Bruce Bennett
Acting
🎂 1906-05-19
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.
Cast credits(140)
1954
1958
Lawrence Balfour
1957
Dan Morgan
1957
Matt Lambert
1957
Malone
1957
Reve Watson
1957
William Clark Charles Quantrill
1954
1956
1958
Gen. Adams
1963
1957
Silas Graham
1962
Professor Woodhead
1955
1965
Dr. Grant
1950
Ben Archer
1950
Seth Ranson
1953
Abe Lincoln
1952
Hazen - Guard (uncredited)
1940
Judge Paul Maston
1951
Fred Bandle
1949
James Cody
1948
FBI Agent Evans
1943
Waco Hoyt
1943
Albert 'Bert' Pierce
1945
Bob
1947
Dr. McAdoo
1950
Saul Hellman
1951
Col. Jeb Britton
1951
Commissioner Harrison
1956
Steve Kearney
1952
Tarzan
1935
Maj. Kincaid
1956
Dr. Eric Lorimer
1959
Man at Tavern (uncredited)
1934
Charlie Elkwood
1953
San Thomas
1946
Jack R. Talbot
1946
David Glover
1950
Rich Man (uncredited)
1939
Gen. Espy
1955
Cop (uncredited)
1940
Dr. Joel Merriam
1947
Skelly
1941
Reporter (uncredited)
1940
Mason's Chauffeur (uncredited)
1939
Man on Ticket Line (uncredited)
1934
Daniel Boone
1956
'Bull' Herrick
1955
Paul Curtis
1950
Hercules
1934
State Trooper (uncredited)
1940
Clone Lab Assistant
1973
Tommy Lydel
1942
Henderson
1948
Dr. Alfred Norton
1949
Tarzan
1938
Bert Rogers
1938
Archie Gibbs
1944
Stragg
1956
Dr. Karl Sorenson
1959
Cole Younger
1951
Stanley Moore
1948
Gen. Bridges
1961
Reporter
1941
Dr. Andrew Lang
1945
Train Passenger (uncredited)
1933
Klopstokian Athlete (uncredited)
1932
Capt. Morgan
1942
Johnny Mesquitero
1972
Man at Cannes Bar (uncredited)
1934
Reckling
1949
Dinner Guest (Uncredited)
1932
Charlie Davis
1961
Supai George
1943
Ed Landers
1947
Tiny Dawson
1939
Student
1933
Marty Fain
1948
McManus
1940
Hal "Chopper' Donovan, aka Hal Smith
1937
Brand
1956
Dr. Paul Ames
1940
1st Office Russell
1942
Jimmy Shay
1936
Eric Lane - Agent 17
1937
Dr. Stephen Cottrell
1954
Patrick Norris
1940
Bob Conlon
1941
Jimmy Baxter
1937
Ship's gunnery officer
1940
Matthew J. Keever
1949
Frank Molloy
1943
Tarzan (Archive Footage)
2017
Geologist Winthrop
1940
Federal Agent
1941
Budge
1940
Officer Sullavan
1940
Tarzan
1935
Charlie Trenton
1956
Lieutenant Frank Corby
1938
Ole Margarine
1940
Bert Daniels
1970
Bert Rogers
1940
Detective
1940
Scotty
1940
Lefty
1939
Football Player #20 (uncredited)
1940
Bob Hamlin
1944
Lieutenant John Cronin
1942
Martin Granville
1936
Jim Younger
1949
Prison Warden
1940
Jim - King's Chauffeur
1940
Prison Guard (archive footage)
1946
Larry Duane
1937
Martin Andrews
1936
Joe
1937
Tom - King's Chauffeur
1939
Clem Hawkins (uncredited)
1943
Lt. Frank Corley
1966
Paul Sinclair
1940
James Cody (archive footage)
2003
Frederick C. Miller
1954
Workman with Leaky Lunchpail (uncredited)
1940
Lincoln Rand Jr / Kioga
1938
Bob Gilmore
1955
Johnny Kent
1936
Vulgarian Soldier in General's Office (uncredited)
1941
Fred Mitchell
1938
Prison Guard / Truck Driver (uncredited)
1941
Policeman
1940
Lee Graham
1942
John
1980
Martin Andrews
1936
Capt. Jim Hewson
1958
Mordini's former assistant
1940
Frank Garfield
1940
Park Ranger (uncredited)
1940