Trivia

Served as a pallbearer at the funeral of legendary western lawman Wyatt Earp in 1929.

Never had kind words for John Wayne because, many believe, he was afraid that Wayne would push him out of the limelight. That hatred grew as Wayne's star rose and, due to the fact that Mix wouldn't take a pay cut to do radio, his own star began to fall. Asked by a journalist what he thought of Wayne, Mix only replied, "The only Christian words that I could use are 'no-talent upstart'." Wayne, for his part, had disliked Mix since Wayne's college days at USC, when Mix told several members of the football team (Wayne among them) to stop by Fox Studios and he would get them jobs in the movies. Wayne and several others did so a few weeks later, only to be informed that Mix had never told anyone at the studio about his promises of employment, and they were thrown off the lot. Wayne never forgave Mix.

At one point during the height of his career, he had all his cars fitted with custom-manufactured tires specially molded to leave tracks with his initials TM in the road.

On October 12, 1940, while driving his 1937 Cord Sportsman through the Arizona desert he took a turn too fast, a suitcase broke loose and struck him in the head and his car plunged into a ravine. The ravine was later named "The Tom Mix Wash" in his honor. A plaque at the location reads: "TOM MIX January 6, 1880 - October 12, 1940 Whose spirit left his body on this spot and whose characterization and portrayals in life served to better fix memories of the old west in the minds of living men.".

He never thought much of his acting ability. Once when a director asked him to change expressions, he responded, "Which one do you want? One? Two? Or three?".

Made over $6,000,000 during his career but an extravagant lifestyle had sharply reduced his estate to a modest amount by the time he died.

Was portrayed by Bruce Willis in Sunset (1988).

In 1939, shortly before the Second World War, Mix appeared with his Tom Mix Circus in Germany. Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, who was an enthusiastic film fan and admirer of Mix, welcomed the western star via telephone in Germany. It is reported that Mix answered to Hitler: "I would like to visit my fans in Germany again, but only over your dead body.".

On April 13, 2002, his guns were stolen from the Tom Mix Museum in Dewey, OK.

In 1904 he was a bartender and marshal in the small town of Dewey, OK, which is also the hometown of actor/filmmaker Adam Ropp. Ropp is a close friend of the Tom Mix Museum and visits on a regular basis. Ironically, Ropp's directorial debut (Last Conversation (2003)) was shot in Dewey and starred Mix's great- great-grandnephew, Bret Mix.

He deserted the army to marry his first wife, Grace Allin; the fact that he was a deserter did not come up until after his death, by which time he was so famous that the army had to hold its tongue and give him a full military burial. This dovetails neatly into the known facts and into the legend of Tom Mix.

Credited with revolutionizing the Western film genre by eschewing realism in favor of more fantastical, lighthearted story lines and picturesque visual elements (clean, expensively tailored costumes, etc). He is often presented by film historians as the first 'rhinestone' cowboy.

According to author Jeff Guinn, Mix was good friends with Frank Hamer, the Texas Ranger who became famous for bringing to justice the members of the Newton Brothers gang (1924) and for tracking down outlaws Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker (1934).

Appears on sleeve of The Beatles' "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album.

Rumors that that his radio career never got off the ground after he left films because his voice was high-pitched are not true. His voice, in fact, was deep and husky in tone. Radio was such a low-paying profession that it could not support his high-on-the-hog style of living. He loved sports cars, wild parties and fancy clothes. He owned a huge Hollywood mansion that had his name emblazoned above it in neon lights and had numerous ex-wives to support. He instead left films for his true passion, the circus. He became one of its greatest showmen.

Clifford Irving wrote a historical fiction novel, "Tom Mix and Pancho Villa", about Mix's involvement with Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa and his supposedly joining Villa's army in the fight against dictator Porfirio Díaz in the bloody Mexican civil wars of the early 20th century. While it's known that Mix did spend time in Mexico during that violent era and had mentioned years later that he had in fact met Villa, it's not known if their association was as close as Irving claimed it was in the novel.

