Paul Fix(1901-1983)
- Actor
- Writer
Paul Fix, the well-known movie and TV character actor who played
"Marshal Micah Torrance" on the TV series
The Rifleman (1958), was born
Peter Paul Fix on March 13, 1901 in Dobbs Ferry, New York to
brew-master Wilhelm Fix and his wife, the former Louise C. Walz. His
mother and father were German immigrants who had left their Black
Forest home and arrived in New York City in the 1870s. (The name "Fix"
is of Latin/Germanic origin, and is derived from St. Vitus and means
"animated" or "vital").
Besides Peter Paul, the Fix family consisted of two girls and three
boys, the youngest of whom was six years older than the future actor.
Peter Paul's childhood was a happy one. He and his family lived on the
200-acre property on which the Manilla Anchor Brewery, where his father
was brew-master, was situated. Such was the importance of the senior Fix to the
brewery that when he died at the age of 62 on the eve of America's
entry into the First World War (two years after his 54-year old wife
had died), the brewery closed.
The orphaned Peter Paul, who kept to himself a lot and had a vivid
imagination, was sent to live with his married sisters, first one who
lived nearby in Yonkers, and then to another in Zanesville, Ohio. The
just-turned-17-year-old Peter Paul Fix joined the U.S. Navy on March
12, 1918, and spent his state-side service time during World War I in
Newport, Rhode Island and Charleston, South Carolina. He first tread
the boards as an actor while a sailor stationed in Newport, when the
baby-faced salt (who looked much younger than his age) was one of six
gobs chosen to play female roles in the Navy Relief Show "HMS
Pinafore". The Navy staging of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta was a
big hit and chalked up a run of several weeks in Providence and Boston.
Fix was assigned as an able-bodied seaman to the troopship U.S.S. Mount
Vernon, which was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of France
but did not sink as it was run aground. The rest of Fix's naval career
was less exciting, and he was demobilized on September 5, 1919. After
his discharge, Fix went back to his girlfriend Frances (Taddy) Harvey,
whom he had left behind in Zanesville. He and Taddy were married in
1922 and they moved to California as Fix had always wanted to live in a
warm climate.
Fix and his bride settled in Hollywood, not so much because he had set
ideas about becoming an actor but because he didn't know what he wanted
to do with the rest of his life. He liked writing and acting in local
plays, and soon became friends with the fellow tyro actor
Clark Gable, who was his own age. Fix and
Gable were discovered by the stage actress
Pauline Frederick, who hired
them to be members of her touring troupe that traveled by train the
length of the West Coast putting on plays. In all, Fix - who had
informally renamed himself Paul Peter - appeared in 20 plays with
Gable.
Paul Fix had one of his earliest acting roles on celluloid in the
mid-1920s, appearing in a silent Western starring
William S. Hart. The Western genre
eventually would become the one he was most identified with. He played
uncredited bit parts and small roles in silents before getting his
first credited role in an early talkie (which was part-silent and
part-talking),
The First Kiss (1928), which
starred future Hollywood superstar
Gary Cooper and the dame that drove
King Kong ape, Fay Wray. In all, Fix appeared
in 300-400 films. The Western programmers of the silent and early
talkie days could be shot in less than a week.
In 1925, Taddy gave birth to their daughter
Marilyn Carey, who eventually would marry
Harry Carey Jr., the son of one of the
first great Western superstars. They would have three more children and
become part of the extended family gathered around the director
John Ford. In his career, Paul Fix
would appear with another Western legend,
John Wayne, in 26 films, starting in
1931 with
Three Girls Lost (1931). Urged
on by Loretta Young, Fix became an acting
coach for the young actor, and Wayne later paid him back when he became
a star by having Fix appear in his movies. (The Duke also was a part of
the close-knit group that collected around
John Ford). With the Duke's patronage,
the kinds of roles that Fix played changed. He had been typed as
villains in the 1930s but, in the 40s, he began assaying a better class
of character.
Paul Fix was also a screenwriter, and is credited as the writer on
three films:
Tall in the Saddle (1944),
Ring of Fear (1954) and
The Notorious Mr. Monks (1958).
His favorites parts included playing the stricken passenger in the
John Wayne picture
The High and the Mighty (1954),
Elizabeth Taylor's father in
George Stevens' classic
Giant (1956), the grandfather of the
eponymous The Bad Seed (1956) and
the judge in
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).
His last screen appearance was in the
Brooke Shields movie
Wanda Nevada (1979), but he is most
famous for appearing in the recurring role of "Marshal Micah Torrance"
in the popular Western TV series
The Rifleman (1958). As of 1981,
the 80-year old Fix was still getting mail from all over the world from
"Rifleman" fans.
Paul Fix died October 14, 1983 of kidney failure. He was survived by
his daughter Marilyn Carey and son-in-law
Harry "Dobe" Carey, three grandchildren and several
great-grandchildren.
