Ivan Dixon - Early Life and Career

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".