| Iron Eyes Cody | |
|---|---|
Iron Eyes Cody (left), in Glendale, California (1947). |
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| Born | Espera Oscar de Corti April 3, 1904 Kaplan, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | January 4, 1999 (aged 94) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Tony Corti, Tony Cody, The Crying Indian |
| Years active | 1927–1987 |
| Spouse | Bertha "Birdie" Parker (1936–1978) Wendy Foote (1992–1993) |
Iron Eyes Cody (April 3, 1904 – January 4, 1999) was an American actor. He frequently portrayed American Indians in Hollywood films. In 1995, Cody was honored by the American Indian community for his work publicizing the plight of Native Americans, including his acting in films. In 1996, his Italian ancestry was made public.
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Cody was born as Espera Oscar de Corti in Kaplan, Louisiana, a second son of Antonio de Corti and his wife, Francesca Salpietra, immigrants from Sicily, Italy. He had two brothers and a sister. His parents had a local grocery store in Gueydan, Louisiana, where he was raised. In some of his earliest acting credits, he was listed as Tony de Corti. 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 took the shortened last name of Corti. They moved on to California, where they started acting in movies, and each took the surname Cody. Joseph William and Frank Henry Cody worked some as extras, but moved on to other work. Tony Cody made a career as a film actor.
Cody began his acting career at age twelve. He worked in film and TV until the time of his death. From his time in Hollywood, Tony Cody claimed Cherokee-Cree ancestry. He lived his life as if he were of indigenous Native American descent, both on and off the screen, and strongly supported American Indian 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; 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 television series, The Cisco Kid. He later guest starred on John Payne's NBC western series, The Restless Gun.
Cody became widely seen in his "crying Indian" role in the "Keep America Beautiful" Public Service Announcement (PSA) in the early 1970s.[1] The environmental commercial showed Cody as an Indian, shedding a tear after people throw trash from 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.[2] He made a cameo appearance in the 1990 film Spirit of '76.
In an episode of the TV series, The Sopranos, titled "Christopher" (2002), Ralph Cifaretto (Joseph Pantoliano) threatens to expose Cody's Sicilian ancestry as leverage against anti-Columbus protests by an Indian group. Later in the episode, the Tony Soprano character is later told that "it's like knowing that James Caan isn't Italian" (referring to his role as an Italian American in The Godfather film).
Cody married Bertha Parker, an American Indian woman, in 1936. They adopted several Indian children, including two brothers who were Dakota-Maricopa. One of his sons, Robert Tree Cody, is interviewed about his father in the documentary Reel Injun. Cody and Bertha divorced in 1978.
In 1992 he married Wendy Foote. They divorced in 1993.
In 1995, the Hollywood American Indian community honored Cody for his contributions to the representation of Indian life.[3]
In 1996, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported his Sicilian heritage, but Cody denied it. He lived all his adult life claiming he was American Indian and supported related causes.
Cody died in 1999, aged 94; he was interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. 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.
| Film | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Notes | ||
| 1919 | 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 | |||
| 1948 | Indian Agent | Wovoka | |||
| 1949 | Massacre River | Chief Yellowstone | |||
| 1958 | Gun Fever | 1st Indian Chief | |||
| 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 |
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| 1955 | Cavalcade of America | n/a | Episode, The Hostage (1955) | ||
| 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) | ||