He studied journalism the University of Richmond but left college to play football professionally.

[2] He was drafted during World War II, but his wife, Marie Wilson, saw to it that he was assigned guard duty.

Nixon also starred in the sex hygiene film Three Cadets made by the First Motion Picture Unit.

[5] He was also on stage in Miranda, You Only Twinkle Once, Rain, School for Scandal, Three Out of Four, and Anna Lucasta; the latter was a touring production in which Ann Dvorak costarred.

[2] Shortly after being signed by Columbia and performing in the successful Hugo Haas film Pickup, Nixon began refusing the small roles in B pictures offered to him.

[2] Nixon became a writer in the early 1960s, publishing novels with such titles as The Sex Symbol and The Bitch Goddess.

He wrote under his own name and the pseudonyms Nick Allen as well as several Shaft novels under the pen name Don Romano,[9] finding more success as a writer than as an actor.

The fight resulted in Paulsen being arrested for attempted murder, but Nixon refused to press charges and the two reconciled.