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.
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).
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.
Had two children, Christopher and Christina, by longtime wife Jeannette, who died in 2000. They named their children after his parents, but ironically, Christopher and Christina were also the names of the two eldest children of his "Mildred Pierce" co-star, Joan Crawford.
He attended the "Hollywood Collectors & Celebrities Show" at Beverly Garland's Holiday Inn, in North Hollywood, California.
He enjoyed parasailing and skydiving, leaping out 10,000 feet over Lake Tahoe when he was 96.
He won a silver medal in the 1928 Olympics for the shot put.
His father was a lumber man who owned a couple of different logging camps. Bruce built up his physique working in these lumber camps as a youth.
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.
Moved to Los Angeles in 1929 after being invited to compete for the Los Angeles Athletic Club and became friends with actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr., who arranged a screen test for him at Paramount.
Retired from acting in the '60s and became commercially employed.
Urban legend has it that Brix was personally selected by _Edgar Rice Burroughs_ to play Tarzan in the independent serial The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935/I). In fact, this notion came from publicity material in the serial''s pressbook. As he told his biographer, Mike Chapman, he only met Burroughs briefly, for a handshake and photo-op, days after he had been chosen and contracted for the part by the serial's producer, _Ashton Dearholt_.
Was father to Christopher Brix and Christina Katich; had three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
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.