Bruce Bennett
Acting • Born 1906-05-19 – Died 2007-02-24
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.
Filmography
142 credits
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Movie • 1948
James Cody
Mildred Pierce
Movie • 1945
Albert 'Bert' Pierce
The Secret Seven
Movie • 1940
Patrick Norris
Danger Patrol
Movie • 1937
Joe
Land of Fighting Men
Movie • 1938
Fred Mitchell
Before I Hang
Movie • 1940
Dr. Paul Ames
Nora Prentiss
Movie • 1947
Dr. Joel Merriam
The Man I Love
Movie • 1946
San Thomas
The House Across the Street
Movie • 1949
Matthew J. Keever
Danger Signal
Movie • 1945
Dr. Andrew Lang
The Officer and the Lady
Movie • 1941
Bob Conlon
The Alligator People
Movie • 1959
Dr. Eric Lorimer
Without Honor
Movie • 1949
Fred Bandle
A Stolen Life
Movie • 1946
Jack R. Talbot
Strategic Air Command
Movie • 1955
Gen. Espy
Dark Passage
Movie • 1947
Bob
Smart Girls Don't Talk
Movie • 1948
Marty Fain
The Big Tip Off
Movie • 1955
Bob Gilmore
Love Me Tender
Movie • 1956
Maj. Kincaid
Silver River
Movie • 1948
Stanley Moore
Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer
Movie • 1956
Daniel Boone
Sahara
Movie • 1943
Waco Hoyt
Mystery Street
Movie • 1950
Dr. McAdoo
Sudden Fear
Movie • 1952
Steve Kearney
The Taming of the Snood
Movie • 1940
Detective
The Spook Speaks
Movie • 1940
Mordini's former assistant
Shakedown
Movie • 1950
David Glover
Girls of the Road
Movie • 1940
Officer Sullavan
The Cosmic Man
Movie • 1959
Dr. Karl Sorenson
Tarzan and the Green Goddess
Movie • 1938
Tarzan
Undertow
Movie • 1949
Reckling
The Three Outlaws
Movie • 1956
Charlie Trenton
Submarine Raider
Movie • 1942
1st Office Russell
The Doctor and the Girl
Movie • 1949
Dr. Alfred Norton
Murder in Times Square
Movie • 1943
Supai George
The New Adventures of Tarzan
Movie • 1935
Tarzan
Fiend of Dope Island
Movie • 1960
Charlie Davis
The Second Face
Movie • 1950
Paul Curtis
The Lone Wolf Keeps a Date
Movie • 1940
Scotty
The Bottom of the Bottle
Movie • 1956
Brand
Shadow of Chinatown
Movie • 1936
Martin Andrews
The Younger Brothers
Movie • 1949
Jim Younger
The Last Outpost
Movie • 1951
Col. Jeb Britton
Discovering Treasure: The Story of 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'
Movie • 2003
James Cody (archive footage)
A Million to One
Movie • 1936
Johnny Kent
So Long Mr. Chumps
Movie • 1941
Prison Guard / Truck Driver (uncredited)
No Census, No Feeling
Movie • 1940
Football Player #20 (uncredited)
The Outsider
Movie • 1961
Gen. Bridges
Cheyenne
Movie • 1947
Ed Landers
Dragonfly Squadron
Movie • 1954
Dr. Stephen Cottrell
Amateur Crook
Movie • 1937
Jimmy Baxter
The Great Missouri Raid
Movie • 1951
Cole Younger
Hawk of the Wilderness
Movie • 1938
Lincoln Rand Jr / Kioga
Daredevils of the Red Circle
Movie • 1939
Tiny Dawson
Flying Fists
Movie • 1937
Hal "Chopper' Donovan, aka Hal Smith
Robbers' Roost
Movie • 1955
'Bull' Herrick
Sky Racket
Movie • 1937
Eric Lane - Agent 17
Student Tour
Movie • 1934
Hercules
There's Something About a Soldier
Movie • 1943
Frank Molloy
With This Ring
Movie • 1954
Frederick C. Miller
Silks and Saddles
Movie • 1936
Jimmy Shay
The Fighting Devil Dogs
Movie • 1938
Lieutenant Frank Corby
The Lone Ranger
Movie • 1938
Bert Rogers
The More the Merrier
Movie • 1943
FBI Agent Evans
Death on the Diamond
Movie • 1934
Man on Ticket Line (uncredited)
I'm from Arkansas
Movie • 1944
Bob Hamlin
Two Minutes to Play
Movie • 1936
Martin Granville
The Man with Nine Lives
Movie • 1940
State Trooper (uncredited)
Dream Wife
Movie • 1953
Charlie Elkwood
Treasure Island
Movie • 1934
Man at Tavern (uncredited)
Hidden Guns
Movie • 1956
Stragg
College Humor
Movie • 1933
Student
Blondie Brings Up Baby
Movie • 1939
Mason's Chauffeur (uncredited)
Shadow of Chinatown
Movie • 1936
Martin Andrews
Boobs in the Woods
Movie • 1940
Park Ranger (uncredited)
West of Abilene
Movie • 1940
Frank Garfield
The Lone Wolf Meets a Lady
Movie • 1940
McManus
The Heckler
Movie • 1940
Ole Margarine
To the Victor
Movie • 1948
Henderson
Five Little Peppers at Home
Movie • 1940
Jim - King's Chauffeur
Five Little Peppers And How They Grew
Movie • 1939
Tom - King's Chauffeur
Atlantic Convoy
Movie • 1942
Capt. Morgan
Million Dollar Racket
Movie • 1937
Larry Duane
U-Boat Prisoner
Movie • 1944
Archie Gibbs
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp!
