Robert Dix is a successful actor whose credits include many cult classics. Additionally, Bob is the son of classic Hollywood actor Richard Dix, a highly recognizable personality who made the transition from silent to sound. Bob has shared the screen with many notable stars, including Barbara Stanwyck, Leslie Nielson, Jane Powell, Walter Pidgeon, Glenn Ford, Roger Moore, and others. His Sci-Fi work in the 50s, as well as his work in the 60s and 70s has enjoyed a following that persists to this day. I had the recent pleasure of speaking with Bob about his life and career, as well as his memories of his co-stars and the concept of movie-making.  His newly published book gives readers an honest glimpse into his life, a glimpse into his father's life, and an understanding of the pressures associated with carrying a family name through Hollywood. You can read the transcription and listen to the audio below. If your browser is not equipped with Flash, you can download it right here.

MP: Today I?m speaking with Robert Dix, who, in addition to having his own successful film career, is the son of classic Hollywood actor Richard Dix. Many of Bob?s films have become classics in their own right, including Forbidden Planet, Forty Guns with Barbara Stanwyck, and a handful of cult classics like Frankenstein?s Daughter and various collaborations with director Al Adamson. He?s just completed a new book titled Out of Hollywood: Two Generations of Actors. Bob, thank you so much for your time today.

Bob: It?s really my pleasure Gary. Thanks for the call.

MP: You grew up with a famous father, so, was an acting career something that came by default or did you ever consider another profession?

Bob: Well as you know, I was an identical twin. I had a twin brother ten minutes older than me. My mother had this dream about the twins, one was going to be a doctor and the other was going to be an architect. My brother did follow the early years of pre-med, but we did a play together when we were about 11 years old, The Prince and the Pauper, he was the Prince and I was the Pauper. Afterwards my dad came backstage and he said to me ?Looks like you got it in your blood son?, and to my brother he said ?I?m glad you?re going to be a doctor?. It was really something I always wanted to do professionally and started pursuing that at 16. I went to the National Academy of Theatre Arts in Pleasantville, NY, did a summer in summer stock and carried six different leads under my legal name of Brimmer. A lot of people didn?t know that Richard Dix, his real name was Ernie, Ernest Carlton Brimmer from St. Paul, Minnesota. My grandpa disowned him when he decided he wanted to go into the theatre. He said, ?You?re not taking my good name into the theatre?. In those days it was worse than prostitution. So he took the name Dix from a friend and tacked the name Richard on the front end of it, and that?s how Hollywood and the world knew my father ? Richard Dix. He started in theatre and went west to the early days of Hollywood where Jesse Lasky made him one of the original Lasky Players and got him in the movies, silents. He had quite a career, one of the few men that made the transition from silent to sound. [He made] 99 movies in his life, most of them talkies, though he did quite a few silents. Unfortunately, a lot of them were on nitrate film and so they were lost to history. He was remembered essentially as a Western actor, though he did many other storylines. Cimarron, Edna Ferber?s classic novel, was made into a movie and won the Academy Award as a movie in 1931, starring my dad. He was nominated for Best Actor; I think Lionel Barrymore knocked him out of the #1 position on that, but he used to say he rode the crest of Cimarron for fifteen years. He did all the Zane Grey stories of the west, The Buckskin Empire (sic) [Buckskin Frontier], The Kansan, American Empire, there were a whole slew of them, Vanishing American. Before he passed in 1949, he worked steadily up until 1946 when he had his first heart attack and the last thing he did was a series of mysteries called the Whistler series. From the radio program, they used many of the storylines and Columbia actually made, I think, seven Whistler movies starring Richard Dix. They tried one after dad had his first heart attack and had to quit work, they tried to put another one out without Dix and it bombed. Turner Classic Movies not so long ago did 24 hours on Richard Dix and screened all those Whistler movies. They still hold up pretty well. They?re different characters, each one of them. It?s not the same kind of Sam Spade character, it?s not the same detective in different stories, it was a different character each time dad took the lead in these six (sic) different movies. So briefly that?s Richard Dix?s career. On my website - you?ve been kind enough, and let me say that your Midnight Palace website is really top of the line; I think it?s really well done, and if people check that out, they?ll see that you?ve been kind enough to put a ? and if they?re hearing this, they just scroll down and they can see my autobiography, Robert Dix, and go in there to get a copy of the book, Out of Hollywood. [It was] a labor of love that took me a little over four years to put together. I kept waiting for somebody else to author a biography on Richard Dix and there were several people who said there were works in progress. Long story short, nothing ever came out of it. So far as I know, the only thing that tells the family life of my dad is my autobiography.

