Bruce Bennett

Bruce Bennett (born Harold Herman Brix, also credited Herman Brix; May 19, 1906 –February 24, 2007) was an American film and television actor who prior to his screen career was a highly successful college athlete in football and in both intercollegiate and international track-and-field competitions. In 1928 he won the silver medal for the shot put at the Olympic Games held in Amsterdam. Bennett's acting career spanned more than 40 years. He worked predominantly in films until the mid-1950s, when he began to work increasingly in American television series.

Early life and Olympics
Harold Herman Brix was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington, where he attended Stadium High School from which he graduated in 1924. He was the fourth of five children born to an immigrant couple from Germany. His eldest brother, Herman (his father's favorite son) died before Harold's birth, and he was given the middle name Herman in memory of his brother. Before finishing high school, he had discontinued using his own first name in favor of his middle name as this pleased his father, a lumberman who owned a number of logging camps. His first career was as an athlete. At the University of Washington, where he majored in economics, he played football (tackle) in the 1926 Rose Bowl and was a track-and-field star. Two years later, he won the Silver medal for the shot put in the 1928 Olympic Games. He also won four consecutive AAU shot put titles (1928–31), the NCAA title in 1927, and the AAU indoor titles in 1930 and 1932. In 1930 he set a world indoor record at 15.61 m. In 1932 he set his personal best at 16.07 m, but did worse at the Olympic trials and failed to qualify for the Los Angeles Games.

Early film career as Tarzan


Brix moved to Los Angeles in 1929 after being invited to compete for the Los Angeles Athletic Club and befriended actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr., who arranged a screen test for him at Paramount.

In 1931, MGM, adapting author Edgar Rice Burroughs's popular Tarzan adventures for the screen, selected Brix to play the title character. Brix, however, broke his shoulder filming the 1931 football film Touchdown, so swimming champion Johnny Weissmuller replaced Brix and became a major star. After Ashton Dearholt convinced Burroughs to allow him to form Burroughs-Tarzan Enterprises, Inc., and make a Tarzan serial film, Dearholt cast Brix in the lead. Pressbook copy has it that Burroughs made the choice himself, but, in fact, in his biography, Brix confirmed that Burroughs never even saw him until after the contract was signed, and then only briefly. The film was begun on location in Guatemala, under rugged conditions (jungle diseases and cash shortages were frequent). Brix did his own stunts, including a fall to rocky cliffs below. The Washington Post quoted Gabe Essoe's passage from his book Tarzan of the Movies: "Brix's portrayal was the only time between the silents and the 1960s that Tarzan was accurately depicted in films. He was well mannered, cultured, soft-spoken, a well educated English lord who spoke several languages, and didn't grunt."

Due to financial mismanagement, Dearholt had to complete filming of much of the serial back in Hollywood, and Brix, although his travel and daily living expenses in Guatemala were covered throughout the shoot, never received his contracted salary, along with the rest of the cast. The finished film, The New Adventures of Tarzan, was released in 1935 by Burroughs-Tarzan, and offered to theatres as a 12-chapter serial or a seven-reel feature. A second feature, Tarzan and the Green Goddess, was culled from the footage in 1938. He also portrayed the titular hero in Republic's serial Hawk of the Wilderness.

Name change and film career
Brix continued to work in serials and action features for low-budget studios until 1939. Finding himself still typecast as Tarzan in the minds of major producers, Brix changed his name to "Bruce Bennett" and became a member of Columbia Pictures' stock company. During the next few years he would be seen playing minor roles in many Columbia films, ranging from expensive dramas to B mysteries and slapstick comedies (How High Is Up? with The Three Stooges, The Spook Speaks with Buster Keaton. etc.). His screen career was interrupted by World War II, when he served in the United States Navy. Bennett appeared in many films in the 1940s and early 1950s, including Sahara (1943) with Humphrey Bogart, Mildred Pierce (1945) with Joan Crawford, Nora Prentiss (1947) with Ann Sheridan, Dark Passage (1947) with Bogart and Lauren Bacall, The Man I Love (1947) with Ida Lupino, a major role in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) with Bogart and Walter Huston, Mystery Street (1950) with Ricardo Montalbán, Sudden Fear (1952) with Joan Crawford and Gloria Grahame and Strategic Air Command (1955) with James Stewart.

The Washington Post noted, "Bennett moved into grittier roles in the late 1940s and early 1950s, playing a detective in William Castle's Undertow and a forensic scientist who helps solve a crime in John Sturges' Mystery Street. He also portrayed a key role (an aging baseball player) in Angels in the Outfield (1951).

