The Lady Rancher, the Golden River, and the C.I.A.

“The presidential election of 1980 was over, and it was the morning after. In CIA’s Office of Current Operations, we knew that a new boss and a new set of customers had us in their sights. Ronald Reagan would be in the White House by the end of January, and a Republican team of national security officials would be calling the shots. CIA would have a new Director of Central Intelligence (DCI). He would bring in a new deputy. There probably would be other new faces at the top of CIA, and a new set of staff weenies would appear as well.

“Déjà vu all over again? So it seemed to us: here we were, the Director and Deputy Director of the Office of Current Intelligence, and we faced another new administration, another foreign policy team, another group to which we had to prove ourselves all over again.” ~ Richard J. Kerr and Peter Dixon Davis. (source: Ronald Reagan and the President's Daily Brief, “Mornings in Pacific Palisades”)

Rarely when I search for an interesting ‘behind the scenes’ story for an actor from the old movies, do I hit a complete blank. In the case of little Dix Davis, the twelve-year-old boy in this cowboy adventure, I discovered that after leaving the movies at the age of fifteen, Dix Davis virtually disappeared from the face of the earth.

It wasn’t until a few secret documents from the 1980’s were recently declassified that Peter Dixon Davis appeared, long after his years of service in the Central Intelligence Agency. Dix Davis graduated from the University of Southern California in 1949 with a Bachelor of Foreign Service degree.

It seems that Peter Dixon ‘Dix’ Davis served most or all of his working career in the CIA, eventually becoming a senior member of the CIA Intelligence Directorate. He helped prepare and present the President’s Daily Briefing reports for Presidents from George Herbert Walker Bush to Ronald Reagan.

In this cowboy adventure, Dix Davis is the young son of a rancher who is murdered by outlaws who want to take over the family ranch. The neighboring ranch is owned by Dorothy Hendricks, the Singing Cowgirl in this adventure. With the help of wandering cowboy Dick Williams, played by Dave O’Brien, the good guys outwit and outshoot the outlaws who are after a rich vein of gold in the river running through the young boy’s ranch. Pop a big bowl of white kernel popcorn with plenty of warm melted butter drizzled over it and enjoy the show.

Dave O'Brien, Dorothy Page, Vince Barnett	Dave O'Brien, Dorothy Short
Dave O'Brien, Warner Richmond	Dix Davis
Dix Davis, Vince Barnett	Dix Davis
	Dorothy Page
Dorothy Page, Dave O'Brien, Stanley Price	Dorothy Page, Dix Davis
Dorothy Page, Edward Peil Sr.	Dorothy Page, Merrill McCormick, Ethan Allen
Dorothy Page, Vince Barnett	Dorothy Page
Dorothy Short	Dorothy Short, Dix Davis
Dorothy Short
Merrill McCormick	Warner Richmond, Dorlthy Short, Dix Davis
Warner Richmond, Dorothy Short	Warner Richmond, Merrill McCormick
Warner Richmond, Stanley Price	Warner Richmond, Stanley Price