MP: How did your dad differ from his on-screen personalities?

Bob: Well he was, in person, he was a private man. He was really adamant about keeping his family life and his family ? and we lived in Beverly Hills when it was more of a village than the city it is today. In fact when he was going downtown, he?d say ?I?m going down to the village?. We had a beautiful home he built in 1934 that Tom Cruise just paid $35 million dollars for, but I must say he added on a lot from the basic 16-room home that was there on 2 ½ acres back in 1934. He (Richard), by nature, and this may surprise you but it?s true of a lot of actors, he was kind of a shy guy. He loved people and the people that worked with him loved him. The years after he was long gone and I was working in Hollywood, crew members and directors and all the various people would come up and say how much they enjoyed my dad as a coworker and as a friend, as a pal. I never had a negative comment from anybody about my dad as a man. Audiences loved him as a portrayal of American man, which we might look around for today (laughs). Personally, as I go through my mind of the superstars, a term we didn?t have back then, of what my father presented to the world, and by that I mean value systems as well as being a good actor and a nice-looking man, he held up a standard that I was always proud of and I know many other Americans were proud of, to be projected on the silver screens of the world. Now we?re producing product, Gary, as you know, some of it, at least for me, I?m not proud to be an American with that stamp of the new Hollywood on it. See, what happened is the money-changers, multi-national corporations bought Hollywood, bottom line. It used to be that they wouldn?t let the money man on the set; this is where the artists performed, whether it be actor, director, makeup artist, sound, camera, they?re all artists in their own right, they painted with light, these guys were really great, and the money man just wasn?t part of that process. Now it?s just done a total 180 where the checks and balances guys are running something that, frankly, a lot of their taste is in their mouth and they have found the common denominator of the belt buckle and below for audiences in the world. Unfortunately, the negative side of human nature is glorified beyond the right to dream that used to underscore, generally speaking, movies from Hollywood, particularly my home lot of MGM. I was privileged to go around and watch rehearsal halls A and B on the lot there; I watched people like Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, and Howard Keel sing and Jane Powell and people like that, that a lot of our young people don?t even know the name today. So, it?s wonderful memories and I think the only thing that?s going to bring it back to underscoring the right to dream is going to be done by individual, independent producers, not by the major studios of the past.

MP: Were there any actors of the day who your dad was friends with, and if so, did you meet any of them?

Bob: Yes. As a matter of fact, on your website now, you?re honoring Chester Morris who was a very dear friend of my dad. The two guys were pals. They owned a beach house together, which today is called the Hollywood Colony of Malibu. The only way you could get there in those days was on horseback. Yeah, they were really close friends. He (Morris) was a very nice man, a highly talented man, remembered by some folks as Boston Blackie ? but if people go to your website they can find out more about Chester Morris. Duke Wayne - John Wayne used to come by our home. He had a group of guys, my dad did, they played cards together. Directors ? Bill Wellman, Wild Bill Wellman ? I can?t remember all the names right now but there weren?t that many, let?s say, big stars that were even invited into the home. Duke Wayne was one of them and I met John Wayne when I was a young actor in Hollywood. I?m remembering him more from that experience than as a young kid seeing him and Joel McCrae and some of these other people in our home. But I was Master of Ceremonies on a thing that a company called American Forum did which was sent out to television stations under the banner of Freedom University of the Air, and John Wayne was one of the people that spoke to the category of the American Way, and he gave a very nice talk from the heart about his feelings about our nation. I remember speaking to him; I said ?You may not remember me Mr. Wayne, but I?m Bob Dix, Richard Dix?s son?. He said, ?I remember you son and don?t call me Mr. Wayne, it?s Duke!? (laughs) He was a wonderful man. A little side story about John Wayne ? in his right pocket he had money for business and in the left pocket of his Levis he had money for friends. If a friend was in trouble, he?d reach in that pocket and give them money, and it wasn?t small amounts. That was just the kind of guy he was. So, I grew up with the sons and daughters of famous people in Beverly Hills, Bel Air ? Patty Wellman, Bill Wellman Jr., Dickie Zanuck (Darryl F. Zanuck?s son), he and I went to Harvard Military Academy together, and Frank Capra Jr., we were all kids from the same neighborhood. Therefore, the glamour of Hollywood did not affect my life like it?d affect some guy who came from the Bronx, New York, Tony Curtis or someone like that who would step into a new world when they became an actor and came to Hollywood. I have some very dear friends that have remained through the years, and actually Gary, it?s interesting, when you make a movie together, you become very close for a concentrated period of time and then the time goes by and you don?t see each other, you?re working on different projects, different parts of the world or different studios, and so you just don?t have the opportunity to see each other. Now, that was true of Leslie Nielson and Forbidden Planet, and Earl Holliman, those guys. I didn?t see Leslie for 50 years, and I was in Milwaukee where my son lives, visiting him, and Leslie was the Grand Marshall of the circus parade in town. That gave me an opportunity, and as I?m walking toward him, I said ?Hiya Commander? (laughs), and he said ?Bob! How are ya?? He didn?t miss a beat. It?s just one of those things. Of course, he?d probably seen my work as I?d seen his and all that, but there?s a closeness that takes place when you work with other actors. Roger Moore and I, 007 James Bond, Roger and I have been close friends through the years. Unfortunately, he lives across the big pond and I?m over here, but those friendships sustain, as did with my dad.

