Richard Dix

Richard Dix
Dix as featured on the poster for Redskin (1929).
Born	Ernst Carlton Brimmer July 18, 1893 St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
Died	September 20, 1949 (aged 56) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Heart attack
Occupation	actor
Years active	Stage 1914 — 1921 Film 1921 — 1947
Spouse(s)	Winifred Coe (1931–1933) (divorced) (1 child) Virginia Webster (1934–1949) (his death) (3 children)
Children	Martha Mary Ellen Richard Jr., Robert Dix (twins) (b. 1935), Sara Sue (adopted)

Richard Dix (July 18, 1893 – September 20, 1949) was an American motion picture actor who achieved popularity in both silent and sound film.^[1] His standard on-screen image was that of the rugged and stalwart hero. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his lead role in the Best Picture-winning epic, Cimarron (1931).

Early life

Dix was born Ernst Carlton Brimmer on July 18, 1893, in St. Paul, Minnesota. There he was educated, and, at the desire of his father, studied to be a surgeon. His obvious acting talent in his school dramatic club led him to leading roles in most of the school plays. At 6' and 180 pounds, Dix excelled in sports, especially football and baseball. These skills would serve him well in the vigorous film roles he would go on to play. After a year at the University of Minnesota, he took a position at a bank, spending his evenings training for the stage. His professional start was with a local stock company, and this led to similar work in New York City. The death of his father left him with a mother and sister to support. He went to Los Angeles and became leading man for the Morosco Stock Company. His success there got him a contract with Paramount Pictures.

Career

Gertrude Astor, Colleen Moore and Dix in 1922

He then changed his name to Dix. After his move to Hollywood, he began a career in Western movies. One of the few actors to successfully bridge the transition from silent films to talkies, Dix's best-remembered early role was in Cecil B. Demille's silent version of The Ten Commandments (1923). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1931 for his performance as Yancey Cravat in Cimarron, in which he was billed over Irene Dunne. Cimarron, based on the popular novel by Edna Ferber, took the Best Picture award. Dix starred in another RKO adventure, The Lost Squadron.

A memorable role for Dix was in the 1935 British futuristic film The Tunnel. Dix starred in The Great Jasper and Blind Alibi in the late 1930s. His popular RKO Radio Pictures co-star in Blind Alibi was Ace the Wonder Dog. Dix's human co-stars were Whitney Bourne and Eduardo Ciannelli; the film was directed by Lew Landers. Dix also starred as the homicidal Captain Stone in the Val Lewton production of The Ghost Ship, directed by Mark Robson.

In 1941, Dix played Wild Bill Hickok in Badlands of Dakota and portrayed Wyatt Earp the following year in Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die, featuring Edgar Buchanan as Curly Bill Brocious.

In 1944, he starred in The Whistler, the first in a series of eight "Whistler" films made by Columbia Pictures. He also starred in the next six movies in the offbeat, crime-related series, playing a different character each time. (He did not play the "Whistler", who was an unseen narrator.) Dix retired from acting after the seventh of these films, The Thirteenth Hour. He died two years later, after suffering a heart attack at age 56.

Hobbies

Richard Dix in 1943

According to the July 1934 Movies magazine, on his ranch near Hollywood, the location of which he kept a close secret, Dix raised thousands of chickens and turkeys each year. He also had a collection of thousands of pipes, and a "collection" of 36 dogs, "Scotties and English setters". He also read at least five books a week.

Private life

Richard Dix first married Winifred Coe on October 20, 1931. They had a daughter, Martha Mary Ellen, and divorced in 1933. He then married Virginia Webster on June 29, 1934. They had twin boys, Richard Jr. and Robert Dix, and an adopted daughter, Sara Sue.

He retired from films in 1947.

Death

After suffering a serious heart attack on September 12, 1949 while on a train from New York to Los Angeles.^[2] Dix died at the age of 56 on September 20, 1949. He was survived by four children from his two marriages. Richard Dix, Sr. was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Richard Dix has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1610 Vine Street.

