Iron Eyes Cody
1907-04-03 ( 118 years old ) in Gueydan, Louisiana, USA

Iron Eyes Cody (born Espera Oscar de Corti), was an Italian-American actor. He portrayed Native Americans in Hollywood films, famously as Chief Iron Eyes in Bob Hope's The Paleface. He also played a Native American shedding a tear about litter in one of the country's most well-known television public service announcements, "Keep America Beautiful". Cody began acting in the early 1930s. He worked in film and television until his death. Cody claimed his father was Cherokee (and his mother Cree), also naming several different tribes, and frequently changing his claimed place of birth. To those unfamiliar with Indigenous American or First Nations cultures and people, he gave the appearance of living "as if" he were Native American, fulfilling the stereotypical expectations by wearing his film wardrobe as daily clothing—including braided wig, fringed leathers and beaded moccasins—at least when photographers were visiting, and in other ways continuing to play the same Hollywood-scripted roles off-screen as well as on. He appeared in more than 200 films, including The Big Trail with John Wayne; The Scarlet Letter, with Colleen Moore; Sitting Bull, as Crazy Horse; The Light in the Forest as Cuyloga; The Great Sioux Massacre, with Joseph Cotten; Nevada Smith, with Steve McQueen; A Man Called Horse, with Richard Harris; and Ernest Goes to Camp as Chief St. Cloud, with Jim Varney. In 1953, he appeared twice in Duncan Renaldo's syndicated television series, The Cisco Kid as Chief Sky Eagle. He guest starred on the NBC western series, The Restless Gun, starring John Payne, and The Tall Man, with Barry Sullivan and Clu Gulager. In 1961, he played the title role in "The Burying of Sammy Hart" on the ABC western series, The Rebel, starring Nick Adams. A close friend of Walt Disney, Cody appeared in a Disney studio serial titled The First Americans, and in episodes of The Mountain Man, Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. In 1964 Cody appeared as Chief Black Feather on The Virginian in the episode "The Intruders." He also appeared in a 1968 episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood featuring Native American dancers. Cody was widely seen as the "Crying Indian" in the "Keep America Beautiful" public service announcements (PSA) in the early 1970s.The environmental commercial showed Cody in costume, shedding a tear after trash is thrown from the window of a car and it lands at his feet. The announcer, William Conrad, says: "People start pollution; people can stop it." The Joni Mitchell song "Lakota", from the 1988 album, Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm, features Cody's chanting. He made a cameo appearance in the 1990 film Spirit of '76. Living in Hollywood, he began to insist, even in his private life, that he was Native American, over time claiming membership in several different tribes. In 1996, Cody's half-sister said that he was of Italian ancestry, but he denied it. After his death, it was revealed that he was of Sicilian parentage, and not Native American at all. Cody, at age 94, died of mesothelioma at his home in Los Angeles on January 4, 1999.

Movies

The Hypocrite 2024-02-21
The Great Indian Wars 1840-1890 1991-03-19
The Spirit of '76 1990-10-12
Ernest Goes to Camp 1987-05-22
When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion 1979-06-05
Grayeagle 1977-12-28
The Quest 1976-05-13
El Condor 1970-06-19
A Man Called Horse 1970-05-01
The Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County 1970-04-01
Something for a Lonely Man 1968-11-26
Nevada Smith 1966-06-10
The Great Sioux Massacre 1965-04-25
Black Gold 1962-07-21
Alias Jesse James 1959-03-20
The Light in the Forest 1958-07-08
Gun Fever 1958-01-01
Ride Out for Revenge 1957-10-31
The Saga of Andy Burnett 1957-10-02
Gun for a Coward 1956-12-30
Westward Ho, The Wagons! 1956-12-20
Johnny Moccasin 1956-06-06
The Wild Dakotas 1956-02-28
Apache Ambush 1955-08-24
Sitting Bull 1954-10-06
Arrow In The Dust 1954-04-25
Fast Company 1953-05-21
Apache War Smoke 1952-09-25
Lost in Alaska 1952-08-13
Son of Paleface 1952-07-14
Ellis in Freedomland 1952-06-15
Apache Country 1952-05-30
Fort Osage 1952-02-10
Night Raiders 1952-02-03
Red Mountain 1951-11-01
Fort Defiance 1951-10-09
Ace in the Hole 1951-06-29
California Passage 1950-12-15
Cherokee Uprising 1950-10-07
Broken Arrow 1950-08-01
The Iroquois Trail 1950-06-15
Comanche Territory 1950-05-01
Cody of the Pony Express 1950-04-06
Mrs. Mike 1949-12-23
The Cowboy and the Indians 1949-09-15
Sand 1949-08-03
Massacre River 1949-06-26
The Paleface 1948-12-17
Indian Agent 1948-12-11
Blood on the Moon 1948-11-11
Train to Alcatraz 1948-06-28
The Gallant Legion 1948-05-24
The Senator Was Indiscreet 1947-12-31
Bowery Buckaroos 1947-11-22
Unconquered 1947-10-10
Can't Help Singing 1944-12-25
The Phantom 1943-12-24
Dawn on the Great Divide 1942-12-18
Springtime in the Rockies 1942-11-06
Overland Mail 1942-09-22
King of the Stallions 1942-09-18
The Omaha Trail 1942-09-01
Pierre of the Plains 1942-07-29
Pierre of the Plains 1942-07-29
Perils of Nyoka 1942-06-27
Ten Gentlemen from West Point 1942-06-26
My Gal Sal 1942-04-30
Lawless Plainsmen 1942-03-17
Ride 'Em Cowboy 1942-02-13
Valley of the Sun 1942-02-06
Don Winslow of the Navy 1942-01-06
King of the Texas Rangers 1941-10-03
This Woman Is Mine 1941-08-22
Saddlemates 1941-05-15
In Old Cheyenne 1941-04-04
Western Union 1941-02-21
Arizona 1940-12-25
Pony Post 1940-12-01
North West Mounted Police 1940-10-22
Young Bill Hickok 1940-10-21
Too Many Girls 1940-10-08
Colorado 1940-09-15
Kit Carson 1940-08-30
Untamed 1940-07-24
Winners of the West 1940-07-02
Young Buffalo Bill 1940-04-11
Green Hell 1940-01-26
Crashing Thru 1939-12-11
Overland Mail 1939-11-16
Fighting Mad 1939-11-05
Overland with Kit Carson 1939-07-21
The Oregon Trail 1939-07-04
Across the Plains 1939-06-01
Union Pacific 1939-05-05
The Kid From Texas 1939-04-14
Scouts to the Rescue 1939-01-17
The Cowboy and the Lady 1938-11-17
The Lone Ranger 1938-02-13
Prairie Thunder 1937-09-10
The Boss Rider of Gun Creek 1936-12-01
The Bold Caballero 1936-12-01
Ride, Ranger, Ride 1936-11-30
Treachery Rides the Range 1936-05-02
Custer's Last Stand 1936-04-02
Rose Marie 1936-01-31
Custer's Last Stand 1936-01-02
The Farmer Takes a Wife 1935-07-05
Chandu on the Magic Island 1935-01-01
The Return of Chandu 1934-10-01
Young Eagles 1934-06-30
Massacre 1934-01-20
Fighting With Kit Carson 1933-07-01
King of the Arena 1933-06-01
Wild Girl 1932-11-09
Texas Pioneers 1932-05-18
Murders in the Rue Morgue 1932-01-27
The Rainbow Trail 1932-01-03
Oklahoma Jim 1931-10-10
The Viking 1928-11-02

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