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Iron Eyes Cody

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Iron Eyes Cody
Cody in 1977
Born
Espera Oscar de Corti

(1904-04-03)April 3, 1904
Kaplan, Louisiana, U.S
DiedJanuary 4, 1999(1999-01-04) (aged 94)
Los Angeles, California, U.S
Resting place
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Other nameThe Crying Indian
Years active1927–1990
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1936; died 1978)​
Wendy Foote
​
​
(m. 1992; div. 1993)​
[citation needed]
Children2, including Robert Tree Cody
External images
image icon President Carter with Iron Eyes Cody[1]
image icon Jimmy Carter with "Iron Eyes" Cody, Cherokee Indian

Iron Eyes Cody (born Espera Oscar de Corti, April 3, 1904 – January 4, 1999) was an American actor who portrayed Native Americans in Hollywood films.[2] Cody's film roles included the role of Chief Iron Eyes in Bob Hope's The Paleface (1948). He also played a Native American shedding a tear about pollution in one of the most well-known television public service announcements in the United States.[3] Living in Hollywood, Cody began to insist--even in his private life--that he was Native American. Over time, he claimed membership in several different tribes. Although a 1996 newspaper report revealed that Cody was Italian-American and that his purported Native American identity was self-created, Cody denied the report.[3][4]

Early life

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Cody was born Espera Oscar de Corti on April 3, 1904, in the city of Kaplan, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana. He was the second son of Francesca Salpietra of Sicily and her husband, Antonio de Corti of southern Italy.[4] He had two brothers, Joseph and Frank, and a sister, Victoria.[2] His parents had a local grocery store in Gueydan, Louisiana, where he grew up.[5] 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.[2]

When the three de Corti brothers were teenagers, they joined their father in Texas and shortened their last name from de Corti to Corti. Cody's father, Tony Corti, died in Texas in 1924.[4] The brothers moved on to California, where they were acting in movies, and changed their surname to Cody.[6] Joseph William and Frank Henry Cody worked as extras, then moved on to other work. Frank was killed by a hit-and-run driver in 1949.[4]

Career

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Cody began acting in the late 1920s. He worked in film and television until his death. Cody claimed his father was Cherokee and his mother Cree,[3] 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.[2][4]

Iron Eyes Cody and Roy Rogers in North of the Great Divide, 1950

Cody also appeared in over a hundred television programs.[7]

Cody was widely seen as the "Crying Indian" in the "Keep America Beautiful" public service announcements (PSA) in the early 1970s.[8] The environmental commercial, first aired on Earth Day in 1971, depicted Cody in a Plains Indians/Hollywood Indian-style 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."[9] The ad won two Clio awards, is believed to have led to increased community involvement, and may have "helped reduce litter by 88% across 38 states", according to one source.[7]

The Joni Mitchell song "Lakota", from the 1988 album, Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm, features Cody's chanting.[10] He made a cameo appearance in the 1990 film The Spirit of '76.[11]

Personal life and death

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In 1936, Cody married archaeologist Bertha Parker (Abenaki and Seneca descent). She was active in excavations during the late 1920s and early 1930s before becoming an assistant in archaeology at the Southwest Museum.[12] The couple had two sons, Robert Tree Cody and Arthur Cody, and remained married until Bertha's death in 1978.[3]

The non-Native public who knew Cody from his work in film and television thought of him as a Native American. In 1996, however, The Times-Picayune in New Orleans reported that he was a second-generation Italian-American from Louisiana and that his Native American identity was self-created. The report was based on an interview with Cody's half-sister and on various documents, including a baptismal record. Cody, who wore his Hollywood costumes in his daily life, denied the report.[3][4][9]

Cody died at the age of 94 from mesothelioma at home in Los Angeles on January 4, 1999.[3] Before death, he had written this comment: "Make me ready to stand before you with clean and straight eyes. When life fades, as the fading sunset, may our spirits stand before you without shame."[7]

Honors

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On April 20, 1983, Cody was inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6601 Hollywood Boulevard.[5]

In 1999, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to Cody.[13]

