Bodybuilders - Part 12

Chris Dickerson

Henri Christophe (Chris) Dickerson was born in 1939 in Montgomery, Alabama.  He was one of a set of identical triplets, an event rare enough to get positive publicity, even though his family was black in segregated Alabama.  Above, the Dickerson triplets Chris, John and Alfred.

His mother, Mahala, got divorced shortly after the boys were born, and they were raised largely by their well-to-do grandparents.  In 1952 Mahala moved to Indianapolis to escape the segregated South.  She then went on to attend law school at Howard University in Washington, DC, and the triplets were sent to the Olney Friends boarding school in Ohio, run by Quakers.  Chris remained there through high school.

In 1957, after high school, Chris moved to New York City to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he studied acting, ballet, and singing.  But when he saw a photo of Bill Pearl in a muscle magazine, his world changed.  He began to work out, crisscrossing the country to California.  At age 24, he moved to Los Angeles where he trained at Bill Pearl's gym, and Bill Pearl became his mentor and substitute father figure.

In 1967 he won the Mr. California contest, and in 1970 he was the first black man to win Mr. America (above, center).

He won Mr. Universe in 1973, and he won Mr. Olympia in 1982 after controversial losses for two years due to corrupt judging.  The Mr. Olympia contest promoter, Paul Graham, was a racial bigot and a homophobe, and Chris was black and gay.

Chris started posing for physique photographer Bob Mizer (AMG), though the photos were not published until years later.  Above, Chris in the AMG shower in 1964, listed as his birth name Henri.  I got this photo from Vintage Muscle Men.  Thanks, Jerry!

In 1967 Chris started posing nude for Jim French (Colt Studios).

A rear view.

And another front view.

Artist Tom of Finland produced this drawing of Chris Dickerson based on a Jim French photo.

Here's a clip from a Colt video of Chris walking down a path.

And a clip from a video of him applying oil to his body.

Chris did one porn video for Colt of a three-way with Dakota and John Tristram.  There was no fucking, but quite a bit of sucking action.  Above, a clip of Chris Dickerson, who is in the foreground, getting sucked.

And here's a still from that video of Chris sucking cock.  

Chris Dickerson acknowledged that being black and being gay had been barriers to success in bodybuilding, but he broke through those barriers to become the first black Mr. America and the first openly gay Mr. Olympia.

Chris Dickerson died of heart failure in 2021.  He was 82 years old.