Iron Eyes Cody
Cody in 1977
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	The Crying Indian
Years active	1927–1990
Spouses	Bertha Parker ​ ​ (m. 1936; died 1978)​ Wendy Foote ​ ​ (m. 1992; div. 1993)​
Children	2, includingRobert Tree Cody

External images
President Carter with Iron Eyes Cody[1]
Jimmy Carter with "Iron Eyes" Cody, Cherokee Indian

Iron Eyes Cody (bornEspera Oscar de Corti, April 3, 1904 – January 4, 1999) was an American actor of Italian descent who portrayedNative Americans inHollywood films,^[2] including the role of Chief Iron Eyes inBob Hope'sThe Paleface (1948). He also played a Native American shedding a tear about pollution in one of the country's most well-known televisionpublic service announcements from the groupKeep America Beautiful.^[3] 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 ofItalian ancestry, but he denied it.^[3][4] After his death, it was revealed that he was of Sicilian parentage and not Native American at all.^[2][3][4]

Cody was born Espera Oscar de Corti on April 3, 1904, inKaplan inVermilion Parish, in southwesternLouisiana, a second son of Francesca Salpietra fromSicily and her husband, Antonio de Corti from southern Italy.^[4] He had two brothers, Joseph and Frank, and a sister, Victoria.^[2] His parents had a local grocery store inGueydan, Louisiana, where he grew up.^[5] His father left the family and moved toTexas, 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 toCalifornia, 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]

Cody began acting in the late 1920s. He worked in film and television until his death. Cody claimed his father wasCherokee and his motherCree,^[3] also naming several different tribes, and frequently changing his claimed place of birth. To those unfamiliar withIndigenous American orFirst Nations cultures and people, he gave the appearance of living as if he wereNative 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]

He appeared in more than 200 films, includingThe Big Trail (1930), withJohn Wayne;The Scarlet Letter (1934), withColleen Moore;Sitting Bull (1954), asCrazy Horse;The Light in the Forest (1958) as Cuyloga;The Great Sioux Massacre (1965), with Joseph Cotten;Nevada Smith (1966), withSteve McQueen;A Man Called Horse (1970), withRichard Harris; andErnest Goes to Camp (1987) as Chief St. Cloud, withJim Varney.

He also appeared in over a hundred television programs.^[7] In 1953, he appeared twice inDuncan Renaldo'ssyndicatedtelevision series,The Cisco Kid as Chief Sky Eagle. He guest starred on theNBCwestern series,The Restless Gun, starringJohn Payne, andThe Tall Man, withBarry Sullivan andClu Gulager. In 1961, he played the title role in "The Burying of Sammy Hart" on theABC western series,The Rebel, starringNick Adams. A close friend ofWalt Disney, Cody appeared in aDisney studio serial titledThe First Americans, and in episodes ofThe Mountain Man,Davy Crockett andDaniel Boone. In 1964 Cody appeared as Chief Black Feather onThe Virginian episode "The Intruders". He played Seeba in S8 E26 "The Jarbo Pierce Story" onWagon Train, 1965.

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 onEarth Day in 1971, depicted Cody in aPlains 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 twoClio awards, incited a frenzy of community involvement, and "helped reduce litter by 88% across 38 states", according to one reliable source.^[7] Cody was a participant in the documentary seriesHollywood (1980), where he discussed earlyWestern filmmakerWilliam S. Hart's use ofPlains Indian Sign Language.^{[10][clarification needed]}

TheJoni Mitchell song "Lakota", from the 1988 album,Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm, features Cody's chanting.^[11] He made acameo appearance in the 1990 filmSpirit of '76.

In 1936, Cody married archaeologistBertha Parker (Abenaki and Seneca descent). She was active in excavations during the late 1920s and early 1930s before becoming an assistant in archaeology at theSouthwest Museum.^[12] They adopted two children said to be ofDakota-Maricopa origin,Robert Tree Cody and Arthur. The couple remained married until Bertha's death in 1978.

Although the non-Native public who knew him from the movies and television thought of Cody as a Native American, a 1996 story byThe Times-Picayune inNew Orleans questioned his heritage, reporting that he was a second-generation Italian-American. This was based on an interview with his half-sister, and documents including a baptismal record. Cody, who now wore his Hollywood costumes in daily life, denied the claim.^[3][4][9]

Cody died at the age of 94 frommesothelioma at home inLos 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]

On April 20, 1983, he was inducted to theHollywood Walk of Fame at 6601Hollywood Boulevard.^[5]

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

• 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.

• Chief Thundercloud
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• Reel Injun
• Sacheen Littlefeather
• Buffy Sainte-Marie

• Iron Eyes Cody atIMDb
• Iron Eyes Cody atFind a Grave
• "Keep America Beautiful" 1970s PSA onYouTube
• "Make-Believe Indian" by Ron Russell,New Times LA, April 8, 1999.
• Iron Eyes: My Life as a Hollywood Indian, a 1982 work inPDF
• Iron Eyes Cody: The Proud American, a 1988 work inPDF

• 1904 births
• 1999 deaths
• People from Gueydan, Louisiana
• People from Kaplan, Louisiana
• American people of Italian descent
• 20th-century American male actors
• American male film actors
• American male television actors
• Male Western (genre) film actors
• Male actors from Louisiana
• Deaths from mesothelioma in the United States
• Deaths from cancer in California
• Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
• American people who self-identify as being of Cherokee descent
• American people who self-identify as being of Cree descent
• Racial impostors

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