Biography
Forceful African American leading man Ivan Dixon first commanded notice from theatergoers for his performance in the 1957 Broadway play The Cave Dwellers. He entered films as Sidney Poiter's double and stand-in with
Something of Value (1957) and
The Defiant Ones (1958), ultimately sharing scenes with Poitier in
Porgy and Bess (1959) and
Raisin in the Sun (1961). In 1964's
Nothing But a Man, Dixon starred as Duff Anderson, an irresponsible Alabama railroad worker whose late-blooming maturity forms the nucleus of the film. Dixon's TV work includes the role of Kinchloe on the POW sitcom
Hogan's Heroes and his Emmy-nominated starring role on the 1967 dramatic special The Private War of Olly Winter. In his later years, Ivan Dixon remained active as a director and a performer: he helmed the theatrical features
Trouble Man (1972) and
The Spook Who Sat By the Door (1992), such TV movies as
Love is Not Enough and
Percy and Thunder, and several episodes of the TV adventure series
Hawaiian Heat (1984). Dixon died at age 76 in March 2008. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide