Richard Dix was a renowned leading man at RKO Radio Pictures from 1929 to 1943, with a career spanning over a decade. Born Ernest Carlton Brimmer on July 18, 1893, in St. Paul, Minnesota, he was educated in his hometown and initially pursued a career in surgery at the behest of his father. However, his natural talent for acting, which he showcased in his school's dramatic club, led him to take on leading roles in most of the school plays.
Standing at 6'0" and weighing 180 pounds, Dix was an athletic individual who excelled in sports, particularly football and baseball. These skills would serve him well in the demanding film roles he would go on to play.
After a year at the University of Minnesota, Dix took a position at a bank, where he spent his evenings training for the stage. He began his professional career with a local stock company, which led to similar work in New York. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he became the leading man for the Morosco Stock Company, and his success there earned him a contract with Paramount Pictures.
Dix's rugged good looks and dark features made him a popular player in westerns, and his athletic ability led to his starring role in Paramount's Warming Up (1928),a baseball story and the studio's first feature with synchronized score and sound effects. His deep voice and commanding presence were perfectly suited for the talkies, and he was signed by RKO Radio Pictures in 1929, scoring an early triumph in the all-talking mystery drama, Seven Keys to Baldpate (1929).
In 1931, Dix was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his masterful performance in Cimarron (1931),which won the Best Picture Oscar that year. Throughout the 1930s, Dix would be a major box-office draw at RKO, appearing in mystery thrillers, potboilers, westerns, and programmers. He also appeared in the "Whistler" series of mystery films at Columbia in the mid-1940s.
Dix retired from films in 1947. He was married twice, first to Winifred Coe on October 20, 1931, with whom he had a daughter, Martha Mary Ellen, before divorcing in 1933. He then married Virginia Webster on June 29, 1934, with whom he had twin boys, Richard Jr. and Robert Dix, and an adopted daughter, Sara Sue.
Richard Dix, the actor, passed away at the age of 56 on September 20, 1949.
