January 6, 1880
On this day Tom Mix, one of America’s first celluloid cowboys, was born, and the first said to literally be killed by his money.
Appearing in more than 300 movies, at the top of his career he earned upwards of $200,000 a week in today’s money. But his free spending and multiple wives cost the first “King of the Cowboys” an estimated $100 million.
Thomas Hezikiah Mix (right) was raised on the estate of a Pennsylvania timber baron where his father was employed. He became an expert equestrian but his dream wasn’t to be a cowboy. He wanted to join the circus. Apparently hoping to improve his chances at making it to the Big Top, family members reported young Tom was caught practicing a knife-throwing act with his sister as his fearless assistant.
But Mix joined the Army instead. Signing up in 1898 during the Spanish-American War, his military career ended ingloriously Apparently preferring to play bride groom rather than soldier, he married his first wife, Grace Allin, and failed to return after being on furlough. Declared AWOL in 1902, he stayed one step of the MPs by defecting to Oklahoma.
Giving new meaning to the term “odd jobs,” his included the mundane to the fanciful – from bartender to sheriff of the new town of Dewey, drum 
major for the Oklahoma Calvary Band and trick rider in the 101 Ranch Wild West Show. It’s what eventually landed Mix in the movies.
Originally hired to enlist cowboys and Indians for Selig Polyscope Company’s documentary about ranch life he wound up in the role as himself. Over the next eight years, he appeared in more than 100 films for Selig and still found time to wed and shed two wives; Jewel “Kitty” Perrine and Olive Stokes. (Mix with Stokes, above)
Selig co-star, Victoria Forde, (right) was Mrs. Mix number four and another 160 movies followed in the 1920s. With trick riding, gaudy costumes and his celebrity horse named Tony, (below) Mix was the undisputed “King of the Cowboys.” The guy in the white hat always saved the day and almost always got the girl.
Over the years Mix managed to feud with a number of important Hollywood figures, including the young John Wayne, whom he saw as a 
rival and Joseph P. Kennedy, head of the Fox studio at the time and the father of a future president. Calling Kennedy “a tight-assed, money-crazed s.o.b.” in a very public salary dispute, he promptly signed with his third studio, Universal.
Mix’s dream finally came true in 1929. He joined the circus. Appearing for three years with the Sells-Floto show for a reported $20,000 a week, more than $200,000 today, he was one of the country’s highest paid performers.
With the advent of talkies, in 1932 Universal Studios finally got around to considering a relaunch of Mix as King of the Cowboys. The studio made Mix an offer he couldn’t refuse. The Great Depression and the $100 million price tag for five marriages had left him facing hard times.
His comeback was short-lived, however. A series of broken noses from doing his own stunts may have affected his voice but his inability to deliver dialog actually spelled the end to his movie career.
Mix again fell back on his first love, purchasing the Sam B. Dill Circus in 1935. That didn’t work out well, either. While on a promotional tour in Europe he left his daughter, Ruth, in charge. Absent his star power the show quickly foundered and closed. Furious, Mix reportedly wrote Ruth out of his will.
Tom Mix circus poster
With the promise of another revival, on October 12, 1940, Mix headed for Los Angeles driving his 1937 Cord. Near Florence, Arizona, he sped past a construction barrier that marked a bridge washout and crashed into a gully. It may have been the plunge into the ravine that was fatal but most likely it was the large aluminum suitcase full of cash, jewelry and travelers checks that lurched forward and broke his neck. “Killed by his money,” the tabloid headlines screamed.
Mix was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale. He was just 60. His star is on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, his boot prints and Tony’s hoof prints can be found at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. He was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western 
Museum in Oklahoma City in 1958.
The title of “King of the Cowboys” was passed on to other cinema legends over the years. But Tom Mix, the guy in the white hat who always saved the day, is credited with influencing a generation of young Western film stars including the Duke himself, John Wayne. (Left, Wayne in 1930s)
The Tom Mix Museum, 721 N Delaware Street., Dewey, Okla., not only recalls the period when Mix served as the community’s first lawman in 1912, but includes a collection of his Hollywood memorabilia, saddles, clothing and photographs plus a life-size replica of Tony The Wonder Horse. The 1912-era jail which was used by Mix during his tenure in Dewey was deconstructed in 2013 and relocated at 801 N. Delaware Street near the historic Dewey Hotel.
The museum, an Oklahoma Historical Society site, is administered by Tom Mix Museum, Inc. It’s open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 to 4:30 from March through December and open in February on Thursday through Saturday from 10 to 4:30. The museum is closed during January and on all Oklahoma state holidays. For more information go to tommixmuseum.com, call (918) 534-1555 or write Tom Mix Museum, PO Box 190. Dewey, OK 74029.
© Text Only – 2018 – Headin’ West LLC – All photos – public domain or fair use.
*Head On West strives for historic accuracy and uses a number of sources considered reliable. When research differs on significant facts, the various points of view will be cited.