Stuntman’s Trail Leads His Friends, Family to San Diego

Ron Nix left his home in Phoenix Monday without leaving a clue. He took no luggage, no clothes, not even a toothbrush.

A famous stuntman for nearly 30 years, Nix appeared in “Charro” with Elvis Presley, “Dirty Dingus McGee” with Frank Sinatra, “Raising Arizona,” dozens of “Bonanza” and “Death Valley Days” episodes, and many other movies and television shows.

His brown Lincoln Town Car with the license plate “FLMLOC” (for film location) was left in the parking lot of Phoenix International Airport.

This week, his family got two letters from Nix, both postmarked in San Diego, in which the 47-year-old described how his life lately had been a series of bad business deals and financial losses.

In the first letter, he gave his wife of 29 years the power of attorney. In the second, he said he didn’t want to be a burden and would be looking for work.

“The letters were a cry for help,” said his son, Ron Nix Jr., 27. “He said that he was leaving for now. They were a kind of sign-off thing. We know he needs help and wants help. We want him to see that we really do care. He feels like a failure, but he’s not.”

Ron, his younger sister, Annette, and five friends who worked with him in Hollywood studios spent all day Friday plastering the areas surrounding Lindbergh Field with flyers picturing Nix. They called taxicab companies and talked to the San Diego police.

The day he left home, Nix had two business appointments. He made the first at 10 a.m. and went to the second at 11 a.m., carrying with him a $700 check that was the root of his troubles. He had sold a piece of his 80-acre ranch for $400,000 to a businessman who borrowed the money from an investor. The businessman went bankrupt and the investor has put a lien on the property, Nix’s family said.

As a way to keep the investor from pressuring him, Nix agreed to make lease payments. He was scheduled to meet with the investor at 11 a.m. Monday, but the men got their dates mixed up. According to his family, Nix tore up the check and headed for the airport.

His family says Nix may be suffering from depression because he had stopped taking lithium, which had been prescribed in 1983 when the stuntman fell 70 feet from a tower and crushed his leg. After the accident, Nix didn’t work for nearly two years.

Of all his favorite places in the country, Hawaii and San Diego are at the top, Ron Nix Jr. said. He is fascinated by yachts and the San Diego shore. His family is looking for him at the beach and San Diego Bay marinas.

Weighing heavily on his mind is his probable legal battle with the investor over who owns 40 acres of his property, a request from the Internal Revenue Service for $50,000 in back taxes and $20,000 in legal fees he spent to fight a business partner who was trying to bilk him, his family said.

“My father doesn’t understand why anyone would want to take advantage of him,” Ron Nix Jr. said. “He’s a very strong man, but he feels that everything had come down on him.”

Waiting at home are Nix’s wife, Mary; his 28-year-old daughter Jeanne; other relatives and 50 employees of Cowtown, the 80-acre ranch that contains an 1880s movie set, saloon, catering service, horseback riding, live gunfight shows, a museum, general store and blacksmith.

The past few months have been slow at Cowtown, adding to the Nixes’ economic downturn.

The Nix family just wants him home.

San Diego Detective Wayne McKinnon of the missing persons bureau said Friday that he didn’t have much to go on. He doesn’t suspect foul play, but he is concerned that Nix left the area without luggage and gave his wife legal authority to take care of matters at home.

“Let’s just hope that someone sees a flyer or his picture in the paper,” McKinnon said.

Meanwhile, other friends are coming from Phoenix and Los Angeles to help in the search. Stunt friends. Those who have worked with Nix in some of the same movies. Even the investor who put the lien on his property.

“We want to reach out to him,” Nix Jr. said. “We need him back home. His friends and everybody can’t even do their jobs or get through the day. He’s done so much good for all of us.”