RICHARD DIX BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Richard Dix was born on July 18th, 1893 in St. Paul Minnesota with the birth name Ernest Carlton Brimmer.  He attended high School and was on track to go on to college and study to be a surgeon.  He was also however involved in the school drama club and participated in school performances.  Dix was also very athletic and excelled and football and baseball. 
 
After High School he attended the University of Minnesota for only one year before deciding to try and pursue a career in acting.  He found work as a part time banker during the day hours and then in the evenings he would go to training classes for stage acting.
 
He first became involved in stage acting working with a local stock company and then he moved to New York city working still with Stock theater but a slightly larger company called Morosco Stock Company.  When his father passed away he was left to take care of his mother and sister and financially support them so he decided it was time he relocate To Los Angeles and see if film acting was a possibility.
 
Due to his experience and contacts in New York City when he arrived to Hollywood, Paramount offered him a contract.  It was his athletic experience and his rugged yet handsome looks that made him a perfect fit for becoming a western films star.  He starred in the silent film, "The Ten Commandments" (1923).  Then with Paramount he was able to portray his athletic ability in the film, "Warming Up" (1928) which was a story about baseball.  Directly after this film, RKO Radio Pictures decided they wanted to sign him.
 
He was a great actor for talkies films and proved so in the film, "Seven Keys to Baldpate" (1929) followed by a nomination for a Best Actor Oscar for his role in, "Cimarron" (1931) which won best picture that same year.  One of his more successful roles was in the film, "The Tunnel" a British futuristic film.  His final successful role was a series of eight films with Columbia Pictures called, "The Whistler" (1940's) and after the 7th in the series, Dix decided it was time to retire from acting in 1947.
 
He was married twice throughout his lifetime.  First to Winifred Coe on October 20th, 1931 and they had one daughter, Martha Mary Ellen.  The couple divorced in 1933.  His second marriage was to Virginia Webster on June 29th, 1934 and he had twin boys with his second wife, Richard Jr. and Robert Dix and they also adopted a daughter, Sara Sue. 
 
Richard Dix passed away on September 20th, 1949 at the age of fifty six after suffering a heart attack just a couple days earlier while traveling on a train from new York to Los Angeles.  He is interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California.   Sadly, in 1953 his son Richard Dix jr. was killed in an accident at a logging camp in Ponderosa, California.   Richard Dix was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  
 

Filmography
 
1947   The Thirteenth Hour  
1946   The Secret of the Whistler 
1946   Mysterious Intruder 
1945   Voice of the Whistler
1945   The Power of the Whistler  
1944   The Mark of the Whistler 
1944   The Whistler  
1943   The Ghost Ship   
1943   Top Man  
1943   The Kansan 
1943   Buckskin Frontier  
1942   American Empire  
1942   Eyes of the Underworld 
1942   Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die  
1941   Badlands of Dakota  
1941   The Roundup  
1940   Cherokee Strip  
1940   Men Against the Sky  
1940   The Marines Fly High
1939   Reno  
1939   Here I Am a Stranger  
1939   Man of Conquest  
1939   Twelve Crowded Hours  
1938   Sky Giant  
1938   Blind Alibi  
1937   It Happened in Hollywood  
1937   The Devil Is Driving  
1937   The Devil's Playground  
1936   Devil's Squadron 
1936   Special Investigator
1936   Yellow Dust  
1935   Transatlantic Tunnel  
1935   The Arizonian  
1934   West of the Pecos  
1934   His Greatest Gamble 
1934   Stingaree  
1933   Day of Reckoning
1933   Ace of Aces  
1933   No Marriage Ties  
1933   The Great Jasper
1932   The Conquerors
1932   Hell's Highway  
1932   Roar of the Dragon  
1932   The Lost Squadron  
1931   I Secret Service  
1931   The Public Defender  
1931   Young Donovan's Kid
1931   Cimarron  
1930   Shooting Straight  
1930   Lovin' the Ladies  
1929   Seven Keys to Baldpate  
1929   The Wheel of Life  
1929   Nothing But the Truth  
1929   Redskin  
1929   The Love Doctor  
1928   Moran of the Marines  
1928   Warming Up  
1928   Easy Come, Easy Go  
1928   Sporting Goods  
1927   The Gay Defender 
1927   Shanghai Bound  
1927   Man Power  
1927   Knockout Reilly  
1927   Paradise for Two  
1927   California or Bust 
1926   The Quarterback  
1926   Say It Again  
1926   Let's Get Married
1925   Womanhandled  
1925   The Vanishing American  
1925   The Lucky Devil  
1925   Men and Women  
1925   The Shock Punch  
1925   A Man Must Live 
1925   Too Many Kisses
1924   Manhattan 
1924   Sinners in Heaven  
1924   Unguarded Women  
1924   Icebound 
1924   The Stranger  
1923   The Call of the Canyon 
1923   The Ten Commandments
1923   To the Last Man
1923   Racing Hearts  
1923   The Woman with Four Faces 
1923   Souls for Sale
1923   Quicksands
1923   The Christian  
1922   The Sin Flood
1922   The Bonded Woman
1922   The Wall Flower  
1922   Fools First  
1922   Yellow Men and Gold  
1922   The Glorious Fool  
1921   The Poverty of Riches  
1921   Dangerous Curve Ahead
1921   All's Fair in Love
1921   Not Guilty
1917   One of Many