Movie • 1942
Tommy Lydel
My Son Is Guilty
Movie • 1939
Lefty
The Phantom Submarine
Movie • 1940
Paul Sinclair
Honolulu Lu
Movie • 1941
Skelly
Sabotage Squad
Movie • 1942
Lieutenant John Cronin
Underground Agent
Movie • 1942
Lee Graham
Babies for Sale
Movie • 1940
Policeman
The Man from Tumbleweeds
Movie • 1940
Prison Warden
Beer Barrel Polecats
Movie • 1946
Prison Guard (archive footage)
Frontier Fury
Movie • 1943
Clem Hawkins (uncredited)
Angels in the Outfield
Movie • 1951
Saul Hellman
Hi-Yo Silver
Movie • 1940
Bert Rogers
Island of Doomed Men
Movie • 1940
Hazen - Guard (uncredited)
Cafe Hostess
Movie • 1940
Budge
Meet the Baron
Movie • 1933
Train Passenger (uncredited)
Lassie: Well of Love
Movie • 1970
Bert Daniels
Blazing Six Shooters
Movie • 1940
Geologist Winthrop
Escape to Glory
Movie • 1940
Ship's gunnery officer
Three Girls About Town
Movie • 1941
Reporter
The Clones
Movie • 1973
Clone Lab Assistant
Deadhead Miles
Movie • 1972
Johnny Mesquitero
Torpedo of Doom
Movie • 1966
Lt. Frank Corley
Dutiful But Dumb
Movie • 1941
Vulgarian Soldier in General's Office (uncredited)
How High Is Up?
Movie • 1940
Workman with Leaky Lunchpail (uncredited)
Convicted Woman
Movie • 1940
Reporter (uncredited)
Three Violent People
Movie • 1956
Commissioner Harrison
Flaming Frontier
Movie • 1958
Capt. Jim Hewson
Million Dollar Legs
Movie • 1932
Klopstokian Athlete (uncredited)
Two Latins from Manhattan
Movie • 1941
Federal Agent
Glamour for Sale
Movie • 1940
Cop (uncredited)
Riptide
Movie • 1934
Man at Cannes Bar (uncredited)
The New Adventures of Tarzan
Movie • 1935
Tarzan
Invisible Stripes
Movie • 1939
Rich Man (uncredited)
Movie Crazy
Movie • 1932
Dinner Guest (Uncredited)
Laat de dokter maar schuiven
Movie • 1980
John
Tarzan: Lord of the Movies
Movie • 2017
Tarzan (Archive Footage)
Tarzan at the Movies, Part 2: The Many Faces of Tarzan
Movie • 1996
Tarzan (archive footage)
Ain't No Time for Glory
Movie • 1957
Lt. Col. Steven Granville
77 Sunset Strip
TV • 1958
Kraft Suspense Theatre
TV • 1963
Gen. Adams
Perry Mason
TV • 1957
Lawrence Balfour
Lassie
TV • 1954
The Virginian
TV • 1962
Silas Graham
Lux Video Theatre
TV • 1950
Dr. Grant
West Point
TV • 1956
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV • 1951
Judge Paul Maston
Branded
TV • 1965
The Texan
TV • 1958
Cavalcade of America
TV • 1952
Abe Lincoln
Panic!
TV • 1957
Letter to Loretta
TV • 1953
Seth Ranson
Lux Video Theatre
TV • 1950
Ben Archer
Perry Mason
TV • 1957
Dan Morgan
Perry Mason
TV • 1957
Matt Lambert
Perry Mason
TV • 1957
Malone
Perry Mason
TV • 1957
Reve Watson
Stories of the Century
TV • 1954
William Clark Charles Quantrill
Damon Runyon Theater
TV • 1955
Professor Woodhead