Bruce Bennett

Bruce Bennett (19 May 1906 – 24 February 2007), born Harold Herman Brix, was an American actor and Olympic silver medalist shot putter.

I wish I would have had more to do in the film. I hated to get killed so soon.

There was only a single sharpshooter up in the trees to keep the croc away from me.

Quotes

• There was only a single sharpshooter up in the trees to keep the croc away from me.
  • On some dangers in his role as Tarzan, in an interview in Christian Science Monitor (1999), quoted in "Film Star and Olympian Herman Brix" by Adam Bernstein, in The Washington Post (28 February 2007)

• I wish I would have had more to do in the film. I hated to get killed so soon.
  • Referring to his role in the The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), as quoted in Please Don't Call Me Tarzan : The Life Story of Herman Brix/Bruce Bennett (2001) by Mike Chapman; also in "Herman Brix, 100; Olympian became actor known as Bruce Bennett" by Dennis McLellan in The Los Angeles Times (28 February 2007)

• I guess the one thing I really learned from participating in sports was to just never say "no", never stop trying, and to always believe that you can do better than the next fellow. I tried to follow this throughout my life, but I always tried to be respectful about it.
  • As quoted in an interview with Marc Blau (2004)

• All I knew about shot putting was that my brother could do 44 feet … I decided I wanted to beat him. … So I got a shot and went to work and made up my mind to do 45 feet.
  • On developing his shot-putting skill, as quoted in "Film Star and Olympian Herman Brix" by Adam Bernstein, in The Washington Post (28 February 2007)

Quotes about Bennett

• Herman Brix brought a presence to the screen that many people feel personifies the Tarzan of the books … lean and muscular, articulate and dignified. He moved with the superb athletic grace that my grandfather envisioned.
  • Danton Burroughs, grandson of Edgar Rice Burroughs, who had selected Brix for the role, in his preface for Please Don't Call Me Tarzan : The Life Story of Herman Brix/Bruce Bennett (2001) by Mike Chapman

• Brix's portrayal was the only time between the silents and the 1960s that Tarzan was accurately depicted in films. He was mannered, cultured, soft-spoken, a well-educated English lord who spoke several languages, and didn't grunt.
  • Gabe Essou, on Brix's role in The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935) as quoted in "Film Star and Olympian Herman Brix" by Adam Bernstein, in The Washington Post (28 February 2007)

External links

• Bruce Bennett on IMDb
• Interview with Marc Blau (2004)
• Washington Post obituary (28 February 2007)
• "Herman Brix, 100, Athlete and a ‘Cultured’ Tarzan, Dies" by Douglas Martin, in The New York Times (2 March 2007)