An oft-repeated story is that Mix was the original choice to play the lead in Fox's epic wide screen western Il grande sentiero (1930), but that he was busy working on another film, thus forcing Fox to give John Wayne his first starring role. This story is untrue. Mix had left Fox at the end of 1927. His last films for the studio were released in 1928, by which time he had moved to FBO Pictures. He made five films for FBO, the last released in 1929. Mix left filmmaking afterwards and did not return to cinema until he signed with Universal in 1932.