"Marshal Micah Torrance" on the TV series
The Rifleman (1958), was born
Peter Paul Fix on March 13, 1901 in Dobbs Ferry, New York to
brew-master Wilhelm Fix and his wife, the former Louise C. Walz. His
mother and father were German immigrants who had left their Black
Forest home and arrived in New York City in the 1870s. (The name "Fix"
is of Latin/Germanic origin, and is derived from St. Vitus and means
"animated" or "vital").
Besides Peter Paul, the Fix family consisted of two girls and three
boys, the youngest of whom was six years older than the future actor.
Peter Paul's childhood was a happy one. He and his family lived on the
200-acre property on which the Manilla Anchor Brewery, where his father
was brew-master, was situated. Such was the importance of the senior Fix to the
brewery that when he died at the age of 62 on the eve of America's
entry into the First World War (two years after his 54-year old wife
had died), the brewery closed.
The orphaned Peter Paul, who kept to himself a lot and had a vivid
imagination, was sent to live with his married sisters, first one who
lived nearby in Yonkers, and then to another in Zanesville, Ohio. The
just-turned-17-year-old Peter Paul Fix joined the U.S. Navy on March
12, 1918, and spent his state-side service time during World War I in
Newport, Rhode Island and Charleston, South Carolina. He first tread
the boards as an actor while a sailor stationed in Newport, when the
baby-faced salt (who looked much younger than his age) was one of six
gobs chosen to play female roles in the Navy Relief Show "HMS
Pinafore". The Navy staging of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta was a
big hit and chalked up a run of several weeks in Providence and Boston.
Fix was assigned as an able-bodied seaman to the troopship U.S.S. Mount
Vernon, which was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of France
but did not sink as it was run aground. The rest of Fix's naval career
was less exciting, and he was demobilized on September 5, 1919. After
his discharge, Fix went back to his girlfriend Frances (Taddy) Harvey,
whom he had left behind in Zanesville. He and Taddy were married in
1922 and they moved to California as Fix had always wanted to live in a
warm climate.
Fix and his bride settled in Hollywood, not so much because he had set
ideas about becoming an actor but because he didn't know what he wanted
to do with the rest of his life. He liked writing and acting in local
plays, and soon became friends with the fellow tyro actor
Clark Gable, who was his own age. Fix and
Gable were discovered by the stage actress
Pauline Frederick, who hired
them to be members of her touring troupe that traveled by train the
length of the West Coast putting on plays. In all, Fix - who had
informally renamed himself Paul Peter - appeared in 20 plays with
Gable.
Paul Fix had one of his earliest acting roles on celluloid in the
mid-1920s, appearing in a silent Western starring
William S. Hart. The Western genre
eventually would become the one he was most identified with. He played
uncredited bit parts and small roles in silents before getting his
first credited role in an early talkie (which was part-silent and
part-talking),
The First Kiss (1928), which
starred future Hollywood superstar
Gary Cooper and the dame that drove
King Kong ape, Fay Wray. In all, Fix appeared
in 300-400 films. The Western programmers of the silent and early
talkie days could be shot in less than a week.
In 1925, Taddy gave birth to their daughter
Marilyn Carey, who eventually would marry
Harry Carey Jr., the son of one of the
first great Western superstars. They would have three more children and
become part of the extended family gathered around the director
John Ford. In his career, Paul Fix
would appear with another Western legend,
John Wayne, in 26 films, starting in
1931 with
Three Girls Lost (1931). Urged
on by Loretta Young, Fix became an acting
coach for the young actor, and Wayne later paid him back when he became
a star by having Fix appear in his movies. (The Duke also was a part of
the close-knit group that collected around
John Ford). With the Duke's patronage,
the kinds of roles that Fix played changed. He had been typed as
villains in the 1930s but, in the 40s, he began assaying a better class
of character.
Paul Fix was also a screenwriter, and is credited as the writer on
three films:
Tall in the Saddle (1944),
Ring of Fear (1954) and
The Notorious Mr. Monks (1958).
His favorites parts included playing the stricken passenger in the
John Wayne picture
The High and the Mighty (1954),
Elizabeth Taylor's father in
George Stevens' classic
Giant (1956), the grandfather of the
eponymous The Bad Seed (1956) and
the judge in
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).
His last screen appearance was in the
Brooke Shields movie
Wanda Nevada (1979), but he is most
famous for appearing in the recurring role of "Marshal Micah Torrance"
in the popular Western TV series
The Rifleman (1958). As of 1981,
the 80-year old Fix was still getting mail from all over the world from
"Rifleman" fans.
Paul Fix died October 14, 1983 of kidney failure. He was survived by
his daughter Marilyn Carey and son-in-law
Harry "Dobe" Carey, three grandchildren and several
great-grandchildren.