Richard Dix — Blue Book of the Screen (1923) 🇺🇸
Football landed Richard Dix on the stage for the first time, and after that nothing could keep him off. It happened in Minnesota, his native state, for he was born in Minneapolis, July 18, 1894.
He was attending the University of Minnesota at the time, after graduating from a St. Paul high school. Also, he had been attending dramatic school, secretly, at night.
While James Neill and Edythe Chapman were playing The College Widow in St. Paul, they sent out word that they needed a football player. As this was one of the best things young Dix did in his collegiate course, he hustled forth and secured the job. All his college mates attended the opening performance, and the tempestuous applause which ensued at every appearance of young Dix far outdinned that accorded the leading man.
Parental objections prevented the youth from accepting a part with E. H. Southern [E. H. Sothern], but he did go into stock in St. Paul, his first part being that of the “villain” in The Man of the Hour.
When he had saved enough money to reach that actor’s Mecca, New York, he set forth in haste to fame and fortune. But neither was lingering just around the corner when he arrived. In fact, no one even hesitatingly offered him a role. After vicissitudes, he finally secured work in Pittsburgh at the salary of $35 a week, in return for which he played butlers, off-stage noises and other humble bits for a year.
Next he played as leading man in a Texas stock company during a season when the mercury registered around the 100-mark. Immediately after this torrid engagement, in which he toiled through The Ghost Breaker and other productions, he lost no time in seeking a colder clime, winding up at Montreal, where he played stock also.
Then came his first New York engagement. He played in Gorky’s Night’s Lodging, and with Faversham in The Hawk and The Song of Songs. Oliver Morosco then engaged him for a long season at the Morosco stock company in Los Angeles.
Dix’s cinema debut was in “Not Guilty.” Among his successful screen appearances are his roles in “The Dangerous Curve Ahead,” “The Glorious Fool,” “The Poverty of Riches,” “The Christian,” and Rupert Hughes’ film version of his novel of motion-picture life, “Souls for Sale.” Mr. Dix played the role of Claymore, motion-picture director, in this production.
His most noted dramatic interpretation was in the role of John Storm in Sir Hall Caine’s The Christian, under the direction of Maurice Tourneur. In that role he was declared by critics to be one of the finest dramatic actors on the screen.
The star is six feet tall and weighs 175 pounds. He has dark brown hair and hazel brown eyes.
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Richard Dix recently received a loving cup for winning the Goldwyn golf tournament.
Collection: The Blue Book of the Screen (1923)