Paul Fix

Paul Fix
Born	Peter Paul Fix March 13, 1901(1901-03-13) Dobbs Ferry, New York, U.S.
Died	October 14, 1983(1983-10-14) (aged 82) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Years active	1925–81
Spouse	Frances Harvey (1922-45) (divorced) 1 child Beverly Pratt (1949-79) (her death)

Paul Fix (March 13, 1901, Dobbs Ferry, New York – October 14, 1983, Los Angeles, California) was an American film and television character actor, best known for his work in Westerns. Fix appeared in more than a hundred movies and dozens of television shows over a 56-year career spanning from 1925 to 1981. In the 1950s, Fix was best known for portraying Marshal Micah Torrance alongside Chuck Connors in The Rifleman.

Career

A veteran of the United States Navy during World War I, Fix became an incredibly busy character actor who got his start in local productions around his New York home. By the 1920s he had moved to Hollywood and performed in the first of almost 350 movie and television appearances. In the 1930s, he became friends with John Wayne, coaching him acting, and eventually appearing as a featured player in about twenty-seven of his films.

Fix worked in early films such as Lucky Star (1929) and Ladies Love Brutes (1930), and became a regular performer for the film's director, Frank Borzage, on a further eight occasions. Fix later appeared as Richard Bravo in the 1950s cult classic, The Bad Seed (1955), and in George Stevens' Giant (1956), playing Elizabeth Taylor's father.

Fix may be best-remembered for his role as Marshal Micah Torrance on the ABC Western series The Rifleman, with Chuck Connors and Johnny Crawford. He guest starred on the short-lived detective series, Meet McGraw and on John Payne's Western series, The Restless Gun. He played Dr. Mark Piper, Dr. Leonard McCoy's predecessor in the second pilot episode of Star Trek, "Where No Man Has Gone Before". When NBC picked up Star Trek as a series in 1966, Fix was replaced as the Enterprise medical officer by DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy.

Fix appeared as the presiding judge in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). He played the sheriff in The Sons of Katie Elder. In 1966 he appeared in the film El Dorado. In 1972 he appeared in the film Night of the Lepus. In 1979, he appeared in Wanda Nevada. Fix co-wrote the screenplay for the John Wayne film Tall in the Saddle.^{[citation needed]}

In 1961, Fix appeared as Ramsey Collins in the series finale, "Around the Dark Corner", of the NBC crime drama Dante. That same year he played Dr. Abel in the episode "The Haven" on The DuPont Show with June Allyson. Other television credits included The Adventures of Superman (1953–1954, with Anthony Caruso and Elisha Cook, Jr.) and Northwest Passage, an adventure series.

Fix appeared regularly as District Attorney Hale on Perry Mason (1957–1963). He guest starred on such television series as The Twilight Zone (1964), The F.B.I. (1965–1973), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1966), The Time Tunnel (1966), The Wild Wild West (1966–1967), Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law (1971), and The Rockford Files episode "The House On Willis Avenue" (as Joe Tooley). He appeared on the NBC series Kentucky Jones (1964) as Judge Perkins in the episode "Spare the Rod". He played the role of Pete Maxwell in the 1973 film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

Personal life and death

His daughter Marilyn married actor Harry Carey, Jr. in 1944.^{[citation needed]}

Fix died of renal failure in Los Angeles, aged 82.

Partial filmography

• Ladies Love Brutes (1930)
• Three Girls Lost (1931)
• Bulldog Courage (1935)
• The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936)
• After the Thin Man (1936)
• King of Gamblers (1937)
• It Can't Last Forever (1937)
• Paid to Dance (1937)
• King of Alcatraz (1938)
• Star Reporter (1939)
• Queen of the Mob (1940)
• Down Mexico Way (1941)
• Captive Wild Woman (1943)
• The Fighting Seabees (1944)
• Hitler – Dead or Alive (1945)
• Back to Bataan (1945)
• Force of Evil (1948)
• Wake of the Red Witch (1948)
• It Came from Outer Space (1953)
• Johnny Guitar (1954)
• Blood Alley (1955)
• The Ballad of Josie (1967)

External links

• Paul Fix at the Internet Movie Database
• Paul Fix at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Paul Fix at Battlestar Wiki, an encyclopedia of the Battlestar Galactica sagas
• Paul Fix at Find a Grave