Orville Nix
Orville Nix | |
---|---|
Born | Orville Orhel Nix April 16, 1911 |
Died | January 17, 1972 | (aged 60)
Resting place | Edgewood Cemetery |
Nationality | American |
Spouse |
Ella Louise Robison
(m. 1938–1972) |
Children | 1 |
Orville Orhel Nix (April 16, 1911 – January 17, 1972)
Background
Nix was born in Texas, the son of Myrtle (née Mabra) and James Allan Nix.[4] He was reported to have had a fourth grade education and later worked as an air conditioning engineer for the General Services Administration in Dallas.[5][6] He was married to Ella Louise Robison in 1938 with whom he had one son, Orville, Jr.[4]
JFK assassination
On November 22, 1963, Nix walked from his office in the Terminal Annex building on the south side of
Nix's film is much darker than the other films shot that day, as he used Type A film, specifically designed for indoor use, and did not have the proper filter to correct this.[8]
The Nix film was obtained as a result of a notice that the FBI gave to film processing plants in the Dallas area, that the FBI would be interested in obtaining or knowing about any film they processed relating to the assassination. When Nix heard about this from his processor, he delivered the film to the FBI office in Dallas on December 1, 1963. It was returned to him three days later.
Nix was interviewed in 1966 by investigator Mark Lane for his documentary Rush to Judgment. In a filmed interview undertaken by Lane, he also stated that the film he received may not have been identical to the one that he shot.[13] He told Lane that at the time of the assassination, he believed that the shots had come from behind the stockade fence on the grassy knoll, but was later told that conclusive proof existed that shots only came from the Texas School Book Depository and that he was convinced by this.[13] He was also interviewed by CBS News in 1967 for a television documentary on the Kennedy assassination.[citation needed]
In 2015, Nix's granddaughter, Gayle Nix-Jackson, initiated a lawsuit against the US government for the return of the original film or compensation seeking $10 million. Nix-Jackson said that "it was incomprehensible authorities would lose an important piece of historical evidence. I can understand little clerical issues. I don't understand the loss of evidence like this."[14] In 2017, Nix-Jackson's lawsuit was "dismissed without prejudice" from proceeding in that court-type venue;[15] subsequently, Nix-Jackson filed a similar lawsuit in a different court-type venue.[citation needed] Now Nix’s family, who claim to have owned the rights to the film since he died in 1972, are suing the country’s National Archives and Records Administration. They want the return of the original and all copies as well as $29.7million in “compensatory damages”. Nix’s descendants intend to have the original closely re-examined using AI and other new tech developments if it is returned intact.
Death
On January 17, 1972, Nix died from a heart attack in Dallas at the age of 60.[16] He is buried in Edgewood Cemetery in Lancaster, Texas.
References
- ^ Ancestry.com. Social Security Death Index [database on-line]. Provo, Utah: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006.
- ^ Ancestry.com. Texas Death Index, 1903–2000 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006. Orville O. Nix (obituary), Dallas Morning News, Jan. 19, 1972, p. D3.
- ^ Warren Commission Report, pp. 96–97, 109–110.
- ^ ISBN 0-9638595-0-1.
- ^ a b c d The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza (2012). "Orville Nix Film Overview and Time Line". The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza (www.jfk.org). Dallas, Texas: The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
- ^ a b c The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza (2012). "Filming Kennedy: Home Movies from Dallas: Orville Nix". The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza (www.jfk.org). Dallas, Texas: The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
- ^ "ADMIN FOLDER-Y8: HSCA ADMINISTRATIVE FOLDER, LEE HARVEY OSWALD VOLUME XII". Maryferrell.org. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
- ^ "Filming Kennedy: Home Movies from Dallas | the Sixth Floor Museum". Archived from the original on March 25, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
- ^ Schonfeld, Maurice W. (November 22, 2011) [July/August 1975]. "The shadow of a gunman; An account of a twelve-year investigation of a Kennedy assassination film". Columbia Journalism Review.
- ^ David Flick, "Family donates JFK film, copyright to museum", Dallas Morning News, Nov. 20, 2000.
- ^ U.S. Copyright Office, copyright assignment, document #V3466D144, recorded 5 March 2001.
- ^ "Commissioners Court - Boards, Committees and Commissions". Dallascounty.org. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
- ^ a b Rush to Judgement documentary
- ^ "JFK assassination: Woman sues for return of film". BBC News. November 24, 2015. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
- ^ "GAIL NIX JACKSON, Plaintiff, vs. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, et al., Defendants. Case No: 15-cv-2035-RCL" (PDF). United States District Court for the District of Columbia. March 31, 2017. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
- ^ Texas woman sues U.S. for return of JFK film her grandfather shot Carol Christian, Houston Chronicle (November 23, 2015) Archived November 24, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
External links
- JFK Online, Orville Nix Film
- Daily Talk show
- Orville Nix at Find a Grave