HE WAS NOTHING BUT A MAN

I wanted to take a moment to pay respects to the far too little heralded, actor/director Ivan Dixon. He recently passed in Charolotte, North Carolina at the age of 76. He was best known for his role as Sgt. James 'Kinch' Kinchole, a POW and electronics expert on the sitcom Hogan's Heroes. He also was known for playing the lead role in the sixties film "Nothin' But A Man", which was the story of an aimless railroad worker, who gives up his job to marry a school teacher and minister's daughter. His character then matures along the way as he strives to build a dignified life for the couple living in a deeply prejudicial South. It was groundbreaking because most blacks had not been portrayed like this in film unless it starred Sidney Poitier. Dixon was one of three black actors in the sixties getting steady work (Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby & Ivan). Dixon would go on to play numerous roles throughout his career on major white shows and he played each one with dignity. He seamlessly segued from acting into a directing career in which he directed hundreds of mainstream TV shows, when black directors were not the norm but the exception. I won't ramble on, but upon hearing of his death, I felt I needed to speak on this storied and dignified man's career because he continually fought for better for roles for himself and other black thespians. In the year 1973 he helmed the controversial film, "The Spook Who Sat By the Door", which was based on the novel of the name. It told the fictional story of the first black Central Intelligence Agent ever, who used his new found knowledge from the CIA to start a revolution from the black community. If that film were produced today, it would still be considered controversial. He did this 73'. Only five years earlier, the man gained his civil rights(on paper) and he did a film about black people using "The Man's" chicanery (there's a word I don't get to use often) against him. Man, he could've easily been blackballed (pun very intended) In 1973 Dixon had some mainstream celebrity, but nothing like that of Bill Cosby or Sidney Poitier, who had to become the number one box office draw to direct a film. This is a true testament to the character and career of Ivan Dixon, who was truly "Nothin' But a Man".

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