Bruce Bennett
Encyclopedia
Bruce Bennett was an American
actor
and Olympic
silver medalist shot put
ter. During the 1930s, he went by his real name, Herman Brix (having dropped the first name "Harold").
, he was the fourth born in a family of five children of an immigrant couple from Germany
. His eldest brother, and their father's favored son, Hermann, died before Harold's birth and he was given his middle name in this child's memory. To please his father, by high school he had discontinued using his own first name, Harold, in favor of his middle name, Herman. His father was a lumber man who owned a couple of different logging camps. His first career was as an athlete. At 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 shot-put
ting in the 1928 Olympic Games
, and held the indoor and outdoor records for shot-putting.
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
' popular Tarzan
adventures for the screen, selected Herman Brix to play the title character. Unfortunately, Brix broke his shoulder filming the 1931 football movie Touchdown, which also prevented his entry into the 1932 Olympics
while holding the world record for shot put. 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."
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 theaters 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.
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, from expensive dramas to B
mysteries to Three Stooges
short subjects (including How High Is Up?
). His screen career was interrupted by World War II
, when he entered the service.
Bennett appeared in many films in the 1940s and early 1950s, including Sahara (1943), Mildred Pierce
(1945), Nora Prentiss
(1947), Dark Passage
(1947), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
(1948), Mystery Street
(1950), Sudden Fear
(1952) and Strategic Air Command
(1955).
The Washington Post noted, "He 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 an aging baseball
player in Angels in the Outfield
(1951).
(1959) and in the title role of the Fiend of Dope Island
(filmed 1959 released 1961) that he co-wrote, and on television in guest starring roles. He was a very successful businessman during the 1960s.
A lifelong parasailer and skydiver
, he last went skydiving (from an altitude of 10,000 feet), over Lake Tahoe
, at the age of 96.
Bennett turned 100 on May 19, 2006, and died less than a year later in February 2007 of complications from a broken hip.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
silver medalist shot put
Shot put
The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" a heavy metal ball—the shot—as far as possible. It is common to use the term "shot put" to refer to both the shot itself and to the putting action....
ter. During the 1930s, he went by his real name, Herman Brix (having dropped the first name "Harold").
Early life and Olympics
Born as Harold Herman Brix in Tacoma, WashingtonTacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
, he was the fourth born in a family of five children of an immigrant couple from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. His eldest brother, and their father's favored son, Hermann, died before Harold's birth and he was given his middle name in this child's memory. To please his father, by high school he had discontinued using his own first name, Harold, in favor of his middle name, Herman. His father was a lumber man who owned a couple of different logging camps. His first career was as an athlete. At University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
, where he majored in economics, he played football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
(tackle) in the 1926 Rose Bowl and was a track-and-field star. Two years later he won the silver medal
Silver medal
A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....
for shot-put
Shot put
The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" a heavy metal ball—the shot—as far as possible. It is common to use the term "shot put" to refer to both the shot itself and to the putting action....
ting in the 1928 Olympic Games
1928 Summer Olympics
The 1928 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Amsterdam had bid for the 1920 and 1924 Olympic Games, but had to give way to war-victim Antwerp, Belgium, and Pierre de...
, and held the indoor and outdoor records for shot-putting.
Early film career and Tarzan
He moved to Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
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
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
, adapting author Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
' popular Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
adventures for the screen, selected Herman Brix to play the title character. Unfortunately, Brix broke his shoulder filming the 1931 football movie Touchdown, which also prevented his entry into the 1932 Olympics
1932 Summer Olympics
The 1932 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the X Olympiad, was a major world wide multi-athletic event which was celebrated in 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. No other cities made a bid to host these Olympics. Held during the worldwide Great Depression, many nations...
while holding the world record for shot put. Swimming champion Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor best known for playing Tarzan in movies. Weissmuller was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven...
replaced Brix and became a major star.
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, 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
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
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."
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 theaters 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.
Name change and movie career
Brix continued to work in serials and action features for low-budget studios until 1939. Finding himself still typecastTypecasting (acting)
In TV, film, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character; one or more particular roles; or, characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ethnic groups...
as Tarzan in the minds of major producers, Brix changed his name to "Bruce Bennett" and became a member of Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
' stock company. During the next few years he would be seen playing minor roles in many Columbia films, from expensive dramas to B
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
mysteries to Three Stooges
Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid–20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. Their hallmark was physical farce and extreme slapstick. In films, the Stooges were commonly known by their first names: "Moe, Larry, and Curly" and "Moe,...
short subjects (including How High Is Up?
How High Is Up?
How High is Up? is the 48th short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.-Plot:...
