Richard Dix — Biographical Sketch (1927) 🇺🇸

Richard Dix, one of the most virile actors on the screen, and who has shown dauntless courage on many occasions during the making of difficult and dangerous scenes, did not become a doctor only because he couldn’t stand the sight of blood.

Young Dix, then a student at Central High School in St. Paul, Minn., fully intended to follow out the wishes of his family and become a surgeon — until he watched his brother perform three operations, and decided it was not for him.

Graduating from high school he attended the University of Minnesota for a year, after which he entered a bank. Finding this uncongenial he tried a position in an architect’s office, which did not prove much better.

All during school Dix had not only been keenly interested in athletics but in amateur dramatics as well, and had taken part in nearly every student production, so his thoughts turned again to acting. Continuing his work in the architect’s office he studied evenings at a dramatic school, which led to parts with a local stock company. His next move took him to New York, where he continued on the stage, only to be recalled to St. Paul by the death of his brother, which left him the main support of his mother and sister.

Local stock companies could pay but modest salaries, so he went West as leading man for the Morosco Stock Company in Los Angeles. His stage experience had included The Hawk, with Faversham, Song of Songs, Little Brother, and Night Lodging.

His success in Los Angeles was immediate, and logically led to motion pictures. One of the first pictures to bring him into prominence was “The Christian,” for Goldwyn [Samuel Goldwyn], for whom he also did “Souls for Sale.” He became a Paramount star soon after, and has appeared in such outstanding productions as “The Ten Commandments,” “Too Many Kisses,” “The Shock Punch,” “Let’s Get Married,” “The Lucky Devil,” “The Vanishing American,” a noteworthy performance, “Womanhandled,” “The Quarterback,” “Paradise for Two,” “Knockout Reilly,” “Man Power,” “Shanghai Bound” and “The Gay Defender.”

He was born and raised in St. Paul, Minn., his parents having moved to that city from Los Angeles just six weeks before his birth, else he might have been a “native son.”

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Richard Dix

Recent Releases

• The Quarterback
• Knockout Reilly
• Shanghai Bound
• Man Power

Completed

• The Gay Defender

Coming

• The Travelling Salesman

Collection: Motion Picture News, October 1927 (Booking Guide and Studio Directory)