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Allan Nixon, a rugged actor known for tough-guy roles onscreen and a formidable presence offscreen during the 1940s and 1950s, was born on August 17, 1915, in Boston, Massachusetts. Initially focused on sports, he studied journalism at the University of Richmond on a football scholarship but left before graduating after signing with the Washington Redskins. When his football career ended, he pursued professional wrestling.
While in New York, Nixon worked with the John Robert Powers modeling agency, which led to MGM signing him as a client and relocating him to the West Coast. However, the studio only offered him uncredited bit parts in secondary wartime films such as Rookies on Parade (1941), The Bugle Sounds (1942), Thunder Birds: Soldiers of the Air (1942), and Margin for Error (1943). In 1942, he married the glamorous Marie Wilson, famous for her "dumb blonde" roles in comedies like My Friend Irma.
After serving in the Signal Corps during World War II, Nixon found his already fragile career stalled. Struggling to find roles as a freelance actor, he developed a reputation for heavy drinking and arrests related to disorderly conduct. He appeared in minor roles post-war in Dragnet (1947) and Linda, Be Good (1947), the latter featuring his wife Marie.
Nixon’s dark, rugged looks made him a candidate to replace Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan, but the role ultimately went to Lex Barker. He then sought stage work, touring with Mae West in Come On Up and performing alongside Ann Dvorak in Anna Lucasta, Gladys George in Rain, and Marie Wilson in The School for Scandal and Three Out of Four.
Though Nixon secured a more prominent role in Siren of Atlantis (1948), starring Maria Montez, and a leading part as a caveman in the cult classic Prehistoric Women (1950), his career was hampered by frequent arrests for drinking and fighting. Czech producer and director Hugo Haas gave him a break with a co-starring role alongside Haas’ wife Beverly Michaels in the exploitation film Pickup (1951), released by Columbia. Although Columbia signed him, they quickly lost interest due to his rebellious behavior and personal troubles.
Marie Wilson, the primary earner who had helped him find work, grew tired of his instability. After several separations, she divorced Nixon in 1952. Without her support, roles became scarce, limited to TV westerns such as Death Valley Days, Wild Bill Hickok, Judge Roy Bean, and Tales of the Texas Rangers, as well as low-budget films like Outlaw Women (1952), Mesa of Lost Women (1953, lead), Untamed Mistress (1956, lead), and Apache Warrior (1957).
Nixon’s second marriage was annulled quickly in 1954, and his third in 1957 ended amid violence. Struggling financially, he sold information to tabloid magazines. Although Warner Bros. producer William T. Orr gave him opportunities with bit parts on television, Nixon quit acting in 1962. His fourth marriage brought stability, and he found financial security as a novelist of lurid novels, including Blessed Are the Damned, The Sex Symbol, and The Bitch Goddess. Allan Nixon passed away from emphysema on April 13, 1995, at the age of 79.