MP: Your dad passed away when you were 14, and your first film role was five years later in 1954?s Athena. What was your life like in those five years between?

Bob: Well, I mentioned the National Academy of Theatre Arts, that it was solidified in my mind that I wanted to pursue the acting profession. I was having trouble with my mother?s second husband. She married a guy that was very affluent, a successful business man ? and I?m sure you?ve seen the blue windmills, Van de Kamp. Walter Van de Kamp and I just did not get along. First of all, he made some moves regarding my dad?s memory which didn?t sit well with me at all. He took a painting out of the living room of the Brentwood home where we were living at the time, and I finally found it behind the hot water heater down in the basement. An oil painting ? bad place for that. But that was just one incident, he and I never got along. So long story short, I ended up getting my own apartment when I was 15. Fortunately my mother had a friend who had a market in Beverly Hills and I became a delivery boy (laughs). I delivered groceries to people like Robert Cummings and the Jack Warner estate, places like that. I?d go in the kitchen door with my apron on, Sales Fulton Market, and they?d say ?Don?t I know you from somewhere?? They were used to me coming in the front door. But it was a good experience. One thing my dad taught my brother and myself, and my sister, was the value of a buck. We had a ranch in the Malibu mountains and spent part of our youth there, besides the home in Beverly Hills. When we lived at the ranch, I had my chores; I had to muck the stalls, saddle soap the tack, and clean out the chicken coups ? I got 25 cents an hour for that. For example, my first .22 rifle ? we bought it and he put it on the mantel piece of the fireplace in the living room at the ranch, and he said ?You earn half of this and I?ll pay for the other half?. So you can bet I did every chore I could think of to earn my half of that rifle. So that served me well through life. I never bought anything I couldn?t pay for except for a house and a car. A lot of things stayed on the want list and didn?t make it to the dean?s list because I didn?t think I could afford it. That lesson, I think, would do good to be taught to young people today. You don?t need instant satisfaction every time you turn around.

MP: Were you able to apply anything that you?d seen in your dad?s work to your own career?

Bob: I think his gratitude to the public for accepting him was the wonderful example to me. He was always most humble about the fact that, as he used to say, John Q. Public loved him, accepted him, would go to his movies ? he was always grateful, and I felt the same way. I felt very grateful that I was able to work in my chosen profession. A lot of actors just simply have to do something else, the day job, whatever it might be, to keep life and limb together so they can have the opportunity to work in movies or television. I was very fortunate there; I was able to make a living as an actor. I never became the star that my father was because, actually, I?m remembered more as a character actor. I did a lot of Westerns on television, Gunsmoke, Rawhide, The Rough Riders with Jan Merlin - who?s a dear friend, The Rifleman, things like that. Again, I was ranch-raised, I rode my horse to school, and I knew which end ate (laughs). So, all the Western stuff ? but I played Indians, I played Union Officers in the army and Confederates ? I did across the board many, many different characters. I never had my own series or things of that nature. So I worked in a total ? at one time counting up movies and television, about 78 I think I came to ? that?s counting some of the early days at MGM where I was getting two or three lines or two or three scenes in a movie, getting started. But yeah, I think gratitude ? and I think it?s important to mention, at MGM, when you were under contract, you had a business manager. He was assigned to you by the studio and you had to go by and visit with him, well, they called for a visit, kind of like an interview: ?How are you getting along? Do you have any problems with your money?? ? that kind of thing. I?ll never forget this guy, Al Corfino said to me ?Remember Bob, as you become more well-known in your chosen profession, people are going to ask you your opinions about different things.? At eighteen, I didn?t have that many opinions about life and the world, Communism or Capitalism, you name it (laughs). But that always stuck with me because, one of the lessons I learned at the National Academy of Theatre Arts was to be a seeker of truth when you?re investigating the background of a character. There?s going to be good and there?s going to be negative about human beings, none of us are perfect. So that should color that character ? and as human beings we, of course, are on that same path that we try to better ourselves as life goes on. It really served me well but I remember, at that time, thinking to myself, ?I don?t have too many opinions? (laughs). At 74 now, I?ve got a few.

