Hello Curious and welcome back to our channel. Unfortunately today we have to report some
sad news as over the weekend the news had emerged that Joe Lara, the star of '90s television
series Tarzan: The Epic Adventures, and his wife Gwen Shamblin Lara and five other passengers
had lost their lives in a plane crash. This news had left many shocked and at the same
time caused many to reminisce over his portrayal of Tarzan. But who was the actor and how did
he start his career? When did he meet his wife? What productions is he known from? What
do we know about the incident and who were the other victims on board? Stay with us until
the end of the video as we look back at the life and career of this star.
It has been over a year since the tragic passing of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna in
a helicopter crash, about which we have a video the link to which is being displayed
on the screen above. Though for now stay with us to find out about an actor who has lost
his life in a similar way. William Joseph Lara was born on October 2nd, 1962 in San
Diego, California but he grew up in New Port Beach, California. The actor’s parents had
a mixed heritage as they were of Native American descent as well as Polish and Spanish. As
he was growing up he liked to spend his free time actively surfing, playing sand volleyball,
soccer, and football, and while in high school he was voted as the most valuable player as
a wide receiver. Though originally where the world of entertainment is concerned he did
not start his career as an actor. At the age of 19, he was approached by a modeling agency.
Thanks to their influence, he ended up turning down a number of college scouts from various
California universities in order to pursue work as a professional print and runway model
in Europe, working in fashion capitals such as Paris, Geneva, and Milan.
However, Lara had other life plans and he decided to move to LA to start scene study
workshops so he could pursue an acting career. And it wasn’t long before he was given the
opportunity to audition for the role of Tarzan in the CBS movie, “Tarzan in Manhattan”
which premiered in 1989. Though his acting debut had come a year prior in 1988 when he
appeared in a horror war movie “Night Wars”. Thanks to the movie and him as an actor being
well received by the audiences, he was cast in the same role for a TV series “Tarzan:
The Epic Adventures” which aired from 1996 to 1997 with an extra episode being released
in 2000. Being a man of many talents he had also worked as a producer on several of the
show episodes. Some other productions in which he has stared in have been Dead Man’s Run,
Doomsdayer, and Lima: Breaking the Silence. Though where television is concerned he had
appeared in such well-known productions such as the 90s series Conan, The Magnificent Seven,
and one of the most popular series Baywatch! And speaking of the hit series, a brand new
show is in the works about the relationship of its star Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee.
If you want to know more about the series and the actress taking on the role and whether
she is fit for it, be sure to check out our previous video. He had ended his acting career
in 2002 with only a small stint as a Soap Opera Actor in the 2018 movie Summer of ‘67.
According to Buzz Learnt, the reason for the actor ditching his acting career was because
he wanted to focus on his country music career, about which we will talk in a moment so make
sure you stay with us until the very end. Though all his work in the industry has paid
off as according to celebrity net worth, he had amassed a net worth of $1 to $5 million
dollars.
But the actor has had many interests and passions outside of his acting work that he had continued
to nurture throughout his entire life. He was a licensed falconer, a licensed pilot
who had been flying since he was 16 years old, he was also an advanced open-water diver,
a surfer, an accomplished boxer, and a highly trained marksman, things that had surely come
in handy in his acting career at one point or another. On top of all these other interests,
the 58-year-old also had a deep passion and love for animals, especially horses. The actor
had a charitable side as well and he worked in partnership with A Soldier’s Child Foundation
which helped those kids who had lost their parents while they were serving in the military.
They help those kids out by organizing birthday celebrations for them as well as mentorship
programs and camps and helping them out with further education by helping to provide them
with college scholarships.
Due to the acting work he had lived outside of LA for years before finally moving to Tennessee
in 2011. Previously he was in a relationship with Serbian-American actress Natasha Pavlovich
and the couple has a daughter together. And while their relationship didn’t last, it
looked like Joe had found his true love as in 2018 he married Gwen Shamblin, a national
best-selling author and founder of a Christian diet program The Weigh Down Workshop as well
as the founder of the Remnant Fellowship Church. The two resided in Brentwood with their children
and grandchildren, who had lived close by.
Though besides his other hobbies and works, one constant thing in Lara’s life was music.
It was back when he was in Junior High when his uncle had gifted him a drum set. Later
he had signed up for guitar classes and after he picked one up for the first time, he wasn’t
able to put it down. On his website he stated with his hectic schedules and travels with
countless hours spent in hotel rooms, his guitar was always his companion. But for the
actor it wasn’t just a hobby as he released music, writing his own texts and compositions
as well as playing lead guitar and singing. In 2009 his fans were presented with his first
album which Lara produced and released himself. It was titled “Joe Lara: The Cry of Freedom.”
However, as you all know Curious, over the weekend a tragedy had hit the family of this
couple as they were involved in a crash that took the lives of 7 people. According to reports
the private jet that had belonged to Gwen and which they had registered the small aircraft
through their company, JL & GL Productions, as per local media. The aircraft, which was
a Cessna 501, took off around 11 a.m on Saturday from Smyrna Airport which is located just
outside of Nashville and which was reportedly headed towards Palm Beach, Florida but somehow
had plunged into Percy Priest Lake not long after takeoff. Shamblin’s daughter had reportedly
sent a text to church members that stated it was taking a quick controlled landing though
the reason for it had not been stated. However, Lara has not been the first star to lose his
life in an accident, if you want to know about others who had met tragic ends we recommend
you a video to our previous video, the link to which is being displayed above.
Fire and other rescue crews were dispatched to the scene but after an all-night operation,
authorities had said that all passengers on board were found deceased and that their families
were notified. Besides Joe Lara and his wife Gwen, one of the other five people on board
was Brandon Hannah, who was their son-in-law and the husband of Gwen’s daughter from
her previous marriage, Elizabeth. All people involved in the tragic accidents were locals
and as the press has reported were members of the Remnant Fellowship Church. Currently,
an investigation is underway to determine what the cause of the crash was. While no
media publication has named who was the pilot it could be assumed that it might have been
Lara as he had a pilot’s license. Though that is something that has not been confirmed
by any media publication at the time the video was made.
The Sun had reported that Elizabeth, Shamblin Lara’s daughter, whose husband was on board,
had sent a text message to Remnant church members asking them for prayers, saying that
the plane had to go down “for a controlled, quick landing”. She also went on to add:
“More information to come, but be in prayer, and be at peace. God is in control and we
will not stop moving forward with what God wants with this church.”
The Church had also released a statement to the Sun in which stated that at the time which
was on Saturday, the families were still waiting for word from the authorities. Though by late
Saturday the authorities the searches had turned into a recovery mission rather than
a rescue one. Rutherford County Fire Rescue Captain Joshua Sanders spoke to reporters
and said: “Our efforts have transitioned from a rescue effort to that of a recovery
effort. ... We are no longer ... looking for live victims at this point.”
Here at CurioSips we are sending our thoughts to the families of the victims. So Curious,
have you heard of Joe Lara before? Have you seen him in any of the Tarzan productions
that he appeared in? Have you heard any of his music? Let us know in the comments below
and we will see you in the next video.