Despite stories to the contrary, he was not a member of President Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders in Cuba during the Spanish-American War.

At his funeral Rudy Vallee sang "Empty Saddles".

Daughter with Victoria Forde, Thomasina.

He was Peter Cushing's childhood hero.

Daughter with Olive Mix, Ruth Mix.

An oft-repeated story is that Mix was the original choice to play the lead in Fox's epic wide screen western The Big Trail (1930), but that he was busy working on another film, thus forcing Fox to give John Wayne his first starring role. This story is untrue. Mix had left Fox at the end of 1927. His last films for the studio were released in 1928, by which time he had moved to FBO Pictures. He made five films for FBO, the last released in 1929. Mix left filmmaking afterwards and did not return to cinema until he signed with Universal in 1932.

He was a stunt rider with The Millers Brothers One O One Ranch , the most famous of the Wild West Shows.

Great-uncle of DeWalt Mix.

Charter member of the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1958.

Was the favorite movie star of "Jed Clampett", the patriarch of the Clampett family in The Beverly Hillbillies (1962).

His parents were Edwin and Elizabeth Mix. They named him Thomas Hezikiah Mix. When he enlisted in the army in 1898, he listed his name as Thomas E. Mix (for Edwin).

Is mentioned in The Clampetts Strike Oil (1962).

He is mentioned in the song "TV is the Thing This Year" (1953) written by William Sanford and Phil Medley.

Fawcett Comics published 61 issues of Tom Mix Western from 1948 to 1953.

His cowboy boot prints, palm prints and the hoof prints of his horse, Tony, are at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard.

In 1935, Texas governor James V. Allred named Mix an honorary Texas Ranger.

In 1958 Mix was inducted posthumously into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Most of Mix's radio work has been lost over the years; recordings of only approximately 30 scattered episodes, and no complete story arcs, survive.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Mix has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1708 Vine Street.

Mix made 291 movies throughout his career. As of 2007, only about 10% of these were known to be available for viewing, though it is unclear how many are now considered lost films.

Mix's last screen appearance was a 15-episode sound Mascot Pictures serial, The Miracle Rider (1935); he received $40,000 for the four weeks of filming. Outdoor action sequences for the production were filmed primarily on the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, California, on the outskirts of Los Angeles. The site was known for its huge sandstone boulders, and one of them later became known as Tom Mix Rock when it was discovered it had been used in The Miracle Rider. In one episode, Mix was filmed descending from the top of the rock, with boot holes carved into it to assist him in making the descent. The rock and the boot holes, although unmarked, is in the Garden of the Gods park in Chatsworth.

When an injury caused football player Marion Morrison (later known as John Wayne) to drop out of the University of Southern California, Mix helped him find work moving props in the back lot of Fox Studios. That was the beginning of Wayne's Hollywood career.

Comics featuring Tom Mix were also published in Sweden, Germany, Canada, Australia, and Great Britain, including L. Miller & Son's Tom Mix Western Comics, which ran 85 issues from 1948 to 1951.

In 1935 Mix returned to circus performing, now with his eldest daughter Ruth, who appeared in some of his films. In 1938, he went to Europe on a promotional trip, leaving Ruth behind to manage the circus. Without him, however, the circus soon failed, and he later excluded her from his will. Mix had reportedly made over $6 million (equivalent to $128 million in 2022) during his 26-year film career.

Profiled in "Back in the Saddle: Essays on Western Film and Television Actors", Gary Yoggy, ed. (McFarland, 1998).

He had a sister.

He saw action in the Boer War, the Boxer Rebellion and the Phillipines and in between them served as a Texas Ranger and as a marshal in Oklahoma..

Daryl Ponicsan's novel Tom Mix Died for Your Sins (1975) evokes Mix's life and personality.

Mix was killed when his car overturned while he was taking a detour 18 miles south of Florence, Arizona.