MP: A great deal of your initial roles from ?54 to ?56 are listed as uncredited, and it?s almost like a necessary evil when you start out. You put the effort into the role but you?re not listed as having been part of it. Do you consider that beneficial for the experience or do you consider it somewhat unfair?

Bob: I would say it?s beneficial. When you?re starting out, even though I?d had the experience of the theatre, there?s a lot of the mechanics of movie-making - whether it be television or motion pictures - that an actor has to learn until it becomes second nature. You?ve heard the term ?hitting your mark? ? well, when the set has been lit by the lighting director and you?re coming into a two-shot with a leading lady or somebody you?re working with, another actor, you cannot walk up and look down and hit your mark. You?ve got to learn how to, inside you, pace it off ? 2, 3, 1, and then speak your line. That?s just one of them. Finding your key light is another, developing your concentration so that you?re not distracted by something that happens outside the immediate space you?re in. It?s like working your bicep, you develop it after awhile, and those mechanics are very important. You?ve got to know when you?re in frame and when you?ve stepped out of frame, you?ve got to know the camera without looking into the lens. All these little mechanical things have nothing to do with the inner life of your character that you?re portraying. While trying to give life to the character, you can?t be thinking about it, it has to become second nature. So I think that those three or four lines or two or three scenes that I did in numerous movies during that time at MGM, it was very beneficial.

MP: 1956 rolls around and Forbidden Planet is released. The public reaction to the film was really positive despite the fact that Sci-Fi thrillers in the 1950s were so widespread. There?d already been The Day the Earth Stood Still, The War of the Worlds, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers which was released just before Forbidden Planet I believe. Going in, did you have any thoughts about those types of films or that they?d still be admired over fifty years later?

Bob: I don?t think any of us had a clue as to what the life of Forbidden Planet was going to be. The actors, all of us, with the exception of Leslie Nielson who was Canadian and got involved in a picture deal at MGM ? but MGM, as you know Gary, was musicals and adventure stories and things like that, swashbuckling was Stewart Granger. For them to do a science fiction movie ? I remember at the time ? again I?m a young guy, 19 or 20 years old at the time and I?m just thinking about getting my wardrobe call and being prepared to be cooperative beyond the set, be ready to perform when they needed me and so forth ? and I might add as a side, walking on Stage 31 at MGM, which is completely decorated by the set decorators like another planet with a spaceship in the middle of it ? it?s not hard to get into character as a space person (laughs). It was easy to feel like you were a member of a space crew on a planet out there in the solar system. But we all got along fine and we enjoyed the work. I remember people visiting the set at the time because it was a fantastic set. Of course, this is before Disney did all the special effects work. We didn?t have an idea that MGM, known for its musicals, would make a classic science fiction movie. It?s one of those crazy things that happens in Hollywood.

MP: What is it like for a kid in his early 20s to be in Hollywood in the midst of becoming established and to have family roots in the entertainment world? It is full of pressure or is it the greatest thing in the world?

Bob: Well, the first thing that comes to mind is, it?s wonderful to have a loving, successful movie star for a dad. But what happens is, people look at the son and expect a duplication of dad?s performances when he was at the heights of his career. So the standard was set very high for me and I knew it. Fortunately, because of my training at the National Academy, and by the time I got down the mechanics of making movies, rarely did I have a director correct my performance, which I took as a sign of approval of my work and I?d get callbacks by the same directors and companies like 20th Century Fox and so forth. I would say that it was a challenge to carry the name Dix into the movie industry, there?s no question about that.

MP: Were you inspired by the films of your dad?s era?

