Hollywood actor and friend of Roger Moore dies at the age of 83

Robert Dix, the famous actor from Forbidden Planet and Forty Guns, who was also notorious for playing psycho-related roles, has died at the age of 83.

Robert drew his last breath on Monday, August 6, 2018, of respiratory failure at a hospital in Tucson, Arizona.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the news outlet learned of the actor's passing through his wife, Lynette Dix.

Robert was the youngest son - if only by 10 minutes - of Richard Dix, one of the actors who made the transition from silent movies to talkies and received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his role in Cimarron.

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Born in Los Angeles on May 8, 1935, Robert grew up in Beverly Hills and spent some of his childhood on a Malibu Ranch.

His first job was delivering groceries at the local market for characters such as Jimmy Stewart and Robert Cummings.

At the age of 14, his father died of a heart attack and, four years later, his brother, Richard Dix Jr. lost his life in a logging accident. His mother eventually got married again, this time to food magnate Waler Van De Kamp.

Robert attended the National Academy of Theater Arts in Pleasantville, New York. After that, he signed a seven-year deal with MGM thanks to his good friend Tom Tannenbaum, the son of the Beverly Hills Mayor.

In 1955, he played small roles in seven films, including I'll Cry Tomorrow, Love Me or Leave Me and The Glass Slipper. But his MGM gig only lasted for two years because of the arrival of television.

He managed to appear in several TV shows, particularly Westerns, such as Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, Death Valley Days and Rawhide. and he also had a role in the 1969 TV movie Wild Wheels.

Shortly after, Robert went on to star in low-budget horror flicks, always portraying the role of the 'psycho,' with Blood of Dracula's Castle, Satan's Sadists and Hell's Bloody Devils being some of his most famous horror movies.

"When you actually have to develop the inner life of a character who was nuts, that was an interesting challenge."

Robert Dix, Interview with Tom Weaver, September 19, 2003

He is survived by his wife, children Jana and Robert, two grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. The funeral service is scheduled to take place on August 10 at Russellville-Dragoon Cemetery in Cochise County, Arizona, at 10 a.m.