Ruth Mix Real name: Nadine Ruth Mix 1912 - 1977 (or 1972)  (Courtesy of Andy Southard) | Ruth Mix was the real-life daughter of silver screen legend Tom Mix, and was born in Oklahoma in 1912 to Mix and Olive Stokes Mix. She was doing silent films in the mid 1920s, and purportedly worked on Broadway and the vaudeville circuit around the beginning of the 1930s. In total, Ruth Mix made a dozen or so westerns and serials, none of which were for the major production companies. Ruth is best remembered for her work in: A quartet of oaters starring Rex Bell for Resolute Pictures --- THE TONTO KID (1935), FIGHTING PIONEERS (1935), SADDLE ACES (1935) and GUNFIRE (1935). Heroine duty in three cliffhangers for Stage and Screen --- THE BLACK COIN (1936), THE AMAZING EXPLOITS OF THE CLUTCHING HAND (1936), and CUSTER'S LAST STAND (1936). Ruth also had the female lead in a few other westerns starring Wally Wales (Hal Taliaferro) and Hoot Gibson. She gave up the screen and during the later half of that decade, became more involved with her father's circus and wild west show. The story is that she was in charge of the Mix circus when it went belly-up in the late 1930s (which was not unusual as many circuses failed during that period). |
 (Courtesy of Les Adams) |  | Left is the cover of the pressbook for FIGHTING PIONEERS (Resolute, 1935), one in a brief series featuring Ruth and Buzz Barton and starring Rex Bell. Note the proclaimation at the top of the pressbook: "The Three Aces of the Saddle Ride Again !" and the photo insets at the top are from L-to-R, Ruth, Rex Bell and Buzz Barton. |
 (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above is Ruth (as 'Wa-No-Na'), and on the right is Chief Thunder Cloud (Victor Daniels) in FIGHTING PIONEERS (Resolute, 1935), one of a quartet of sagebrush adventures starring Bell, Mix and Buzz Barton. On the left edge is Chief Standing Bear (as 'Black Hawk') and far right is Guate Mozin (as 'Crazy Horse').   Above, photo of a lobby card for GUNFIRE (Resolute, 1935), and in the inset are from L-to-R, Buzz Barton, Ruth Mix and Rex Bell.  Above, Ruth with Rex Bell in SADDLE ACES (Resolute, 1935). |
Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) has information on Ruth Mix. Click HERE.
The Silent Film Sources website has an interesting group of articles on Tom Mix (excerpted from the 1957 memoirs by his wife Olive Stokes Mix):