Richard Dix

Acting · 0.9 popularity

Age

133

Movies

101

Born: July 18, 1893 – September 20, 1949
From: Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA

Biography

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.

Works

101 films

The Ten Commandments

19236.5

Cimarron

19315.6

Shanghai Bound

192710.0

Ace of Aces

19335.9

The Stolen Jools

19315.6

Stingaree

19346.1

The Thirteenth Hour

19476.0

The Whistler

19446.0

Devil's Playground

19376.6

Sinners in Heaven

19248.0

The Shock Punch

19256.5

Warming Up

19289.0

The Vanishing American

19256.9

Souls for Sale

19236.3

American Empire

19425.0

The Gay Defender

19279.0

Voice of the Whistler

19455.8

The Kansan

19436.0

It Happened in Hollywood

19376.3

Eyes of the Underworld

19425.6

The Secret of the Whistler

19466.1

Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die

19426.1

The Mark of the Whistler

19446.2

Man of Conquest

19395.6

Seven Keys to Baldpate

19296.5

The Wall Flower

1922

Unguarded Women

19247.0

The Power of the Whistler

19455.9

The Roundup

19419.0

The Love Doctor

192910.0

Badlands of Dakota

19416.0

Sky Giant

19385.3

Mysterious Intruder

19465.9

Redskin

19296.2

Blind Alibi

19386.2

Hell's Highway

19326.1

Buckskin Frontier

19437.0

One of Many

1917

A Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic

19294.8

His Greatest Gamble

19345.8

Day of Reckoning

19335.1

The Lost Squadron

19326.5

Too Many Kisses

19255.9

Fascinating Youth

19269.0

The Ghost Ship

19436.3

To the Last Man

19239.0

Quicksands

19237.0

Yellow Dust

19364.5

Here I Am a Stranger

19397.3

The Great Jasper

19338.0

Cherokee Strip

19405.5

The Sin Flood

192210.0

Twelve Crowded Hours

19395.7

Paradise for Two

19279.0

Nothing but the Truth

19295.3

The Arizonian

19358.0

The Quarterback

19266.5

The Public Defender

19316.4

The Tunnel

19355.5

The Woman with Four Faces

19238.0

The Conquerors

19325.6

Secret Service

19316.7

Roar of the Dragon

19326.5

Men Against the Sky

19404.6

The Stranger

19249.0

Icebound

19249.0

Moran of the Marines

19287.0

The Devil Is Driving

19376.5

Special Investigator

19365.4

The Poverty of Riches

19217.0

Devil's Squadron

19367.0

Say It Again

19269.0

Shooting Straight

19306.3

Manhattan

19246.5

The Lucky Devil

19257.2

Top Man

19439.0

Womanhandled

19257.0

The Marines Fly High

19405.3

West of the Pecos

19347.0

Young Donovan's Kid

193110.0

The Christian

192310.0

The Glorious Fool

192210.0

Reno

19396.7

The Bonded Woman

19224.8

No Marriage Ties

19334.9

Easy Come, Easy Go

19287.0

Lovin' the Ladies

19305.5

Let's Get Married

19268.0

All's Fair in Love

19219.0

The Wheel of Life

19299.0

Sporting Goods

19288.0

Fools First

19228.0

Yellow Men and Gold

192210.0

Not Guilty

19217.0

Knockout Reilly

19278.0

Racing Hearts

19238.0

Man Power

19278.0

Men and Women

19258.0

Dangerous Curve Ahead

19219.0

A Man Must Live

19258.0

The Call of the Canyon

19237.0