Ivan Dixon

Infobox Person
name = Ivan Dixon


image_size =
caption =
birth_name =
birth_date = birth date|1931|4|6
birth_place = New York City,
New York,
United States
death_date = death date and age|2008|3|16|1931|4|6
death_place = Charlotte,
North Carolina,
United States
resting_place =
resting_place_coordinates =
other_names =
known_for = "Hogan's Heroes"
spouse = Berlie
children = Doris Nomathande Dixon (daughter), Alan, Ivan Nathaniel IV, N'Gai Christopher (4 children)
parents =
relatives =

Ivan Dixon (April 6 1931 - March 16 2008) was an African American actor and television director, best known for his series role in the 1960s sitcom "Hogan's Heroes", for his Emmy Award-nominated role in the 1967 telefilm "The Final War of Olly Winter", and for directing hundreds of episodes of television series. Active in the Civil Rights Movement, he served as a president of Negro Actors for Action.Fact|date=March 2008

Biography

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). [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/movies/20dixon.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries&oref=slogin "The New York Times", "Ivan Dixon, Actor in 'Hogan’s Heroes,' Dies at 76", By Dennis Hevesi, March 20, 2008] ] He graduated from the "Lincoln Academy" in Gaston County, North Carolina, [http://www.newsobserver.com/2746/story/1025838.html "School's starring role in an actor's life"] ] 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. In 1957, he appeared on Broadway in the William Saroyan play "Cave Dwellers". In 1959, he co-starred in Lorraine Hansberry's groundbreaking drama "Raisin in the Sun", the first produced Broadway play by an African-American woman.

Dixon went on to television roles on "The Twilight Zone" and other series. In 1964 he starred in the independent film "Nothing But a Man", written and directed by Michael Roemer.

"Hogan's Heroes"

In his best-known role, Dixon appeared as POW Staff Sergeant Ivan Kinchloe in the ensemble of the hit television program "Hogan's Heroes". "Kinch" was the communications specialist; he was frequently ordered by Colonel Hogan (portrayed by Bob Crane) to encode a message and send it to Allied Headquarters in London, a submarine, or to the French underground. Dixon played Kinchloe from 1965 to 1970, making him the only original actor on "Hogan's Heroes" not to remain for the entire series. "Hogan's Heroes" ended in 1971, by which time Kenneth Washington had succeeded Dixon.

Film work and directing

From 1970 to 1993, Dixon worked primarily as a television director on such series and TV-movies as "Trouble Man", The Waltons, "The Rockford Files," "The Bionic Woman", "Magnum, P.I." and "The A-Team". He also directed the controversial 1973 feature film "The Spook Who Sat by the Door" based on a novel by Sam Greenlee, about the first black CIA agent, who takes his espionage knowledge and uses it to lead a black guerrilla operation in Chicago, Illinois. "The New York Times" wrote in 2008.

Although "The Spook" caused controversy and was soon pulled from theaters, it later gained cult status as a bootleg video and in 2004 was released on DVD. At that time Mr. Dixon told "The Times" that the movie had tried only to depict black anger, not to suggest armed revolt as a solution.

Occasionally returning to acting, he played a doctor and leader of a guerrilla movement in the controversial 1987 ABC miniseries "Amerika", set in post-Soviet invasion Nebraska.

Later life and death

After his career as an actor and director, Dixon was the owner-operator of radio station KONI (FM) in Maui. In 2001 he left the islands for health reasons and sold the radio station in 2002.

Ivan Dixon died on March 16, 2008, aged 76, at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina due to complications from kidney failure, according to his daughter, Doris Nomathande Dixon.

Filmography

Filmography and TV credits:

*1961 "A Raisin in the Sun" (movie)
*1960 "The Big Tall Wish" episode of "The Twilight Zone"
*1964 "I Am the Night — Color Me Black" episode of "The Twilight Zone".
*1964 "The Inheritors" (Parts 1 & 2) episode of "The Outer Limits"
*1964 "Nothing But a Man" (movie)
*1964 "" (TV series)
*1965 "A Patch of Blue" (movie)
*1965 "Hogan's Heroes" (TV series)
*1967 "The Final War of Ollie Winter" episode of "CBS Playhouse Presents"+1970 "Suppose they Gave a War and Nobody Came Movie
*1970 "McCloud" (TV series)
*1971 "The Bill Cosby Special, or?" (TV)
*1971 "Nichols" (TV series)
*1972 "The Rookies" (TV series)
*1972 "The Waltons" (TV series)
*1972 "Trouble Man"
*1973 "The Spook Who Sat By the Door" (movie)
*1974 "The Sty of the Blind Pig" (TV)
*1974 "Apple's Way" (TV series)
*1974 "Get Christie Love" (TV series)
*1974 "The Rockford Files" (TV series)
*1975 "Khan!" (TV series)
*1975 "Starsky and Hutch" (TV series)
*1976 "The Bionic Woman" (TV series)
*1976 "Wonder Woman" (TV series)
*1976 "Baa Baa Black Sheep" (TV series)
*1976 "Car Wash
*1976 "Quincy" (TV series)
*1977 "The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries" (TV series)
*1978 "Richie Brockelman, Private Eye" (TV series)
*1978 "Love Is Not Enough" (TV)
*1978 "The Eddie Capra Mysteries" (TV series)
*1979 "Harris and Company" (TV series)
*1980 "Tenspeed and Brown Shoe" (TV series)
*1980 "Palmerstown, U.S.A" (TV series)
*1980 "Magnum, P.I." (TV series) (13 episodes)
*1981 "The Righteous Apples" (TV series)
*1981 "The Greatest American Hero" (TV series)
*1981 "Bret Maverick" (TV series)
*1982 "Counterattack: Crime in America" (TV series)
*1982 "Tales of the Gold Monkey" (TV series)
*1983 "The A-Team" (TV series)
*1984 "Hawaiian Heat" (TV series)
*1986 "Downtown" (TV series)
*1988 "In the Heat of the Night" (TV series)
*1989 "Quantum Leap" (TV series)
*1993 "Percy & Thunder" (TV)

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0228853|name=Ivan Dixon
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=SzAggNO0zMo Reelblack TV interview]
*Find A Grave|id=25374330