BIOGRAPHY OF STARS

Chronicle (Levin), 13 March 1946, Page 7

BIOGRAPHY OF STARS

RICHAKD 5)IX TGP-LINER FOR 22 YEARS An mimatehed record for Hollywood has been achieved by If.ichard Dix, who with his current role in Columbia's "Voice of the Whistler," started his twenty-second year as a star. Month in and month out, the batches of fan mail continue to avalanche into the studio for the veteran trouper, who has rm al-ility to keep tlie loyalty of the public over a longer period llian almost any other ;;ermi performer. A conservative, horiie-loving man

; in private life, Dix, who soared to Mardom in the memorabie "Cimarjron," with Ireiie Dunnc, could have i retired from motion picturcs yvar„ | ago, because he made many wise ; i mvcstmenis with the money hc j i earned. j He did try to retire a few ycarsj j ago. Cave himself six months to sco j ! ii lie could adjust himseif to a lii'c: • away lrorn tlie screen. Within eignt j i weeks he began to gct rostless. At j jthe hali-way mark he was back in j • harness, wnere he expects to stay,! ! and where he will remain as iong as 1 Columbia Picturcs has anything to] say about it. j 1 Dix didn't bccome a star over- j niglit. Before he brokc into the ! movies he spent years on the jlegitimate stage, wojTpng witlr.Aiie, jciover Morosco Company in' 'Los j Angeles, where his fellow actors Tncluded Warner Baxter and others jwlio later turned to the celluioiti| • art. I The first man to. tcll him hej ! wasn't scrccn materiai was none : ] other than Cecil B. De Mille. But jDix docsn't have that f'amous jut] jjaw of his for nothing. He didn't] ; let the director's advice stop him. j He tried it out anywan. With a suc- | cess that surprised everyone, includ- 1 I ing himself, De Mille now is always tlie first to compliment Dix whcn- ! ever he turns in another of his j expert performances. Ofl' the screen, Dix spends most of ] ' his spare time with his youngsters, i { Richard and Robert, 10-year-old ' twins, and a daughter, Sara Sue, 7. ] He owns a large ranch in Southern 1 California, and if and when he j realiy does retire, that is where he will spend his life.