TRIVIA:

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He won a silver medal in the 1928 Olympics for the shot put. | Brix was MGM's choice to play Tarzan in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) but lost the role when he suffered a separated shoulder from a tackle in the sports film Touchdown! (1931). Johnny Weissmuller became a big star when he won the role. Bruce recuperated and did get to play "Tarzan" in the low-budget indie serial The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935). | His father was a lumberman who owned a couple of different logging camps. Bruce built up his physique working in these lumber camps as a youth. | Lost out at Warner Bros. to test for stronger acting roles because he was too identified as "Herman Brix, former Tarzan and all-around action star." He went into hiding for a time, studied, then won a Columbia Pictures contract and eventually a Warner Bros. contract as Bruce Bennett. | Urban legend has it that Brix was personally selected by Edgar Rice Burroughs to play Tarzan in the independent serial The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935). In fact, this notion came from publicity material in the serial's press book. As he told his biographer, Mike Chapman, he only met Burroughs briefly, for a handshake and photo-op, days after he had been chosen and contracted for the part by the serial's producer, Ashton Dearholt. | His parts increased in size and importance when he moved to Warner Bros. in 1945; here he was assigned such choice roles as Joan Crawford's ex-husband in Mildred Pierce (1945) and the lone prospector who is killed off in the middle of Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). | Outside his acting career, Bennett became a very successful businessman during the 1960s. He also continued to pursue his lifelong interest in parasailing and skydiving. He last skydived at the age of 96, descending from an altitude of 10,000 feet near Lake Tahoe.

AVAILABLE FILMS:

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ALLIGATOR PEOPLE, THE (1959)
CHEYENNE (1947)
CONVICTED WOMAN (1940)**
DANGER PATROL (1937)
DANGER SIGNAL (1945)
DARK PASSAGE (1947)
DEATH ON THE DIAMOND (1934)
ESCAPE TO GLORY (1940)
INVISIBLE STRIPES (1939)**
ISLAND OF DOOMED MEN (1940)**
LONE WOLF MEETS A LADY, THE (1940)
MILDRED PIERCE (1945)
MILLION DOLLAR LEGS (1932)**
MURDER IN TIMES SQUARE (1943)
MY SON IS GUILTY (1940)
MYSTERY STREET (1950)
NORA PRENTISS (1947)
RIPTIDE (1934)**
SAHARA (1943)
SMART GIRLS DON'T TALK (1948)
STOLEN LIFE, A (1946)
STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND (1955)
SUDDEN FEAR (1952)
THREE OUTLAWS, THE (1956)
TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, THE (1948)
U-BOAT PRISONER (1944)
UNDERGROUND AGENT (1942)
UNDERTOW (1949)
** Uncredited

VIDEO TRIBUTE:

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Bruce Bennett

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Active - 1931 - 1971 |  Born - 19 May 1906, Tacoma, Washington, USA  |   Died - 24 February 2007, Santa Monica, California, USA |   Genres - Drama    | Height: 6' 3"
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Herman Brix (Bruce Bennett) was a star shot-putter in the 1928 Olympics. After losing the lead in MGM's Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) due to a shoulder injury, he was contracted by Ashton Dearholt for his independent production of The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935), a serial and the only Tarzan film between the silents and the 1960s to present the character accurately, as a sophisticated, educated English nobleman who preferred living in the jungle and was able to speak directly with animals in their own language.

He subsequently found himself typecast and confined to starring roles in other serials and character and even bit parts in poverty row features and two-reeler comedies. After starring in the Republic Pictures serial Hawk of the Wilderness (1938) as the Tarzan-like Kioga, he dropped out of films for a few years, took acting lessons, and changed his name to Bruce Bennett.

He made many movies after that, gaining fame as a leading man in many Warners products. In 1960, he retired from acting and went into business, becoming sales manager of a major vending machine company, making only occasional TV guest appearances. A reclusive man, he eschewed interviews, although he did appear at one Burroughs-oriented convention in the 1970s and discussed some of his experiences during the making of his Tarzan serial. In 2001, he allowed himself to be interviewed for a slender biography by a Mike Chapman, and held signings at local bookstores, enjoying his "rediscovery" by the general public in the few years remaining before his death.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan <[email protected]>​​

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[About his role in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)] "I wish I would have had more to do in the film. I hated to get killed so soon."

[In a 1988 interview] "I feel very sincerely that age isn't computable by number of years. It is truly only a state of mind. We know many young people of 90 and old people of 20. By my mind, I'm still young!"

- Bruce Bennett