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 publi ... c 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.
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| Organization | Category | Movie |
|---|
Rawhide
as Medicine Man (uncredited)
Episodes: 2
First Aired: Jan 09, 1959
Here's Lucy
as Medicine Man
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 23, 1968
The A-Team
as Chief Watashi
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jan 23, 1983
The F.B.I.
as Medicine Man
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 19, 1965
The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour
as Eskimo Pilot (uncredited)
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Nov 06, 1957
Gunsmoke
as Indian
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 10, 1955
The Virginian
as Chief Black Feather
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 19, 1962
The Rebel
as Sammy Hart
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 04, 1959
Sugarfoot
as Joe White Cloud
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 17, 1957
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
as Nemanna
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 05, 1956
Hollywood
as Self
Episodes: 13
First Aired: Jan 08, 1980
Hondo
Episodes: 2
First Aired: Sep 08, 1967
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
Episodes: 2
First Aired: Apr 15, 1951
Sergeant Preston of the Yukon
Episodes: 2
First Aired: Sep 29, 1955
Cheyenne
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 20, 1955
The Tall Man
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 10, 1960
Outlaws
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 26, 1960
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 06, 1958
The Immortal
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 24, 1970
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 06, 1955
The Thin Man
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 20, 1957
Then Came Bronson
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 17, 1969
Guestward, Ho!
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 29, 1960
Branded
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jan 24, 1965
Lawman
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 05, 1958
Maverick
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 22, 1957
The Mike Douglas Show
as Self
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Dec 11, 1961
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