BB
Bruce Bennett
Actor
Died February 24, 2007 (100 years)
Bruce Bennett (born Harold Herman Brix) was an American actor and Olympic silver medalist shot putter. 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. 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 mannered, cultured, soft-spoken, a well educated English lord who spoke several languages, and didn't grunt."[4]
Brix shown in the opening credits of the serial The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935). 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.
Filmography
| 1980 | Laat de dokter maar schuiven · as John Vandenberk |
| 1973 | The Clones · as Clone Lab Assistant |
| 1972 | Deadhead Miles · as Johnny Mesquitero |
| 1970 | Lassie: Well of Love · as Bert Daniels |
| 1966 | Daktari (TV Series) · as Charlie Rone |
| 1965 | Branded (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1963 | Kraft Suspense Theatre (TV Series) · as Gen. Adams |
| 1962 | The Virginian (TV Series) · as Silas Graham |
| 1959 | The Alligator People · as Dr. Eric Lorimer |
| 1959 | The Cosmic Man · as Dr. Karl Sorenson |
| 1959 | Laramie (TV Series) · as Tom Creighton |
| 1958 | Rescue 8 (TV Series) · as Riley Jackson |
| 1958 | 77 Sunset Strip (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1958 | The Texan (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1957 | Perry Mason (TV Series) · as Lawrence Balfour |
| 1957 | Tales of Wells Fargo (TV Series) · as Clyde Bender |
| 1956 | Love Me Tender · as Maj. Kincaid |
| 1956 | Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer · as Daniel Boone |
| 1956 | Three Violent People · as Commissioner Harrison |
| 1955 | Strategic Air Command · as Gen. Espy |
| 1955 | Robbers' Roost · as 'Bull' Herrick |
| 1954 | Stories of the Century (TV Series) · as William Clark Charles Quantrill |
| 1954 | Lassie (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1953 | Dream Wife · as Charlie Elkwood |
| 1953 | The Loretta Young Show (TV Series) · as Seth Ranson |
| 1952 | Sudden Fear · as Steve Kearney |
| 1952 | Cavalcade of America (TV Series) · as Abe Lincoln |
| 1951 | Angels in the Outfield · as Saul Hellman |
| 1951 | The Last Outpost · as Col. Jeb Britton |
| 1951 | The Great Missouri Raid · as Cole Younger |
| 1950 | The Lux Video Theatre (TV Series) · as Dr. Grant |
| 1949 | Without Honor · as Fred Bandle |
| 1949 | Task Force · as McCluskey |
| 1948 | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre · as James Cody |
| 1947 | Dark Passage · as Bob |
| 1947 | Cheyenne · as Ed Landers |
| 1946 | The Man I Love · as San Thomas |
| 1946 | A Stolen Life · as Jack R. Talbot |
| 1945 | Mildred Pierce · as Albert 'Bert' Pierce |
| 1944 | I'm from Arkansas · as Bob Hamlin |
| 1943 | The More the Merrier · as FBI Agent Evans |
| 1943 | Sahara · as "Waco" Hoyt |
| 1941 | The Officer and the Lady · as Bob Conlon |
| 1940 | The Man with Nine Lives · as State Trooper (uncredited) |
| 1940 | Before I Hang · as Dr. Paul Ames |
| 1940 | The Taming of the Snood · as Detective |
| 1940 | The Heckler · as Ole Margarine |
| 1940 | Hi-Yo Silver · as Bert Rogers |
| 1939 | Blondie Brings Up Baby · as Mason's Chauffeur (uncredited) |
| 1939 | Invisible Stripes · as Rich Man (uncredited) |
| 1938 | Tarzan and the Green Goddess · as Tarzan |
| 1938 | The Lone Ranger · as Bert Rogers |
| 1937 | Blake of Scotland Yard · as Gang Member |
| 1937 | Amateur Crook · as Jimmy Baxter |
| 1937 | Sky Racket · as Eric Lane - Agent 17 |
| 1936 | Shadow of Chinatown · as Martin Andrews |
| 1936 | Two Minutes to Play · as Martin Granville |
| 1936 | Silks and Saddles · as Unknown |
| 1936 | Shadow of Chinatown · as Martin Andrews |
| 1935 | The New Adventures of Tarzan · as Tarzan |
| 1934 | Treasure Island · as Man at Tavern |
| 1934 | Riptide · as Man at Cannes Bar (uncredited) |
| 1932 | Movie Crazy · as Dinner Guest (Uncredited) |
| 1931 | Touchdown! · as Football Player |