dressed in a leopard-spotted outfit and buttressed by animal protectors.

Stringham's character had grown up marooned on a vaguely tropical island after her parents were sacrificed at the "Lagoon of Death" by a witch doctor wearing African-looking garb and bearing the name Hakim.

The well-paced film, featuring Weissmuller in his post-Tarzan role of "Jungle Jim," builds to a climactic scene bursting with pith-helmeted white men, ethnically ambiguous warriors and an army of charging monkeys.

Stringham spends a lot of time on-screen, often running and swimming and on one occasion sinking in quicksand, but she has few lines in the movie, which is thin on dialogue. Her presence is a strong and likable one, and her athletic prowess serves her well in action sequences.

Stringham went on to land a starring role as Daisy May in a motion picture version of "Li'l Abner," but the movie was never made.

Her loves included animals and travel, and she swam daily until cancer curtailed that activity.

After living most of her life in Hollywood and Pacific Palisades, she spent her last 11 months at the Hermosa home of her daughter, Linda De Soto. Stringham died Sept. 19.

In addition to her daughter she is survived by a sister, Lillian Covington, who lives on the East Coast.

A celebration of Stringham's life was Oct. 8. Family members asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to the Humane Society of the United States, 2100 L St. N.W., Washington DC 20037, or other animal rescue organizations. ER