BRUCE BENNETT

Bruce Bennett was an actor from the 1930s to the 1980s. Early in his career he was billed as "Herman Brix", which was his actual name, but he is probably best remembered for his excellent supporting role in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre". He had been a star shot-putter in the 1928 Olympics (where Johnny Weissmuller won swimming medals), and he was MGM's FIRST choice for the lead in "Tarzan the Ape Man" in 1932, but he injured his shoulder (he separated it during a football scene in the 1931 movie "Touchdown"), and they went with Weissmuller instead! However, he was still one of the first sound Tarzans. In 1935, he starred in the non-MGM independent production called "The New Adventures of Tarzan", which actually was far more faithful to the books than the MGM movies, but which did not do well at the box office. In 1938, he played a Tarzan-like character in "Hawk of the Wilderness", and after that movie was not very successful, his career took a major downturn. He spent most of the 1940s playing very minor roles. Somewhere along the way, he took acting lessons and changed his name to Bruce Bennett, and he became much more successful. He is probably best remembered for his excellent supporting role in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre". He retired from movies in 1960, at which time he became a successful businessman, passing away in 2007 at the age of 100 (and he was active to the end, skydiving at the age of 96!).