Filmography

Silent Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1917	One of Many	James Lowery	lost
1921	Not Guilty	Paul Ellison/Arthur Ellison	lost
	All's Fair in Love	Bobby Cameron	lost
	Dangerous Curve Ahead	Harley Jones	lost
	The Poverty of Riches	John Colby	lost
1922	The Glorious Fool	Billy Grant	lost
	Yellow Men and Gold	Parrish	lost
	Fools First	Tommy Frazer	lost
	The Wall Flower	Walt Breen	lost
	The Bonded Woman	Lee Marvin	survives; copy at Gosfilmofond
	The Sin Flood	Bill Bear	lost
1923	The Christian	John Storm	extant; George Eastman House
	Quicksands	Lieutenant Bill	lost
	Souls for Sale	Frank Claymore	extant
	The Woman with Four Faces	Richard Templar	lost
	Racing Hearts	Robby Smith	lost
	To the Last Man	Jean Isbel	survives; copy at Gosfilmofond
	The Ten Commandments	John McTavish	extant; George Eastman, Library of Congress
	The Call of the Canyon	Glenn Kilbourne	extant; Gosfilmofond, Library of Congress
1924	The Stranger	Larry Darrant	lost
	Icebound	Ben Jordan	lost
	Unguarded Women	Douglas Albright	lost
	Sinners In Heaven	Alan Croft	lost
	Manhattan	Peter Minuit	extant
	Too Many Kisses	Richard Gaylord, Jr	extant; Library of Congress
	A Man Must Live	Geoffrey Farnell	lost
1925	The Shock Punch	Randall Lee Savage	extant;Library of Congress
	Men and Women	Will Prescott	lost
	The Lucky Devil	Randy Farnum	extant;Library of Congress
	The Vanishing American	Nophaie	extant;Library of Congress
	Womanhandled	Bill Dana	extant;Library of Congress
1926	Let's Get Married	Billy Dexter	extant;Library of Congress
	Fascinating Youth	Himself (cameo)	lost
	Say It Again	Bob Howard	lost
	The Quarterback	Jack Stone	extant;Library of Congress
1927	Paradise for Two	Steve Porter	lost
	Knockout Reilly	Dundee "Knockout" Reilly	lost
	Man Power	Tom Roberts	lost
	Shanghai Bound	Jim Bucklin	lost
	The Gay Defender	Joaquin Murrieta	lost
1928	Sporting Goods	Richard Shelby	lost
	Easy Come, Easy Go	Robert Parker	lost
	Warming Up	Bert Tulliver	lost; filmed in silent and Movietone sound version with music and sound effects only
	Moran of the Marines	Michael Moran	lost
1929	The Love Doctor	Dr. Gerald Summer	extant; amongst the 700 Paramounts now owned by Universal
	Redskin	Wingfoot	extant; Library of Congress; partly filmed in Technicolor

Sound films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1929	Nothing But the Truth	Robert Bennett
	The Wheel of Life	Captain Leslie Yeullet
	Seven Keys to Baldpate	William Halliwell Magee
1930	Lovin' the Ladies	Peter Darby
	Shooting Straight	Larry Sheldon
1931	Cimarron	Yancey Cravat	Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
	Young Donovan's Kid	Jim Donovan
	The Public Defender	Pike Winslow
	Secret Service	Captain Lewis Dumont
1932	The Lost Squadron	Capt. "Gibby" Gibson
	Roar of the Dragon	Captain Chauncey Carson
	Hell's Highway	Frank 'Duke' Ellis
	The Conquerors	Roger Standish/Roger Standish Lennox
1933	The Great Jasper	Jasper Horn
	No Marriage Ties	Bruce Foster
	Ace of Aces	2nd Lt. Rex "Rocky" Thorne
	Day of Reckoning	John Day
1934	Stingaree	Stingaree
	His Greatest Gamble	Phillip Eden
	West of the Pecos	Pecos Smith
1935	The Arizonian	Clay Tallant
	The Tunnel	Richard 'Mack" McAllan
1936	Yellow Dust	Bob Culpepper
	Special Investigator	William "Bill" Fenwick
	Devil's Squadron	Paul Redmond
1937	The Devil's Playground	Jack Dorgan
	The Devil is Driving	Paul Driscoll
	It Happened in Hollywood	Tim Bart
1938	Blind Alibi	Paul Dover
	Sky Giant	Capt. W.R. "Stag" Cahill
1939	Man of Conquest	Sam Houston
	Here I Am a Stranger	Duke Allen
	Reno	Bill Shear
1940	The Marines Fly High	Lt. Danny Darrick
	Men Against the Sky	Phil Mercedes
	Cherokee Strip	Marshal Dave Morrell
1941	The Round Up	Steve Payson
	Badlands of Dakota	Wild Bill Hickok
1942	Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die	Wyatt Earp
	American Empire	Dan Taylor
1943	Eyes of the Underworld	The Chief, Richard Bryan
	Buckskin Frontier	Stephen Bent
	The Kansan	John Bonniwell
	Top Man	Tom Warren
	The Ghost Ship	Captain Will Stone
1944	The Whistler	Earl C. Conrad
	The Mark of the Whistler	Lee Selfridge Nugent
1945	The Power of the Whistler	William Everest
	Voice of the Whistler	John Sinclair (John Carter)
1946	Mysterious Intruder	Don Gale
	The Secret of the Whistler	Ralph Harrison
1947	The Thirteenth Hour	Steve Reynolds

References

Notes

1. Obituary Variety, September 21, 1949.
2. The Advertiser (Adelaide), "Richard Dix Ill", 14 September 1949, p. 1

Bibliography

• Dix, Robert. Out of Hollywood: Two Generations of Actors. Ernest Publishing, 2009. ISBN 978-0-9822436-0-2

External links

• Richard Dix at the Internet Movie Database
• Richard Dix at the Internet Broadway Database
  
• Richard Dix tribute site
• Photographs of Richard Dix
• Richard Dix at Find a Grave