Early Life and Career
Ivan Nathaniel Dixon, III, was born in Harlem, the son of a grocery store owner. When he was young, Dixon lived in the brownstone at 518 W. 150th St. in Harlem. Living on the same block were Josh White, Ralph Ellison and the Hines brothers, (Gregory and Maurice). He graduated from the Lincoln Academy in Gaston County, North Carolina, and went on to earn a drama degree from North Carolina Central University in 1954, where the theater troupe is known as the Ivan Dixon Players. He also became a member of Omega Psi Phi, while in attendance. In 1957, he appeared on Broadway in the William Saroyan play Cave Dwellers. In 1958, he was a stunt double for Sidney Poitier in The Defiant Ones. In 1959, he co-starred in Lorraine Hansberry's groundbreaking drama Raisin in the Sun, the first produced Broadway play by a black woman.
Dixon went on to television roles on The Twilight Zone (in the episodes "The Big Tall Wish" and "I Am the Night—Color Me Black"), Perry Mason, and other series.
On September 25, 1962, he portrayed Jamie Davis, a livery stable groom, in the episode "Among the Missing" of NBC's Laramie western series. Series character Jess Harper (Robert Fuller) pursues bank robbers, played by L. Q. Jones and Jan Merlin, who seriously wounded series character Mike Williams (Dennis Holmes). Jess' search leads him to the unfriendly town of Chloride, where he faces a corrupt sheriff, Tyler Shaw, portrayed by Claude Akins. Jess' only ally turns out to be the livery stable groom.
In 1964, Dixon starred in the independent film Nothing But a Man, written and directed by Michael Roemer. He appeared in an episode of ABC's The Fugitive entitled "Escape into Black".
Read more about this topic: Ivan Dixon
Famous quotes containing the words early life, early, life and/or career:
“... business training in early life should not be regarded solely as insurance against destitution in the case of an emergency. For from business experience women can gain, too, knowledge of the world and of human beings, which should be of immeasurable value to their marriage careers. Self-discipline, co-operation, adaptability, efficiency, economic management,—if she learns these in her business life she is liable for many less heartbreaks and disappointments in her married life.”
—Hortense Odlum (1892–?)
“Early education can only promise to help make the third and fourth and fifth years of life good ones. It cannot insure without fail that any tomorrow will be successful. Nothing “fixes” a child for life, no matter what happens next. But exciting, pleasing early experiences are seldom sloughed off. They go with the child, on into first grade, on into the child’s long life ahead.”
—James L. Hymes, Jr. (20th century)
“Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)
“I began my editorial career with the presidency of Mr. Adams, and my principal object was to render his administration all the assistance in my power. I flattered myself with the hope of accompanying him through [his] voyage, and of partaking in a trifling degree, of the glory of the enterprise; but he suddenly tacked about, and I could follow him no longer. I therefore waited for the first opportunity to haul down my sails.”
—William Cobbett (1762–1835)