Bob: Oh, most definitely. Now, I have a favorite, and surprisingly, as much as I enjoy and think that Cimarron is a classic that everybody should see because it still holds up very well as a historical American movie, I personally love Man of Conquest which was the story of General Sam Houston played by my father. That has a value system in it that I think all of us Americans should witness and assimilate to some degree in our lives. It was a great story of a man who sincerely lived by the principles he believed in; and as a matter of fact, when General Sam Houston got to the point where he?d been pursuing Santa Ana?s army or retreating from Santa Ana?s army, his own men had called him a chicken, said he was afraid to fight. He waited until the moment was right, then on a white horse he rode in front of his men, walked back and forth saying, remembering the various different people that were killed in the Alamo. He pulled out his sword and got all these guys lined up and said ?Remember the Alamo!? and he charged down on Santa Ana?s army ? they were having a siesta, and they were outnumbered about ten to one or more, and those people kicked some butt (laughs). Now that particular charge of ?remember the Alamo?, my dad charging down on that white horse, leading all these guys and taking on Santa Ana?s army, is the sequence that inspired John Wayne to make the movie, The Alamo. I just love that movie, Man of Conquest, and I recommend it if you can get a copy of it. I don?t know if it?s been transferred to DVD. I heard from a guy back east that they were going to do a colorization of it and have another world premiere in Houston, Texas. But that?s the last I heard of it. Man of Conquest ? I highly recommend it.

MP: Forty Guns was a 1957 Western starring Barbara Stanwyck, who?d actually worked with your dad in a 1931 short called The Slippery Pearls. Did you have much interaction with her during film; and also, how different was it to make a Western compared to your previous roles?

Bob: Well again, being ranch-raised, I?m very comfortable being around horses and people like cowboys. The first day, walking onto the set at 20th Century Fox, they had a street, a Western street, and I walked on in character as Chico, the young gun to Barry Sullivan and Gene Barry, the Bonnell brothers. By the way, the story was written by Sam Fuller, initially about Wyatt Earp and his two brothers, but he had to change the names because of the series, Wyatt Earp, that was being done by Hugh O?Brien at the time. So we were the Bonnell brothers, but it was about Wyatt Earp and his two brothers and that chunk of history. I walked up to Barbara Stanwyck and introduced myself. I said, ?Ms. Stanwyck, I?m Bob Dix, Richard?s son?, and she got up and gave me a hug and she said, ?Don?t call me Ms. Stanwyck, my name is Missy?. So from then on it was ?Missy? and ?Bob? and she was a wonderful lady. I really enjoyed meeting her and working with her, she was just a professional through and through. If you?ve seen the movie, you?ve seen where she is being dragged by a horse ? that?s her, it?s not a double, and they had wind machines blowing this supposed tornado that she was being dragged through. It wasn?t until I read Bob Wagner?s book that I found out they were lovers, and that really surprised me because of the age difference. But he spoke so highly of her as a human being, as a person, and I certainly saw that when I worked with her.

MP: Around this time, you were going between television work and film work. Are there any specific advantages or disadvantages to working in either medium?

Bob: Well, if I had my druthers, I?d work in movies because they have the time. It just comes down to, again, the shooting schedules are broken down more thoroughly, they have bigger budgets, and they?re able to pick up nuances in the story with a close-up here and there. So you have an opportunity, let?s say, for a more dimensional performance. True of both mediums, TV and movies, as Shakespeare said, the story is the thing. If you?ve got a decent storyline and you?re working in television, it?ll sustain, but there are certain storylines that should be done on the big screen. I think that?s been proven over and over again.

MP: I?d like to talk for a moment about your work with Al Adamson. Many of those films, as I stated in the introduction, are cult classics like 1969?s Satan?s Sadists. They?re clearly over the top, almost intentionally, and exploitive. In fact I believe that it was marketed around the fact that it was filmed at the Spahn Movie Ranch while the Manson family was living there. What were the differences in how those films were shot? Do you think they were a reflection of a change in the public?s mindset?

