Stjepan Šipek ( Sisak 1942 – June 23, 2019), also known by his screen name Steve Hawkes, was a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n-born American actor and animal sanctuary owner.Steve Sipek aka Steven Hawkes , The Wild Eye
/ref>

Life

Sipek was born in Yugoslavia, what is now

, relocated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in 1959, and subsequently acted in B-movies as Steve Hawkes. He played

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. Creat ...

in the 1969 Spanish-made film ''Tarzán en la gruta del oro'' / ''King of the Jungle'' / ''Tarzan in the Golden Grotto'' alongside Kitty Swan, filmed in

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

where the producers ran out of money and had to begin filming again. Sipek, working under the name Steve Hawkes, claimed that the film company could not pay the huge licensing fees from

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan (who appeared in ...

' estate and settled for the name "Zan" for the character. A 1972 sequel, '' Tarzan and the Brown Prince'', followed with sequences filmed in Rainbow Springs, Florida, where both Sipek and Swan were burned in a fire that got out of control. When the two actors were tied down in a scene, some spilled fuel began a blaze that panicked the film crew. The

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

in the film who had been trained to remove Hawkes' bonds freed him. though he suffered 90% burns to his body. Sipek vowed he would pay the lion back by looking after big cats. Sipek also wrote, directed and starred in other films such as '' Blood Freak'' and ''Stevie, Samson and Delilah''. The second film was based around his love of his immediate family and how they integrated with his beloved pets. An animal lover, Sipek later relocated to Loxahatchee, Florida where he started an

animal sanctuary An animal sanctuary is a facility where animals are brought to live and to be protected for the rest of their lives. In addition, sanctuaries are an experimental staging ground for transformative human–animal relations. There are five types of ...

that attracted attention when a

Bengal tiger The Bengal tiger is a population of the ''Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies and the nominate tiger subspecies. It ranks among the largest wild cats alive today. It is estimated to have been present in the Indian subcontinent since the Late ...

escaped and was killed.'Tarzan' actor gets court victory, still can't take animals home
/ref> He died on June 23, 2019, at the age of 77.

Notes

External links

* *Steve Hawkes at ERB http://www.erbzine.com/mag27/2772.html *Jungleworld website http://www.jungleworld.org/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Sipek, Steve 2019 deaths 1942 births Canadian male film actors Date of birth missing Place of birth missing People from Loxahatchee, Florida Croatian emigrants to Canada Croatian emigrants to the United States Yugoslav emigrants to Canada Yugoslav emigrants to the United States