In honor of TCM and their “Summer Under the Stars” series, we launch our companion series, Summer Madness. The series will spotlight the achievements and films of one Black actor, daily throughout the month of August.
Day 9
Ivan Nathaniel Dixon III (April 6, 1931 – March 16, 2008) was an 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.
In 1957, Dixon appeared on Broadway in William Saroyan’s The Cave Dwellers, following this in 1959 with an appearance in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. In 1958, he was a stunt double for Sidney Poitier in the film The Defiant Ones and 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 February 20, 1962, Dixon co-starred with Dorothy Dandridge in the “Blues for a Junkman” episode of “Cain’s Hundred“, which was highest rated episode of the series.An expanded version was released as a feature film in Europe entitled The Murder Men and became Dandridge’s last screen appearance.
In 1964, Dixon starred in the independent film, Nothing But a Man, written and directed by Michael Roemer; it was Dixon’s performance in this film he was most proud of. In his best-known role, Dixon appeared as POW Staff Sergeant James (Ivan) “Kinch” Kinchloe in the ensemble cast of the television sitcom Hogan’s Heroes. “Kinch” was the communications specialist, a translator of French, and the default third in command. Dixon played Kinchloe from 1965 to 1970, the only one of the series’ long-time cast not to remain for the entire series. Kenneth Washington succeeded Dixon for the last year of the show’s run, albeit with a different character name.
Dixon’s first feature film as director was the blaxploitation thriller, Trouble Man. He also directed the controversial 1973 feature film, The Spook Who Sat by the Door, based on Sam Greenlee’s novel of the same name, about the first black CIA agent, who takes his espionage knowledge and uses it to lead a black guerrilla operation in Chicago.
Dixon died on March 16, 2008, aged 76, at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina, of complications from kidney failure. #SummerMadness #Dixon
Recommended films:
A Raisin in the Sun (’61)
Nothing But A Man (’64)
A Patch of Blue (’65)
The Spook Who Sat By the Door (’73)
Car Wash (’76)