Bob: Well let me say that the independent producers of Hollywood, which now are very accepted ? just about every movie star has his own production company, but back then in the 60s and 70s, being an independent producer meant that you did a lot of innovating from the inception of the idea through pre-production, production, post-production and then distribution, marketing, and so forth. So it was a whole different ballgame and I was always a snoop Gary. At MGM, if I wasn?t working in a movie, I was going over and watching other people work and seeing how camera, lights and sound and makeup and props and all the various different parts of movie-making, how they approached their work. I became interested in writing first. I thought that some of the stories I was being asked to perform in were pretty bad. So I first got into the independent field by writing a piece for American International Pictures. Jumping forward to Adamson ? no use in me going through that particular screenplay called The Winners, I submitted, and Our Coffin Gang, they managed to steal about four or five sequences out of it so it wasn?t a happy experience. But I was going with a gal, a wonderful, talented lady named Bree Murphy, and Bree was very active as a production manager and as a cinematographer in the independent field. So it was really through Bree that I was able to start working with these people, not only as an actor, but writing. When I was working as an actor, I would work holding the sound boom or again, participating in the actual physical production of a movie. I found that interesting and fulfilling. I met up with Adamson because I had written a Western based on the life of a gunfighter called Ben Thompson; I called it The Lonely Man. It was based on the true story of a man?s life. Adamson liked the screenplay and so the two of us got together, put up a little seed money, each of us, and then proceeded to raise the balance of the funds we needed to make the movie, and shot it in Utah. Now, the Western is available under the title of Five Bloody Graves. It was one of Adamson?s first attempts at directing. Unfortunately a lot of the coverage wasn?t there that should?ve been there but it was pieced together in the cutting rooms and one of the problems with Al, God love him, he was murdered and I don?t mean to speak disparagingly of the man, but he did have a crush on one of the leading ladies and that did affect his work as a director. But I?ll leave that as it may be. Al was Al, and everybody that knew him, worked with him, or seen his product knows what Al Adamson was to the movie industry. When we did Satan?s Sadists, it was a big departure for Russ Tamblyn, from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and a lot of the stuff that Russ had done - and myself and Gary Kent and others, we did this out in the desert out there by Patton?s training grounds in the high desert country, or actually desert center, in California. Anybody that?s seen the movie knows it?s a bloody, rough-and-tumble, no-holds-barred motorcycle bunch and I was one of those motorcycle guys. I did six or seven different motorcycle movies, and actually, we did do part of one of them, I think it was Hell?s Bloody Devils with Adamson, out at the Spahn Ranch but Manson wasn?t there, he was in jail (laughs). That kind of publicity gets out there to sell tickets.

MP: You mentioned a little bit earlier that you still have a close friendship with Roger Moore, who most people are familiar with as James Bond, and you appeared with him in 1973?s Live and Let Die. But you?d worked with him on a few occasions earlier in your career. With that kind of familiarity, do you have any interesting stories you can share about working with Roger?

Bob: Well first of all, it?s true that Roger and I are really like brothers. We just kind of hit it off from the first time we met; he?s like my limey brother. We went around Hollywood, dated starlets and did all the stuff young guys do together. He was under contract to MGM. As I think back, aside from teaching him how to ride a horse, the most interesting story about Roger back in those days was ? he made a movie called Diane, playing the lead with Lana Turner. There was a jousting sequence where he was in full armor, now remember he?d just learned how to ride a horse, so he?s in full armor, he?s got two of Hollywood?s best stuntmen on either side of him as he lowers the lance to the fair maiden played by Lana Turner. She takes out the handkerchief, puts it on his lance, it slides back, and he stuffs it in his shirt. Now the scene is supposed to be that he turns and these guys in armor move off out of frame. Well it all went well until he turned to move out of frame and the two stuntmen kicked their horses and they started a little gallop ? Roger?s horse took off and went to a full gallop, his belly was four feet off the ground and did an extreme left turn just before a big flat at the end of Lot 3 at MGM. Roger went straight ahead and the horse went to the left, and Roger hit the side of that flat, it sounded like somebody dumped a garbage can full of beer cans over, it was just a horrible crash. I was the first guy there because I was really concerned that Roger was hurt, and I pulled up the shield on his faceplate. I said ?Roger, you okay!?? and he said, ?I say Bob, do you have a can opener?? (laughs) I?ll never forget the expression on that. Anyway, unfortunately, we live a long way apart but I do recommend that people go to SirRogerMoore.com and look at his website; he?s got some great stories in there too.

MP: Live and Let Die was your final film. Was there a reason you decided to stop acting?