). His screen career was interrupted by World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when he entered the service.
Bennett appeared in many films in the 1940s and early 1950s, including Sahara (1943), Mildred Pierce
Mildred Pierce (film)
Mildred Pierce is a 1945 American drama film starring Joan Crawford, Ann Blyth, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, and Eve Arden in a film noir about a long-suffering mother and her ungrateful daughter. The screenplay by Ranald MacDougall, William Faulkner, and Catherine Turney was based upon the 1941...
(1945), Nora Prentiss
Nora Prentiss
Nora Prentiss is a 1947 black-and-white drama film. It is shot in the film noir style. The film, considered by some to be a "woman's noir", was directed by Vincent Sherman, who bought the story for $2500 ,. Sherman also directed leading lady Ann Sheridan in another 1947 film noir, The Unfaithful...
(1947), Dark Passage
Dark Passage
Dark Passage is a novel by David Goodis which was the basis for the 1947 film noir Dark Passage.-Plot:Vincent Parry, convicted of murdering his wife, escapes from prison and is taken in by Irene Jansen, an artist with an interest in his case...
(1947), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (film)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a 1948 American film written and directed by John Huston, a feature film adaptation of B. Traven's 1927 novel of the same name, in which two Americans Fred C. Dobbs and Bob Curtin during the 1920s in Mexico join with an old-timer, Howard , to prospect for gold...
(1948), Mystery Street
Mystery Street
Mystery Street is a black-and-white film noir directed by John Sturges with cinematography by famed lensman John Alton. The film stars Ricardo Montalban, Bruce Bennett, and Elsa Lanchester....
(1950), Sudden Fear
Sudden Fear
Sudden Fear is a 1952 RKO Radio Pictures feature film starring Joan Crawford and Jack Palance in a noir-ish tale about a successful woman who marries a murderous man. The screenplay by Lenore J. Coffee and Robert Smith was based upon the novel by Edna Sherry. Sudden Fear was directed by David...
(1952) and Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command (film)
Strategic Air Command is a 1955 American film starring James Stewart and June Allyson, and directed by Anthony Mann. Released by Paramount Pictures, it was the first of four films that depicted the role of the Strategic Air Command in the Cold War era....
(1955).
The Washington Post noted, "He moved into grittier roles in the late 1940s and early 1950s, playing a detective in William Castle
William Castle
William Castle was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Castle was known for directing films with many gimmicks which were ambitiously promoted, despite being reasonably low budget B-movies....
's Undertow and a forensic scientist who helps solve a crime in John Sturges
John Sturges
John Eliot Sturges was an American film director. His movies include Bad Day at Black Rock , Gunfight at the O.K. Corral , The Magnificent Seven , The Great Escape and Ice Station Zebra .-Career:He started his career in Hollywood as an editor in 1932...
' Mystery Street
Mystery Street
Mystery Street is a black-and-white film noir directed by John Sturges with cinematography by famed lensman John Alton. The film stars Ricardo Montalban, Bruce Bennett, and Elsa Lanchester....
. He also portrayed an aging baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
player in Angels in the Outfield
Angels in the Outfield (1951 film)
Angels in the Outfield is a 1951 American black-and-white film starring Paul Douglas and Janet Leigh, directed by Clarence Brown, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...
(1951).
Personal
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.Later life
From the mid-1950s on, Bennett mainly appeared in B-movies, such as The Alligator PeopleThe Alligator People
The Alligator People is a 1959 science fiction horror film directed by Roy Del Ruth.-Plot:After she is administered the drug pentothal by psychiatrists Dr. Erik Lorimer and Dr. Wayne McGregor, nurse Jane Marvin recalls a series events from her forgotten past when she was known as Joyce...
(1959) and in the title role of the Fiend of Dope Island
Fiend of Dope Island
Fiend of Dope Island, also released as Whiplash, was a lurid men's adventure type motion picture filmed in 1959 and released in 1961. It starred and was co-written by Bruce Bennett and was the final film directed by Nate Watt. It was filmed in Puerto Rico where producer J. Harold Odell had...
(filmed 1959 released 1961) that he co-wrote, and on television in guest starring roles. He was a very successful businessman during the 1960s.
A lifelong parasailer and skydiver
Skydiver
A skydiver is a person who engages in the sport of parachuting. It may also refer to:* SkyDiver a futuristic submarine featured in the TV series UFO* "Skydiver" a carnival ride produced by Chance Morgan...
, he last went skydiving (from an altitude of 10,000 feet), over Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...
, at the age of 96.
Bennett turned 100 on May 19, 2006, and died less than a year later in February 2007 of complications from a broken hip.