Partial filmography

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Film roles
Year Film Role Notes
1927 Back to God's Country Indian Uncredited role
1928 The Viking Indian Uncredited role
1930 The Big Trail Indian Uncredited role
1931 Fighting Caravans Indian After Firewater Uncredited role
1931 Oklahoma Jim War Eagle Uncredited role
1931 The Rainbow Trail John Tom Uncredited role
1932 Texas Pioneers Little Eagle
1942 Ride 'Em Cowboy Indian Uncredited role
1947 The Senator Was Indiscreet Indian
1947 Unconquered Red Corn
1947 Bowery Buckaroos Indian Joe
1948 Blood on the Moon Indian Uncredited role
1948 The Paleface Chief Iron Eyes
1948 Indian Agent Wovoka
1948 Train to Alcatraz Geronimo
1949 Massacre River Chief Yellowstone
1950 Broken Arrow Teese Uncredited role
1951 Ace in the Hole Indian Copy Boy Uncredited role
1952 Lost in Alaska Canook Uncredited role
1952 Montana Belle Indian on horseback Uncredited role
1954 Sitting Bull Crazy Horse Credited as the "Famous T.V. Star" and technical advisor Iron Eyes Cody
1955 White Feather Indian Chief
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
1970 Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County Crazy Foot
1970 A Man Called Horse Medicine Man #1
1977 Grayeagle Standing Bear
1987 Ernest Goes to Camp Old Indian 'Chief St. Cloud'
1990 The Spirit of '76 Himself Cameo, final film role[11]
Television roles
Year Title Role Notes
1953 The Cisco Kid Chief Big Cloud / Chief Sky Eagle Two separate roles, in "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)
1957 Cheyenne Grey Wolf Episode: "Hard Bargain" Season 2, Episode 19
1958 The Restless Gun George Washington Smith Episode "A Pressing Engagement"
1959 Rawhide John Redcloud Episode: "Incident of the Thirteenth Man" (1959)
1959 Rawhide Blue Deer Episode: "Incident of the Tinker's Dam" (1959)
1959 The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour Eskimo Pilot Episode: "Lucy Goes to Alaska" (1959)
1959 Mackenzie's Raiders n/a Episode: "Death Patrol" (1959)
1961 The Rebel Sammy Hart "The Death of Sammy Hart" (1961) Season 2, Episode 25
1961 Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre Nemanna Episode: "Blood Red"
1962 Mister Ed Chief Thundercloud Episode: "Ed the Pilgrim" (1962) Season 3, Episode 9
1964 The Virginian Chief Black Feather Episode: "The Intruders" (1964) Season 2, Episode 23
1967 The Fastest Guitar Alive 1st Indian
1969 Then Came Bronson Chief John Carbona Episode: "Old Tigers Never Die—They Just Run Away" (1969)
1982 Fantasy Island Nancy's father Season 5, Episode 21: "Nancy and The Thunderbirds" (1982)
1983 Newhart Hotel Guest Episode: "Don't Rain on My Parade" (1983)
1986 The A-Team Chief Watashi Episode: "Mission of Peace" (1986)

Bibliography

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  • Cody, Iron Eyes (1991) [1970]. Indian Talk: Hand Signals of the American Indians. Illustrator: Ken Mansker (First (hardcover) ed.). Healdsburg, California: Naturegraph Publishers. ISBN 0-911010-82-3. OCLC 112881.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Official diary" (PDF). www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d Mikkelson, Barbara (August 9, 2007). "Was Iron Eyes Cody an American Indian?". Snopes.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Waldman, Amy (January 5, 1999). "Iron Eyes Cody, 94, an Actor And Tearful Anti-Littering Icon". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 30, 2019. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Aleiss, Angela (May 26, 1996). "Native Son: After a Career as Hollywood's Noble Indian Hero, Iron Eyes Cody is Found to Have an Unexpected Heritage". The New Orleans Times-Picayune. Archived from the original on March 22, 2022. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Iron Eyes Cody - Hollywood Walk of Fame". www.walkoffame.com. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
  6. ^ George De Stefano (January 23, 2007). An Offer We Can't Refuse: The Mafia in the Mind of America. Faber & Faber/Farrar, Straus, Giroux. pp. 279–. ISBN 978-0-86547-962-3.
  7. ^ a b c "The True Story of 'The Crying Indian'". Priceonomics. September 9, 2014.
  8. ^ "Pollution: Keep America Beautiful - Iron Eyes Cody". Ad Council. Archived from the original on May 13, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  9. ^ a b Strandis, Ginger (2008). "The Crying Indian". Orion Magazine.
  10. ^ Walker, Chris J. (June 1, 2002). "Larry Klein Is Doing It All". Mixonline.com. Archived from the original on March 8, 2014.
  11. ^ a b "Movie, TV Actor Iron Eyes Cody Dies At 94". The Washington Post. January 6, 1999. Retrieved October 21, 2025.
  12. ^ "Verdugo Views: The true story of Iron Eyes Cody". LA Times. August 28, 2014.
  13. ^ "Palm Springs Walk of Stars – Listed by date dedicated" (PDF). Archived from the original on October 13, 2012.
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