Bob: Yes, as I?ve alluded to, I was very unhappy with the direction Hollywood was going and I?d learned that the quality of the stories had become, in my opinion, less and less. I was beginning to lose the love I?d had for the world of make believe as I had come up through the ranks at MGM. So I decided to build a new Hollywood. Like a Texan said to me years ago Gary, he said, ?Bob, think little, be little. Think big, be big?. Knowing the history of Hollywood - that it was originally founded because of the locations and the sunshine ? you?re an hour drive from the snow or the beach or the desert or the sea ? plus the weather in southern California needs no promoting by me, it?s known throughout the world, sunny California ? also, very important, the constitution of the state of California had been modified about fifty-one times trying to figure out how to tax this multi-million dollar business, and every time they?d come up with a new idea, the Hollywood guys would get around it, including when they decided to tax two cents on every foot of negative, the guys would just put them in trucks and drive the negatives over to Arizona and use what they call IPs or interpositive negatives, they were used for making prints for the theaters here in Hollywood. Anyway, I knew the importance of the tax picture and I knew the importance of location, location, location. So I ended up on a vacation with my ex-wife Darlene, known as an actress Tara Ashton, Darlene and my young son who was about six months old at the time, in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island. In the back of my mind, I?d been searching for where this location could be and I decided Freeport, Grand Bahama Island. There were 1000 acres available and I decided to take an option on it and put together a whole slew of different endeavors, fundamentally a university for teaching - a movie university, a city in honor of the ladies and gentleman of the old Hollywood ? like a Bogart bar, a Gary Cooper golf course, a Carole Lombard shop and so forth, a Cimarron hotel. So I gained a lot of these ideas from University City and also Walt Disney, who I had the pleasure of knowing, dating his daughter and so forth. That?s why I became inactive in front of the camera; I was over there putting together a deal that took about five years out of my life and eventually failed, frankly, because I wouldn?t play the political games that were required and I had some money people that went sideways on me, so that?s why. I think it?s important to note that I am a recovering alcoholic Gary and I think this failure of what I called Dixieland or The New Hollywood, pushed me more into, what I refer to today as escapism ? as it goes for the recovering alcoholic, one?s too many and a hundred?s not enough. During that period of time also, I did end up getting into recovery and active in the AA program and in my faith, the Baha?i faith. I formed the Baha'i?s in Recovery Fellowship and I traveled all over North America helping people with the 12-step process, that healing process, bringing them to meeting rooms and into the recovery as best I possibly could. That was a large part of my life, and then my mother had purchased a building down in Palm Desert, California, with 42 offices and I ended up managing that building. So I got involved in those different endeavors. As time went by, I also did some specials for Warner Brothers back in Milwaukee where my son was living. I went back there for a while and I put together a special on Dizzy Gillespie, one on the Baha?i principles ? the oneness of mankind, the oneness of God and the oneness of his divine messages with a dance crew from Hollywood. So I kept my hand in but until my mom passed away in 2005, I was involved in taking care of family business.

MP: You mentioned your book, Out of Hollywood: Two Generations of Actors. Obviously you?re sharing not only your personal story but your father?s story as well. What factors led you to write an autobiography?

Bob: Well very simply because I felt the story, the true story, could be of service to people in the world, not only those interested in the profession of becoming an actor but interested in Hollywood history. I sincerely thought that I could tell the true story in such a way that it would offer guidance to others and help them avoid some of the pitfalls in life. So that?s the main purpose of the autobiography. It certainly is not self-aggrandizement in any way, shape or form because I go into, quite explicitly, my fall to becoming what they call a low bottom drunk, and then how I finally got into recovery. I think one of the things that affects people of all ages today, that we really need to consciously combat, and it?s been promoted by Hollywood, is perfectionism ? not to expect perfection from our fellow humans, that we?re all on a path and our life is a journey and we take it one day at a time whether we?re in recovery or not. Always remember, there?s a reason why there are erasers on pencils. I really think, for young people, it?s important and important for everybody. Young people who think, for example, that fame will bring them fortune ? they want this fifteen minutes of fame that we see on YouTube or Facebook, and it?s dangerous stuff because I believe we?re here to learn the lessons of life and apply them, and don?t expect of ourselves or of anybody else that we?re going to be perfect human beings ? one was Jesus Christ and you know what they did to him (laughs). It really needs to be underscored and if I underscored anything in my book it?s that ? be kind to yourself and your fellow man.

MP: I?ve asked this question in the past but I?ve found that it can have many different answers. Was there ever a time while watching one of your dad?s films that you felt the character he played closely resembled the man he was at home?

