Alexander Crichlow "Lex" Barker Jr. (May 8, 1919 – May 11, 1973) was an American actor best known for playing Tarzan of the Apes and leading characters from Karl May's novels.
Alexander Crichlow Barker, Jr. was born on May 8, 1919 in Rye, New York. He was the second child of Alexander Crichlow Barker, Sr., a wealthy Canadian-born building contractor, and his American wife, the former Marion Thornton Beals.
His father later worked as a stockbroker. Barker had an elder sister, Frederica Amelia "Freddie" Barlow (1917–1980). She was married three times, to Frederic Clifton Soldwedel, Richard Neuhaufer, and Robert Henry Schlesinger. Raised in New York City and Port Chester, New York, Lex Barker attended the Fessenden School and graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy. He played football as well as the oboe. He attended Princeton University, but dropped out to join a theatrical stock company, much to the chagrin of his family.