Ivan Dixon

At 76 years old, Ivan Dixon has this physical status:

Ivan Nathaniel Dixon III (April 6, 1931 – March 16, 2008) was an American actor, director, and producer best known for his series role in the 1960s sitcom Hogan's Heroes, for his role in the 1967 television film The Final War of Olly Winter, and for directing many episodes of television series.

Active in the civil rights movement since 1961, he served as a president of Negro Actors for Action.

Early life and education

Ivan Nathaniel Dixon III was born in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, the son of a grocery store owner and his wife, who together later owned a bakery. His parents separated when he was young, and he lived at his mother's apartment while working in his father's grocery store. His father, also named Ivan, fought with distinction in World War I and read Yiddish. When he was young, the family lived in a brownstone at 518 West 150th Street in Harlem, on the same block with Josh White, writer Ralph Ellison, and the tap dancing Hines brothers, Gregory and Maurice.

He graduated from Lincoln Academy, a private black boarding school in Gaston County, North Carolina. He subsequently earned a drama degree in 1954 from North Carolina Central University (NCCU), a historically black college. Its theater troupe is now known as the Ivan Dixon Players in his honor. While at NCCU, he joined the Omega Psi Phi fraternity.

Dixon also later studied drama at Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland, Ohio, followed by the American Theatre Wing after returning to New York City.

Personal life

In 1954, the same year Dixon graduated from North Carolina Central University, he married theater student Berlie Ray. The couple had four children: sons Ivan IV, N'Gai Christopher, and Alan Kimara Dixon; and daughter Doris Nomathande Dixon.

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Career

Dixon performed on stage, as well as in both films and television series or specials. Dixon appeared on Broadway in William Saroyan's The Cave Dwellers in 1957. He appeared in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun in 1959.

In 1958, he served as a stunt double for Sidney Poitier in the film The Defiant Ones. He appeared in two episodes of The Twilight Zone: "The Big Tall Wish" — as the lead in a largely black cast on a television drama — as the lead — and a central supporting role in "I Am the Night —Color Me Black." Dixon appeared with Dorothy Dandridge in the "Blues for a Junkman" episode of Cain's Hundred in 1962; it was the highest-rated episode of the series. The Murder Men was an extended version of Dandridge's last film appearance; this was an extended version.

In the episode "Among the Missing" of NBC's Laramie western series, Dixon portrayed Jamie Davis, a livery stable groom. In the Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Nebulous Nephew," he appeared as John Brooks, alias Caleb Stone IV.

Dixon appeared in Nothing But a Man, written and directed by Michael Roemer; Dixon said he was proud of his appearance. He appeared in two episodes of ABC's "Escape into Black" and "Dossier on a Diplomat."

Dixon played as prisoner of war Staff Sergeant James "Kinch" Kinchloe in the ensemble cast of the television sitcom Heroes, in his best-known role. "Kinch" was the communications specialist, a German-speaking translator, and Hogan's default second-in-command. Dixon appeared on Kinchloe from 1965 to 1970, becoming the only one of the series's long-time cast members not to stick around for the entire series run. Kenneth Washington was cast as Dixon for the last year of the show's run, portraying a different character in a similar role.

Dixon was nominated for an Emmy Award for his role in the television film The Final War of Olly Winter (1967).

Dixon spent his time as a television producer on such television shows as The Waltons, The Rockford Files, The Bionic Woman, The Eddie Capra Mysteries, Magnum, P.I., and The A-Team, from 1970 to 1993.

Trouble Man, Dixon's first feature film as director, was the blaxploitation thriller. He also produced the controversial 1973 film The Spook Who Sat By the Door, based on Sam Greenlee's 1969 book of the same name. It was the first black CIA agent who used his espionage expertise to lead a black guerrilla campaign in Chicago.

The New York Times wrote in 2008:

Dixon appeared on stage in the 1970s and 1980s. Lonnie, the straw boss in 1976's Car Wash (1976), was one of the few notable people to play in 1976's Car Wash (1976). In the ABC miniseries Amerika (1987), set in post-Soviet invasion Nebraska, he was a scientist and leader of a resistance movement.

Dixon served as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts' Expansion Arts Advisory Panel in 1978.

Dixon became the owner-operator of radio station KONI (FM) on Maui after his career as an actor and producer. He left Hawaii for health reasons in 2001 and sold the radio station in 2002.

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Awards and honors

• National Black Theatre Award
• Paul Robeson Pioneer Award, Black American Cinema Society