Bruce Bennett
Biography
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.
Known For
Acting
1948
asJames Cody
1945
asAlbert 'Bert' Pierce
1940
asPatrick Norris
1937
asJoe
1938
asFred Mitchell
1940
asDr. Paul Ames
1947
asDr. Joel Merriam
1946
asSan Thomas
1949
asMatthew J. Keever
1945
asDr. Andrew Lang
1941
asBob Conlon
1959
asDr. Eric Lorimer
1949
asFred Bandle
1946
asJack R. Talbot
1955
asGen. Espy
1947
asBob
1948
asMarty Fain
1955
asBob Gilmore
1956
asMaj. Kincaid
1948
asStanley Moore
1956
asDaniel Boone
1943
asWaco Hoyt
1950
asDr. McAdoo
1952
asSteve Kearney
1940
asDetective
1940
asMordini's former assistant
1950
asDavid Glover
1940
asOfficer Sullavan
1959
asDr. Karl Sorenson
1938
asTarzan
1949
asReckling
1956
asCharlie Trenton
1942
as1st Office Russell
1949
asDr. Alfred Norton
1943
asSupai George
1935
asTarzan
1961
asCharlie Davis
1950
asPaul Curtis
1940
asScotty
1956
asBrand
1936
asMartin Andrews
1949
asJim Younger
1951
asCol. Jeb Britton
2003
asJames Cody (archive footage)
1936
asJohnny Kent
1941
asPrison Guard / Truck Driver (uncredited)
1940
asFootball Player #20 (uncredited)
1961
asGen. Bridges
1947
asEd Landers
1954
asDr. Stephen Cottrell
1937
asJimmy Baxter
1951
asCole Younger
1939
asTiny Dawson
1938
asLincoln Rand Jr / Kioga
1937
asHal "Chopper' Donovan, aka Hal Smith
1955
as'Bull' Herrick
1937
asEric Lane - Agent 17
1934
asHercules
1943
asFrank Molloy
1954
asFrederick C. Miller
1936
asJimmy Shay
1938
asBert Rogers
1938
asLieutenant Frank Corby
1943
asFBI Agent Evans
1934
asMan on Ticket Line (uncredited)
1944
asBob Hamlin
1936
asMartin Granville
1940
asState Trooper (uncredited)
1953
asCharlie Elkwood
1934
asMan at Tavern (uncredited)
1956
asStragg
1933
asStudent
1939
asMason's Chauffeur (uncredited)
1936
asMartin Andrews
1940
asPark Ranger (uncredited)
1940
asFrank Garfield
1940
asMcManus
1940
asOle Margarine
1948
asHenderson
1940
asJim - King's Chauffeur
1939
asTom - King's Chauffeur
1942
asCapt. Morgan
1937
asLarry Duane
1944
asArchie Gibbs
1942
asTommy Lydel
1939
asLefty
1940
asPaul Sinclair
1941
asSkelly
1942
asLee Graham
1942
asLieutenant John Cronin
1940
asPoliceman
1940
asPrison Warden
1946
asPrison Guard (archive footage)
1943
asClem Hawkins (uncredited)
1951
asSaul Hellman
1940
asBert Rogers
1940
asHazen - Guard (uncredited)
1940
asBudge
1933
asTrain Passenger (uncredited)
1970
asBert Daniels
1940
asGeologist Winthrop
1940
asShip's gunnery officer
1941
asReporter
1973
asClone Lab Assistant
1972
asJohnny Mesquitero
1966
asLt. Frank Corley
1941
asVulgarian Soldier in General's Office (uncredited)
1940
asWorkman with Leaky Lunchpail (uncredited)
1940
asReporter (uncredited)
1956
asCommissioner Harrison
1958
asCapt. Jim Hewson
1932
asKlopstokian Athlete (uncredited)
1941
asFederal Agent
1940
asCop (uncredited)
1934
asMan at Cannes Bar (uncredited)
1935
asTarzan
1939
asRich Man (uncredited)
1932
asDinner Guest (Uncredited)
1980
asJohn
2017
asTarzan (Archive Footage)
as
asGen. Adams
asLawrence Balfour
as
asSilas Graham
asDr. Grant
as
asJudge Paul Maston
as
as
asAbe Lincoln
as
asSeth Ranson
asBen Archer
asDan Morgan
asMatt Lambert
asMalone
asReve Watson
asWilliam Clark Charles Quantrill
asProfessor Woodhead
Production
Crew
Directing