In 1954, Bennett played William Quantrill, the Confederate guerrilla figure, in an episode of the syndicated television series Stories of the Century, starring and narrated by Jim Davis. Bennett made five guest appearances on Perry Mason, including his role as murder victim Lawrence Balfour in the 1958 episode "The Case of the Lucky Loser" and as Dan Morgan in the 1961 episode "The Case of the Misguided Missile." He was also in five episodes of Science Fiction Theatre.

From the mid-1950s on, Bennett mainly appeared in B-films and on television in guest-starring roles. Two films from this period are The Alligator People (1959) and the Fiend of Dope Island (filmed 1959, released 1961). Bennett, in fact, co-wrote the latter production and portrays the title character.

Personal life


Bennett had two children, Christopher Brix and Christina Katich, by longtime wife Jeannette, who died in 2000. They named their children after his parents. They had three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Outside his acting career, Bennett became a successful businessman during the 1960s. He also continued to pursue his lifelong interest in parasailing and skydiving. He last skydived at the age of 96, descending from an altitude of 10,000 feet near Lake Tahoe.

Bennett turned 100 on May 19, 2006, and died less than a year later in February 2007 of complications from a broken hip.

Selected filmography

 * Touchdown (1931) as Football Player (uncredited)
 * Million Dollar Legs (1932) as Klopstokian Athlete (uncredited)
 * Movie Crazy (1932) as Dinner Guest (uncredited)
 * Madison Square Garden (1932) as Wrestler (uncredited)
 * College Humor (1933) as Student (uncredited) (as Herman Brix)
 * Meet the Baron (1933) as Train Passenger (uncredited)
 * You Can't Buy Everything (1934) as Bank Clerk (uncredited)
 * Lazy River (1934) as Sailor (uncredited)
 * Riptide (1934) as Man at Cannes Bar (uncredited)
 * Treasure Island (1934) as Man at Tavern (uncredited)
 * Death on the Diamond (1934) as Man on Ticket Line (uncredited)
 * Student Tour (1934) as Hercules – Crewman (uncredited)
 * The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935) as Tarzan (as Bruce Bennett)
 * Shadow of Chinatown (1936) as Martin Andrews (as Herman Brix)
 * Two Minutes to Play (1936) as Martin Granville (as Herman Brix)
 * Silk and Saddles (1936) as Jimmy Shay (as Herman Brix)
 * Blake of Scotland Yard (1937) as Adolph – Henchman (uncredited)
 * A Million to One (1937) as Johnny Kent (as Herman Brix)
 * Fighting Fists (1937) as Hal "Chopper' Donovan, aka Hal Smith (as Herman Brix)
 * Sky Racket (1937) as Eric Lane – Agent 17 (as Herman Brix)
 * Million Dollar Racket (1937) as Lawrence 'Larry' Duane (as Herman Brix)
 * Danger Patrol (1937) as Joe (as Herman Brix)
 * Amateur Crook (1937) as Jimmy Baxter (as Herman Brix)
 * The Lone Ranger (1938, Serial) as Bert Rogers (as Herman Brix)
 * Land of Fighting Men (1938) as Fred Mitchell (as Herman Brix)
 * Fighting Devil Dogs (1938, Serial) as Lieutenant Frank Corby (as Herman Brix)
 * Hawk of the Wilderness (1938, Serial) as Lincoln Rand Jr / Kioga (as Herman Brix)
 * Tarzan and the Green Goddess (1938) as Tarzan (archive footage)
 * Daredevils of the Red Circle (1939, Short) as Tiny Dawson (as Herman Brix)
 * Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (1939) as Tom – King's Chauffeur (uncredited)
 * Blondie Brings Up Baby (1939) as Mason's Chauffeur (uncredited)
 * My Son Is Guilty (1939) as Lefty (first film credited as Bruce Bennett)
 * Invisible Stripes (1939) as Rich Man (uncredited)
 * Cafe Hostess (1940) as Budge
 * Convicted Woman (1940) as Reporter (uncredited)
 * Five Little Peppers at Home (1940) as Jim – King's Chauffeur (uncredited)
 * Blazing Six Shooters (1940) as Geologist Winthrop
 * The Man with Nine Lives (1940) as State Trooper (uncredited)
 * The Man from Tumbleweeds (1940) as Prison Warden (uncredited)