Bob: Yes, most definitely. It?s like a visit. I have a whole library full of DVDs here in our home and it?s like a visit with my dad. Oh sure, when he?s in character and he?s playing a particular character, I see what he?s doing but there?s also enough of him as a man, the human being, that it?s like a visit. I would say that most definitely. There are two, fundamentally, kinds of actors. One is like my dad was; he was a personality actor, Bogart was a personality actor, Gregory Peck. You can go on about the ladies too in the motion picture business; people would go to a Lana Turner movie or they would go to a Rita Hayworth movie. These were personality actors, and people would go to a Richard Dix movie if it was a Western or a Comedy. So they are personality actors; we have more of the character actor today - Brad Pitt comes to mind when I think in terms of this last thing he did [The Curious Case of Benjamin Button]. My favorite line about Brad, and I don?t know the guy so I don?t mean to be disparaging because I do think he?s developed into a fine actor, but Brad?s brother ?arm? ? have you met him (laughs)? Anyway, powerful personality actors ? Clark Gable, Richard Dix, Humphrey Bogart ? those I don?t see being replaced.

MP: I read online that you?re developing a plan to bring the stories of the Native American Indian community to the public. Is that still in the works?

Bob: Yes most definitely, though I am not actively out there in the field with them anymore. But back in the early 90s, they held their first Native American film festival in Gallup, New Mexico. They called me because they had found one of my dad?s early silent movies called Redskin, which has been lost for 60 years; they found it in the Kennedy Performing Archives in DC. I was brought in and asked to say a few words in front of the audience. The house was packed Gary; they were hanging from the rafters. It was one of the old theaters in downtown Gallup and I had to tell the audience ?I haven?t seen this folks, so we?re going to experience this together!? I didn?t know whether they were going to get up and walk out of there or not because I had no idea what the movie was about. There was a guy on the piano with the original score, and a guy with horse?s hoofs and another guy with guns for gunshots, and they ran this movie. That audience loved it and they stood up afterwards and applauded. Ever since, they?ve been having an annual film festival in Gallup and now they have one in Santa Fe as well, New Mexico. They have developed schools where the young people are learning all the various aspects of filmmaking, story-writing, screenplay writing, sound, camera, acting, and music of course. Whenever you hear a flute, usually that?s a Native American instrument. All these various elements, they are now producing their own product for television and motion pictures and I have worked recently, more as an advisor, and I?ve visited the various reservations across the country ? Carlsbad, that?s Apache, I?ve been in Lakota which is up in North Dakota, and around the country. Today there?s a unity in the tribes which has been brought about through their ability to get gambling licenses. So there?s a whole effort now going on to produce television and motion pictures that doesn?t show the Indian as bad guy - unfortunately in the early days of Hollywood, they needed a villain and the Indian got that role, which certainly was not the case. I think more of the true history now, Wounded Knee and all, is going to be coming to the screens of the world.

MP: Your official website is RobertDix.com. You also attend conventions from time to time. How important is it for you to keep in contact with fans?

Bob: Well I love it. Back to my early conditioning by my dad, I?m very grateful and thankful to people interested in my work and my dad?s work. The film festivals that I attend are always like a reunion, even though some people I?ve never met before, because they know of my work. As I state on my website, there are no strangers, only friends I haven?t met yet. So I really do enjoy it, whether it?s signing an autographed picture for them, or I have several different movies on DVD they?re able to acquire. My website is still under construction; we need to get more pictures on there and make an offering of the DVDs that are available that we have the rights to now. It?s more like sustaining a friendship or a relationship that really shouldn?t be forgotten.

MP: Near the beginning of the interview, you mentioned that you?re hoping and waiting that someone will write a definitive biography on your father. Have you ever considered taking a shot at it yourself?

Bob: Yes I have, since I?ve completed my autobiography. But frankly, there is a man who is a historian that is doing it now and I?m working with him, and I?m going to write the preface to his book. So I?m waiting on the manuscript as we speak so that I can review that. So yes, we?re collaborating, a man named Dan Van and myself, and I?ll keep you posted Gary on when it?s available.

MP: Once again, I?ve been talking to Robert Dix, who has recently added ?published author? to his list of credits. Both he and his father Richard Dix enjoyed successful careers and continue to inspire other actors to this day. Bob, I?d like to thank you again for your time and I hope we have a chance to speak again in the near future.

Bob: Well thank you Gary, and my very best to you and Sarah, and as the Irish say, ?Keep the wind at your back?.

MP: Thanks Bob.

Bob: You're welcome.