“Tarzan” actor Joe Lara, 58, presumed dead in plane crash

US actor Joe Lara, best known for playing Tarzan, is presumed dead after a plane crash in Tennessee.

The 58-year-old is among seven people believed killed when a light aircraft crashed into a lake near the town of Smyrna on Saturday, reports the BBC.

His dietician wife, Gwen Shamblin Lara, who founded a weight-loss church, is also among the victims.

Rescue workers say they found wreckage and human remains at the crash site.

Mr Lara played the lead role in the 1989 TV movie Tarzan in Manhattan before reprising the role in the follow-up TV series Tarzan: The Epic Adventures.

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

His wife, 66, was the leader of a Christian weight-loss group called Weigh Down Ministries which she launched in 1986.

She wrote a best-selling faith-based weight-loss book, urging people to “turn away from the love of food and towards the love of God”, and founded the Remnant Fellowship Church in Brentwood in 1999, according to her website.

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