 * Escape to Glory (1940) as Ship's gunnery officer
 * Island of Doomed Men (1940) as Hazen – Guard (uncredited)
 * The Lone Wolf Meets a Lady (1940) as McManus – Motorcycle Cop
 * Babies for Sale (1940) as Policeman (uncredited)
 * Girls of the Road (1940) as Officer Sullavan
 * The Secret Seven (1940) as Pat Norris
 * Before I Hang (1940) as Dr. Paul Ames
 * Hi-Yo Silver (1940) as Bert Rogers (archive footage)
 * Glamour for Sale (1940) as Minor Role (uncredited)
 * So You Won't Talk (1940) as Reporter (uncredited)
 * West of Abilene (1940) as Frank Garfield
 * The Lone Wolf Keeps a Date (1940) as Scotty
 * Phantom Submarine (1940) as Paul Sinclair
 * Two Latins from Manhattan (1941) as Federal Agent
 * The Officer and the Lady (1941) as Bob Conlon
 * Three Girls About Town (1941) as Reporter (uncredited)
 * So Long Mr. Chumps (1941) as Prison Guard (uncredited role in this Three Stooges short)
 * Honolulu Lu (1941) as Skelly
 * Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1942) as Tommy Lydel
 * Submarine Raider (1942) as 1st Officer Russell
 * Atlantic Convoy (1942) as Capt. Morgan
 * Sabotage Squad (1942) as Lieutenant John Cronin
 * Underground Agent (1942) as Lee Graham
 * Murder in Times Square (1943) as Supai George
 * The More the Merrier (1943) as FBI Agent Evans
 * Frontier Fury (1943) as Clem Hawkins (uncredited)
 * Sahara (1943) as Waco Hoyt
 * There's Something About a Soldier (1943) as Frank Molloy
 * U-Boat Prisoner (1944) as Archie Gibbs
 * I'm from Arkansas (1944) as Bob Hamline
 * Mildred Pierce (1945) as Bert Pierce
 * Danger Signal (1945) as Dr. Andrew Lang
 * Shadows of Chinatown (1946) (uncredited)
 * A Stolen Life (1946) as Jack R. Talbot
 * The Man I Love (1947) as San Thomas
 * Nora Prentiss (1947) as Dr. Joel Merriam
 * Cheyenne (1947) as Ed Landers
 * Dark Passage (1947) as Bob
 * The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) as James Cody
 * To the Victor (1948) as Henderson
 * Silver River (1948) as Stanley Moore
 * Smart Girls Don't Talk (1948) as Marty Fain
 * The Younger Brothers (1949) as Jim Younger
 * Task Force (1949) as McCluskey
 * The House Across the Street (1949) as Matthew J. Keever
 * The Doctor and the Girl (1949) as Dr. Alfred Norton
 * Without Honor (1949) as Fred Bandle
 * Undertow (1949) as Det. Charles Reckling
 * Mystery Street (1950) as Dr. McAdoo
 * Shakedown (1950) as David Glover
 * The Second Face (1950) as Paul Curtis
 * The Great Missouri Raid (1951) as Cole Younger / Steve Brill
 * The Last Outpost (1951) as Col. Jeb Britton
 * Angels in the Outfield (1951) as Saul Hellman
 * Sudden Fear (1952) as Steve Kearney
 * Dream Wife (1953) as Charlie Elkwood
 * Dragonfly Squadron (1954) as Dr. Stephen Cottrell
 * The Big Tipoff (1955) as Bob Gilmore
 * Strategic Air Command (1955) as Gen. Espy
 * Robbers' Roost (1955) as 'Bull' Herrick
 * Survival in Box Canyon (1955–1957, TV Series) as Dr. Sheldon Thorpe / General Frank Terrance / Major Sorenson / Dr. Hugh Bentley / Gen. Troy
 * Hidden Guns (1956) as Stragg
 * The Bottom of the Bottle (1956) as Brand
 * The Three Outlaws (1956) as Charlie Trenton
 * Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer (1956) as Daniel Boone
 * Love Me Tender (1956) as Maj. Kincaid
 * Three Violent People (1956) as Commissioner Harrison
 * Flaming Frontier (1958) as Capt. Jim Hewson
 * Perry Mason (1958) as Lawrence Balfour
 * The Cosmic Man (1959) as Dr. Karl Sorenson
 * The Alligator People (1959) as Dr. Eric Lorimer
 * The Outsider (1961) as Gen. Bridges
 * Fiend of Dope Island (1961) as Charlie Davis
 * Lost Island of Kioga (1966) as Lincoln Rand Jr., aka Kioga (TV feature version of the 1938 serial "Hawk of the Wilderness", q.v.)
 * The Clones (1973) as Clone Lab Assistant
 * Deadhead Miles (1973) as Johnny Mesquitero
 * Let the Doctor Shove (1980) as John Vandenberk (final film role)