Lincoln is best known in his silent movie role as the first Tarzan in 1918's Tarzan of the Apes as an adult (Gordon Griffith played him as a child in the same movie). He portrayed the character twice more—in The Romance of Tarzan (also 1918) and in the 1921 serial The Adventures of Tarzan.
Following the end of the silent movie era, Elmo left Hollywood and tried his hand at mining. In the late 1930s, he returned to the film industry, most often employed as an extra. He appeared, uncredited, in two Tarzan films in the 1940s—as a circus roustabout in Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942), and as a fisherman repairing his net in Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949).
Final Role
His final work saw him also playing a brief, uncredited role in the 1952 film Carrie, starring Laurence Olivier. According to Tarzan of the Movies, by Gabe Essoe, Lincoln was quite proud of his work in this film, as he was an admirer of Olivier.
Death
Lincoln died of a heart attack on June 27, 1952 at age 63. He is interred in a niche at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7042 Hollywood Boulevard.
Biography
In 2001, his daughter Marci'a Lincoln Rudolph told his story in her book, My Father, Elmo Lincoln: The Original Tarzan (ISBN 1-58690-000-5).
Filmography
Actor
1952
Carrie as
Minor Role (uncredited)
1951
Iron Man as
Minor Role (uncredited)
1951
Hollywood Story as
Elmo Lincoln (uncredited)
1949
Tarzan's Magic Fountain as
Fisherman (uncredited)
1948
Tap Roots as
Sergeant (uncredited)
1947
A Double Life as
Detective (uncredited)
1946
Rolling Home as
Racing Official
1946
Badman's Territory as
Dick Broadwell (uncredited)
1946
The Three Troubledoers (Short) as
Nell's Father (uncredited)
1945
The Return of the Durango Kid as
Luke Blake (uncredited)
1945
Escape in the Fog as
Cop (uncredited)
1945
The Man Who Walked Alone as
Turnkey (uncredited)
1944
When the Lights Go on Again as
Farmer #2 (uncredited)
1944
Black Arrow as
Chief Arano (uncredited)
1944
The Story of Dr. Wassell as
Evacuee (uncredited)
1943
Frontier Fury as
Sam Stewart (uncredited)
1943
Fighting Frontier as
Barfly who knocks Ike down (uncredited)
1942
Bandit Ranger as
Townsman in Bank (uncredited)
1942
Tarzan's New York Adventure as
Circus Roustabout (uncredited)
1942
Reap the Wild Wind as
Minor Role (uncredited)
1940
Stage to Chino as
Townsman (uncredited)
1939
The Real Glory as
U.S. Captain (uncredited)
1939
The Hunchback of Notre Dame as
Minor Role (uncredited)
1939
Colorado Sunset as
Dairyman Burns
1939
Timber Stampede as
Townsman (uncredited)
1939
Wyoming Outlaw as
U.S. Marshal Gregg
1939
Blue Montana Skies as
Mack-Trading Post Man (uncredited)
1939
Union Pacific as
Card Player (uncredited)
1927
The King of the Jungle
1926
Whom Shall I Marry
1925
All Around Frying Pan as
Foreman Slade
1923
Fashion Row as
Kaminoff
1923
The Rendezvous as
Godunoff
1923
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (uncredited)
1923
Rupert of Hentzau as
Simon
1922
Quincy Adams Sawyer as
Abner Stiles
1922
The Big Ranger (Short)
1922
Desperation (Short) as
Bob Vernon
1922
Fighting Back (Short) as
Jim Mitchell
1921
Adventures of Tarzan as
Tarzan
1921
Devotion as
Robert Trent
1920
The Flaming Disc as
Elmo Gray / Jim Gray
1920
Under Crimson Skies as
Captain Yank Barstow
1920
Elmo the Fearless as
The Stranger
1919
Deliverance as
Ignorance
1919
Elmo, the Mighty as
Capt. Elmo Armstrong
1918
The Road Through the Dark as
Pvt. Schultz
1918
The Greatest Thing in Life as
The American Soldier
1918
The Romance of Tarzan as
Tarzan
1918
The Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin as
Marcas the Blacksmith
1918
Tarzan of the Apes as
Tarzan
1917
Treasure Island as
Prologue Player
1917
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp as
Magic Genie
1917
Might and the Man as
McFadden
1917
Betsy's Burglar
1917
The Bad Boy as
Yeggman
1916
The Fatal Glass of Beer
1916
Children of the Feud as
Bad Bald Clayton
1916
Intolerance as
The Mighty Man of Valor (uncredited)
1916
Gretchen the Greenhorn as
Mystery Ship Captain
1916
The Half-Breed as
The Doctor (uncredited)
1916
Hoodoo Ann as
Officer Lambert
1915
Jordan Is a Hard Road
1915
The Root of All Evil (Short) as
Circus Kelly
1915
Providence and the Twins (Short)
1915
The Mystic Jewel (Short)
1915
A Bad Man and Others (Short) as
Sheriff Claude Britton
1915
Pirates Bold (Short) as
The Fisherman
1915
Her Shattered Idol as
Ben - A Blacksmith
1915
The Absentee as
The Toiler - in the Prologue (as Elmo Linkenhelt)
1915
The Light in the Window (Short) as
Roger Blake - the Father (as Otto Lincoln)
1915
The Slave Girl (Short) as
Bob West (as Otto Lincoln)
1915
The Double Crossing of Slim (Short) as
Croaky (as Otto Lincoln)
1915
The Birth of a Nation as
White-Arm Joe - Blacksmith (uncredited)
1915
Buckshot John as
The Sheriff (as Oscar Linkenhelt)
1914
The Primitive Man (Short) as
In Club (Prologue) / Tribesman (The Old Days) (uncredited)
1914
Judith of Bethulia as
Extra (unconfirmed, uncredited)
1914
John Barleycorn (as Lincoln Helt)
1913
The Battle of Elderbush Gulch (Short) as
Cavalryman (uncredited)
1913
The Suffragette Minstrels (Short) as
In Audience
1913
The Reformers; or, the Lost Art of Minding One's Business (Short) as
In Theatre Audience / Bootlegger (uncredited)
Archive Footage
2023
Tarzan van George (TV Series) as
Self
- Episode #1.1 (2023) - Self (uncredited)
2013
Amazing Tales from the Archives: Restoring The Half-Breed of 1916 (Video documentary short) as
The Doctor
1996
Tarzan at the Movies, Part 2: The Many Faces of Tarzan (Video documentary short)
