×
Loading in progress
  • BIRTH 19/05/1906
  • DEATH 24/02/2007
  • Country United States
  • SHOWS 2
  • MOVIES 30

Bruce Bennett

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.

Bruce Bennett

Shows (2)

Perry Mason
Perry Mason
Dan Morgan / Lawrence Balfour / Malone / Matt Lambert / Reve Watson
The Virginian
The Virginian
Silas Graham

Movies (30)

Mildred Pierce
Mildred Pierce
Albert 'Bert' Pierce
Sahara
Sahara
"Waco" Hoyt
Angels in the Outfield
Angels in the Outfield
Saul Hellman
Silver River
Silver River
Stanley Moore
Nora Prentiss
Nora Prentiss
Dr. Joel Merriam
Dark Passage
Dark Passage
Bob
Love Me Tender
Love Me Tender
Maj. Kincaid
The New Adventures of Tarzan
The New Adventures of Tarzan
Tarzan
Honolulu Lu
Honolulu Lu
Skelly
Sudden Fear
Sudden Fear
Steve Kearney
The More the Merrier
The More the Merrier
FBI Agent Evans
Tarzan and the Green Goddess
Tarzan and the Green Goddess
Tarzan
The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger
Bert Rogers
There's Something About a Soldier
There's Something About a Soldier
Frank Molloy
Dream Wife
Dream Wife
Charlie Elkwood
Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Man at Tavern (uncredited)
A Stolen Life
A Stolen Life
Jack R. Talbot
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Ed Landers
Atlantic Convoy
Atlantic Convoy
Capt. Morgan
Lassie: Well of Love
Lassie: Well of Love
Bert Daniels
The Three Outlaws
The Three Outlaws
Charlie Trenton
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
James Cody
Danger Signal
Danger Signal
Dr. Andrew Lang
Daredevils of the Red Circle
Daredevils of the Red Circle
Tiny Dawson
Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command
Gen. Espy
Boobs in the Woods
Boobs in the Woods
Park Ranger (uncredited)
Million Dollar Legs
Million Dollar Legs
Klopstokian Athlete (uncredited)
Three Violent People
Three Violent People
Commissioner Harrison
The New Adventures of Tarzan
The New Adventures of Tarzan
Tarzan
The Doctor and the Girl
The Doctor and the Girl
Dr. Alfred Norton