R.I.P.: Herman Brix (a.k.a. Bruce Bennett), 1906-2007

When F. Scott Fitzgrerald claimed there are no second acts in American lives, he surely could not have conceived of anyone like Herman Brix, the Olympian-turned actor whose 1935 portrayal of Tarzan impressed no less demanding a critic than Edgar Rice Burroughs himself. A few years after essaying the Lord of the Jungle, however, Brix took drastic steps to avoid typecasting -- he changed his name to Bruce Bennett, then launched himself as an actor all over again. And then, after two decades or so of appearing in movies as diverse as The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Dark Passage, he dropped out of acting and went into private business. And then, seven years later, he resumed working as a character actor in movies and TV. He passed away Saturday at the ripe young age of 100.