Tom Mix

Thomas E. Mix (January 6, 1880 – October 11, 1940) was an American film actor, the star of many early Western movies. He made a reported 336 films between 1910 and 1935, all but 9 of them silent features. In the process he became Hollywood?s first larger-than-life Western megastar, and defined the genre for all actors that followed.

Fatal accident

He died October 12, 1940, in an auto accident in Florence, Arizona in which he was killed by a suitcase. Mix was driving his 1937 Cord 812 phaeton at night between Tucson, Arizona and Phoenix, Arizona on a two-lane road when he came to a bridge that had been washed away. Mix?s car catapulted across the empty space and crashed into the other side. Mix was wearing his seat belt and might have survived, except the metal-hardened suitcase he had packed and put on the seat behind him flew free and struck him in the back of the head, shattering his skull and killing him instantly.

Related Topics:
Florence, Arizona - 1937 - Cord 812 - Phaeton - Tucson, Arizona - Phoenix, Arizona

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The accident occurred on what is now Arizona State Route 79. A historical marker resides at the accident location. Mix is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Related Topics:
Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery - Glendale, California

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~