Tarzan star Joe Lara, Christian diet guru passed away in Tennessee

Joe Lara, the star of the famous adventure movie ‘Tarzan: The Epic Adventures’, has passed away in a plane crash on Saturday.

According to details, the 58-year-old was with his wife Gwen Lara and a few others when the private jet crashed into Tennessee Lake this weekend. The Cessna 501 was carrying seven people when it crashed into Percy Priest Lake in Smyrna, a community near Nashville, shortly after taking off from the Smyrna airport, officials said.

On board were Lara; her husband, William J. Lara; her son-in-law, Brandon Hannah; and married couples Jennifer and David Martin, and Jessica and Jonathan Walters, a spokesperson for the Rutherford County government said in a news release. Their families were notified soon after and as per TMZ, an investigation is underway to determine the cause behind the crash.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the Cessna C501 plane was heading from nearby Smyrna Rutherford County Airport to Palm Beach International Airport when it crashed Saturday morning. Authorities did not release registration information for the plane.

Rutherford County Fire Rescue Capt. John Ingle said in a statement Sunday that recovery efforts were ongoing at Percy Priest Lake near Smyrna. He said efforts also were focused on examining a half mile-wide debris field in the lake.

Lara is infamous for starring as Tarzan for a total of 22 episodes where he played the king of the jungle between 1996 and 2000. He also starred in a TV movie that came out years prior called ‘Tarzan in Manhattan’.

He also had done other action-fantasy roles in movies such as ‘Steel Frontier’, ‘Sunset Heat’, ‘Gunsmoke: The Last Apache’, ‘American Cyborg: Steel Warrior’, ‘The Magnificent Seven’, ‘Baywatch’ and ‘Tropical Heat’, and more.

Lara and Gwen have left behind three children.