Richard Dix

Richard Dix (56)

1893-07-18 - 1949-09-20 | Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA

Richard Dix was a major leading man at RKO Radio Pictures from 1929 through 1943. He was born Ernest Carlton Brimmer July 18, 1893, in St. Paul, Minnesota. There he was educated, and at the desires 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' 0" 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. The death of his father left him with a mother and sister to support. He went to Los Angeles, became leading man for the Morosco Stock Company and his success there got him a contract with Paramount Pictures. His rugged good looks and dark features made him a popular player in westerns. His athletic ability led to his starring role in Paramount's Warming Up (1928), a baseball story and also the studio's first feature with synchronized score and sound effects. His deep voice and commanding presence were perfectly suited for the talkies, and he was signed by RKO Radio Pictures in 1929, scoring an early triumph in the all-talking mystery drama, Seven Keys to Baldpate (1929). In 1931 he was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his masterful performance in Cimarron (1931), winner of the Best Picture Oscar that year. Throughout the 1930s Dix would be a big box-office draw at RKO, appearing in mystery thrillers, potboilers, westerns and programmers. He appeared in the "Whistler" series of mystery films at Columbia in the mid-40s. He retired from films in 1947. He first married Winifred Coe on October 20, 1931, had a daughter, Martha Mary Ellen, then 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. Richard Dix the actor, died at age 56 on September 20, 1949.

On Movies

  • The Thirteenth Hour
  • The Secret of the Whistler
  • Mysterious Intruder
  • Voice of the Whistler
  • The Power of the Whistler
  • The Mark of the Whistler
  • The Whistler
  • The Ghost Ship
  • Top Man
  • The Kansan
  • Buckskin Frontier
  • American Empire
  • Eyes of the Underworld
  • Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die
  • Badlands of Dakota
  • The Roundup
  • Cherokee Strip
  • Men Against the Sky
  • The Marines Fly High
  • Reno
  • Here I Am a Stranger
  • Man of Conquest
  • Twelve Crowded Hours
  • Sky Giant
  • Blind Alibi
  • It Happened in Hollywood
  • The Devil Is Driving
  • Devil's Playground
  • Special Investigator
  • Devil's Squadron
  • Yellow Dust
  • The Tunnel
  • The Arizonian
  • West of the Pecos
  • His Greatest Gamble
  • Stingaree
  • Day of Reckoning
  • Ace of Aces
  • No Marriage Ties
  • The Great Jasper
  • The Conquerors
  • Hell's Highway
  • Roar of the Dragon
  • The Lost Squadron
  • Secret Service
  • The Public Defender
  • Young Donovan's Kid
  • The Stolen Jools
  • Cimarron
  • Shooting Straight
  • Lovin' the Ladies
  • Seven Keys to Baldpate
  • Redskin
  • The Wheel of Life
  • A Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic
  • Nothing But the Truth
  • The Love Doctor
  • Moran of the Marines
  • Warming Up
  • Easy Come, Easy Go
  • Sporting Goods
  • The Gay Defender
  • Shanghai Bound
  • Man Power
  • Knockout Reilly
  • Paradise for Two
  • The Quarterback
  • Say It Again
  • Fascinating Youth
  • Let's Get Married
  • Womanhandled
  • The Vanishing American
  • The Lucky Devil
  • Men and Women
  • The Shock Punch
  • A Man Must Live
  • Too Many Kisses
  • Manhattan
  • Sinners in Heaven
  • Unguarded Women
  • Icebound
  • The Stranger
  • The Call of the Canyon
  • The Ten Commandments
  • To the Last Man
  • Racing Hearts
  • The Woman with Four Faces
  • Souls for Sale
  • Quicksands
  • The Christian
  • The Sin Flood
  • The Bonded Woman
  • Fools First
  • Yellow Men and Gold
  • The Wall Flower
  • The Glorious Fool
  • The Poverty of Riches
  • Dangerous Curve Ahead
  • All's Fair in Love
  • Not Guilty
  • One of Many

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