Iron Eyes Cody

Iron Eyes Cody
Cody (left) in 1947, in Glendale, California.
Born	Espera Oscar de Corti (1904-04-03)April 3, 1904 Kaplan, Louisiana, U.S.
Died	January 4, 1999(1999-01-04) (aged 94) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Other names	Tony Corti, Tony Cody, The Crying Indian
Years active	1927–1987
Spouse(s)	Bertha "Birdie" Parker (m. 1936–1978; her death) Wendy Foote (m. 1992–1993)

Iron Eyes Cody (born Espera Oscar de Corti April 3, 1904 – January 4, 1999) was an American actor. He frequently portrayed Native Americans in Hollywood films. In 1995, Cody was honored by the Native American community for his work publicizing the plight of Native Americans, including his acting in films. In 1996, his Italian ancestry was made public.

Early life

Cody was born as Espera Oscar de Corti on April 3, 1904, in Kaplan in Vermilion Parish, in southwestern Louisiana, a second son of Antonio de Corti and his wife, Francesca Salpietra, immigrants from Sicily. He had two brothers, Joseph and Frank, and a sister, Victoria. His parents had a local grocery store in Gueydan, Louisiana, where he grew up. His father left the family and moved to Texas, where he took the name Tony Corti. His mother married Alton Abshire and had five more children with him.

When the three De Corti brothers were teenagers, they joined their father in Texas and also shortened their last name to Corti. They moved on to California, where they started acting in movies, and each changed their surname to Cody. Joseph William and Frank Henry Cody worked as extras, but moved on to other work. Frank was killed by a hit-and-run driver in 1949. The boys' father Tony Corti died in Texas in 1924.

Career

Cody began his acting career in the early 1930s. He worked in film and television until the time of his death. As an actor, Cody claimed Cherokee-Cree ancestry, although he initially named several tribes and frequently changed his place of birth. He lived his life as if he were of indigenous Native American descent, both on and off the screen, and strongly supported Native American causes.

He appeared in more than 200 films, including The Big Trail (1930), with John Wayne; The Scarlet Letter (1934), with Colleen Moore; Sitting Bull (1954), as Crazy Horse; The Light in the Forest (1958) as Cuyloga; The Great Sioux Massacre (1965), with Joseph Cotten; Nevada Smith (1966), with Steve McQueen; A Man Called Horse (1970), with Richard Harris; and Ernest Goes to Camp (1987), as Chief St. Cloud.

In 1953, he appeared twice as Chief Big Cloud in Duncan Renaldo's syndicated television series, The Cisco Kid. He later 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.

Cody became widely seen in his "crying chief" role in the "Keep America Beautiful" Public Service Announcement (PSA) in the early 1970s. The environmental commercial showed Cody as a Native American, replete with traditional Native American attire, shedding a tear after trash is thrown from the window of a speeding 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.

Marriage and family

In 1936, Cody married Bertha Parker, a Native American woman who is said to be related to President Ulysses S. Grant's Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Ely S. Parker (who was of the Seneca people. They adopted two children of Native American descent said to be Dakota-Maricopa. One of his sons, Robert "Tree" Cody, was interviewed about his father in the 2009 documentary Reel Injun. The other son Arthur Cody was in the Marine Corp as a Vietnam vet and died from Agent Orange. Cody remained married until Bertha's death in 1978.

In 1992, Cody married Wendy Foote. They divorced the following year.

Honors

In 1995, the Hollywood Native community honored Cody for his contributions to the representation of Native American life, although they tactfully pointed out his non-Native heritage.

In 1999, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.

Cody died on January 4, 1999 at the age of ninety-four. He was survived by his adopted son, Robert "Tree" Cody, who has become known as a performer on the Native American flute. Robert is of Dakota-Maricopa ancestry.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1927	Back to God's Country	Indian	Uncredited Role
1930	The Big Trail	Indian	Uncredited Role
1931	Fighting Caravans	Indian After Firewater	Uncredited Role
	Oklahoma Jim	War Eagle
1947	The Senator Was Indiscreet	Indian
1947	Unconquered	Red Corn
1948	Indian Agent	Wovoka
1949	Massacre River	Chief Yellowstone
1954	Sitting Bull	Crazy Horse
1958	Gun Fever	1st Indian Chief
1965	The Great Sioux Massacre	Crazy Horse
1966	Nevada Smith	Taka-Ta	Uncredited Role
1970	El Condor	Santana, Apache Chief
	Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County	Crazy Foot
	A Man Called Horse	Medicine Man
1977	Grayeagle	Standing Bear
1987	Ernest Goes to Camp	Old Indian 'Chief St. Cloud'
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1953	The Cisco Kid	Chief Big Cloud / Chief Sky Eagle	Two separate roles, Indian Uprising (1953) as Chief Sky Eagle and The Gramophone (1953) as Chief Big Cloud
1955	Cavalcade of America	n/a	Episode, The Hostage (1955)
1961	The Rebel	Sammy Hart	The Death of Sammy Hart (1961) Season 2, Episode 25
1967	The Fastest Guitar Alive	1st Indian
1969	Then Came Bronson	Chief John Carbona	Episode, Old Tigers Never Die—They Just Run Away (1969)
1986	The A-Team	Chief Watashi	Episode, Mission of Peace (1986)

External links

• Iron Eyes Cody at the Internet Movie Database
• Iron Eyes Cody at Find a Grave