Body of Tom Mix returned home

Oct. 13, 1940: Tom Mix was flown home to Los Angeles, the day after he died in a crash, The Times said.

“The body of the man who became the screen’s first great cowboy actor was returned here by plane from Florence, Ariz.,” the newspaper reported.

“There, on the arid desert land, his life was ended suddenly ... when his car overturned, breaking his neck.”

Mix’s “grief-bowed widow,” Mabel, accompanied his body “back to the city where years ago Mix arrived astride an old cowpony to become one of the screen’s outstanding figures,” The Times said.

The actor, who was 60, was “a star longer than any other man appearing before the camera,” and his film career was unparalleled, The Times said.

“Mix was said to have enjoyed the greatest personal following ever achieved by an actor.”