1. Bruce Bennett was the fourth of five children born to an immigrant couple from Germany.
15 Facts About Bruce Bennett
1. 2.
Bruce Bennett played college football at the University of Washington, where he majored in economics.
3.
Bruce Bennett played in the 1926 Rose Bowl and was a track-and-field star.
4.
Bruce Bennett won the Silver medal for the shot put in the 1928 Olympic Games.
5.
Bruce Bennett won four consecutive AAU shot put titles, the NCAA title in 1927, and the AAU indoor titles in 1930 and 1932.
6.
Bruce Bennett moved to Los Angeles in 1929 after being invited to compete for the Los Angeles Athletic Club and befriended actor Douglas Fairbanks, who arranged a screen test for him at Paramount.
7.
Bruce Bennett broke his shoulder filming the 1931 football film Touchdown, so swimming champion Johnny Weissmuller replaced Bruce Bennett.
8.
Bruce Bennett portrayed the titular hero in Republic's serial Hawk of the Wilderness.
9.
Bruce Bennett worked in serials and action features for low-budget studios until 1939.
10.
In 1954, Bruce Bennett played William Quantrill, the Confederate guerrilla figure, in an episode of the syndicated television series Stories of the Century.
11.
Bruce Bennett made five guest appearances on Perry Mason and five episodes of Science Fiction Theatre.
12.
Bruce Bennett co-wrote and starred in Fiend of Dope Island.
13.
Bruce Bennett had two children, Christopher and Christina, by wife Jeannette, who died in 2000.
14.
Bruce Bennett last skydived at the age of 96, descending from an altitude of 10,000 feet near Lake Tahoe.
15.
Bruce Bennett died at 100 on February 24,2007 from complications of a broken hip, just 3 months before his 101st birthday.