Herman Brix was a star shot-putter in the 1928 Olympics. After nearly getting the lead in MGM's Tarzan the Ape Man, he was picked by Edgar Rice Burroughs for his own production of The New Adventures of Tarzan, the only one between the silents and the 1960s to present the character accurately, as a sophisticated, polyglot English nobleman. Metro blocked "Adventures" out of most theaters, but it was very popular in the foreign markets, resulting in the Tarzan and the Green Goddess sequel made essentially of reworked footage from the earlier movie. After "Adventures" he made a number of serials for Republic, including a Tarzan-like Kioga in Hawk of the Wilderness (1938). After this he dropped out for a few years, took acting lessons, and changed his name to Bruce Bennett, dropping his Tarzan and athlete connections. He made many movies after that, gaining fame as a leading man in many Warners products. In 1960 he retired from movie making and went into business, becoming sales manager of a multimillion dollar vending machine company. In 1967 he returned to acting in TV guest appearances.


He won a silver medal in the 1928 Olympics for the shot put. Brix was MGM's choice to play Tarzan in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) but lost the role when he suffered a separated shoulder from a tackle in the sports film Touchdown (1931). Johnny Weissmuller became a big star when he won the role. Bruce recuperated and did get to play "Tarzan" in the low-budget indie serial The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935/I). Retired from acting in the '60s and became commercially employed. Lost out at Warner Bros. to test for stronger acting roles because he was too identified as "Herman Brix, former Tarzan and all-around action star." He went into hiding for a time, studied, then won a Columbia Pictures contract and eventually a Warner Bros. contract as Bruce Bennett. A onetime University of Washington football and track-and-field star, he played in the 1926 Rose Bowl as tackle for the Huskies. He graduated in 1928 with a bachelor's degree in economics. Broke his shoulder while filming Touchdown (1931), which cost him the role of MGM's Tarzan, which went to Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller. The injury also caused him to fail to qualify for the 1932 Olympic trials while holding the world record for shot put. Was the fourth born in a family of five children of an immigrant couple from Germany. His eldest brother and father's favored son, Hermann, died before his birth and was given his middle name in this child's memory. To please his father, by high-school he had discontinued using his own first name, Harold, in favor of his middle name, Herman.