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Magazine: Cineaste, December 1999

Section: RACE IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN CINEMA: PART 10

IRON EYES CODY: WANNABE INDIAN

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Who would have thought that Americas most recognizable Indian face was
really that of a second-generation Italian-American from Louisiana?
Iron Eyes Cody became a national icon as a result of playing the
teary-eyed Indian in the "Keep America Beautiful" public-service
television spots in 1971. His feathered headdress, dark complexion,
and braided wig became the embodiment of the noble Indian. No one
thought to question his claim that his mother was a Cree from Northern
Canada and his father an Oklahoma Cherokee named Thomas Long Plume.

Little wonder, then, that newspapers balked when the New Orleans
Times-Picayune revealed in 1996 that the actor's ethnic origins lay
deep within the state's Italian immigrant history. When Cody died on
January 4, 1999, his numerous sentimental obituaries rarely even
hinted at his make-believe Indian persona. The New York Times pointed
to the question of Cody's Italian-American roots near the end of his
obituary, then noted that he had denied it. The Associated Press
described Cody as "one of the best known Native-American actors." The
Los Angeles Times parroted Cody's heavily fictionalized autobiography,
My Life as a Hollywood Indian, and devoted lengthy descriptions to his
ostensible Oklahoma youth and silent-screen career with directors like
James Cruze and John Ford (Cody didn't appear in movies until the late
1920s). The Times (London) mentioned in its obituary that Cody might
be of Italian descent. The paper's terse response: "Cody vigorously
denied this slur." A few publications did relate the Times-Picayune
story, albeit to a specialized readership. The Hollywood Reporter
devoted one paragraph to Cody's Italian heritage in its regular
"E-Mail" column, and New Times, Los Angeles's weekly muckraking
newspaper, dedicated nearly 8,000 words to his obscure Louisiana past.

Hollywood's "veteran Indian actor," as The Washington Post described
Cody shortly after his death, was actually a full-blooded Italian.
Born Oscar DeCorti on April 3, 1904, in Kaplan, Louisiana, Cody was
second of four children to Francesca Salpietra and Antonio DeCorti,
both southern-Italian immigrants who arrived in New Orleans at the
turn of the century. By 1909, Antonio, a poor grocery merchant living
with his family in Gueydan, ran afoul of the notorious 'Black Hand
Society' and fled to Texas. Francesca never saw him again. She soon
remarried Alton Abshire, a native Louisianan whose ancestors had
immigrated from Nova Scotia. Francesca bore five more children, and
one of them, May Abshire Duhon, recalled growing up with little Oscar.
"He always said he wanted to be an Indian," May told the
Times-Picayune. "If he could find something that looked Indian, he'd
put it on." Playing Indian apparently ran in the family: both of
Cody's brothers, Joseph and Frank, donned breechcloth and war bonnets
for their bit roles in Hollywood Westerns.

Indeed, Cody was acceptable as an Indian, even among Native Americans.
But many suspected the actor's guise, and a few Indian organizations
publicly so stated it. Indian Country Today--the nation's leading
Indian newspaper--reprinted the Times-Picayune story against the
objections of Cody's loyal Native-American friends. The First
Americans in the Arts (Hollywood's Native-American equivalent to the
Oscars) pointed out Cody's non-Native status when they gave him their
prestigious Trustee Award at their annual ceremony in 1995. LA's daily
newspapers, on the other hand, never touched the issue of Cody's
heritage, although many Indians wondered why it took so long for white
people to figure it out.

But Cody was more than just another Hollywood "fake Indian." The movie
industry certainly had seen its share of Indian wannabes: Buffalo
Child Long Lance, star of the 1930 classic, The Silent Enemy, wrote a
biography detailing his life on the plains as a Blackfoot Indian. But
many years after his death, a Canadian historian revealed that Long
Lance was actually Sylvester Clark Long from the African-American
neighborhoods of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Silent screen actress
Mona Darkfeather, often touted as a Seminole Indian, was really
Josephine M. Workman of the famous Workman and Temple Family Homestead
near Los Angeles. She was married to director Frank Montgomery, and
her ancestors were from Great Britain.

Unlike his make-believe predecessors, Cody actually lived and breathed
Indian. He pledged his life to Native-American causes, and friends
recalled extravagant gifts of clothing and food to nearby
reservations. In 1936, Cody married Bertha Parker, daughter of
renowned Seneca anthropologist Arthur C. Parker. Bertha, twice married
before she met Iron Eyes, worked as an archaeologist's assistant at
the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles. Her extensive knowledge of Indian
culture proved valuable, for she and Cody became Hollywood's
celebrated "Indian couple" and Native-American experts. They even
adopted two Indian boys (Robert and the late Arthur) and opened an
Indian museum in the basement of their Silverlake bungalow near
Griffith Park. Rarely did Cody leave home without his braided wig,
beaded moccasins, and buckskin jacket.


"Stuart O. Bronstein" <sablaw@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message news:<3C167686.ADDDC76@sbcglobal.net>...
> veruca3rd@yahoo.com wrote:
> > stevebo@onramp.net wrote:
>  
> > > I feel like the Indian in the Keep America Beautiful commercial.
> > 
> > DId you know the "Indian" was played by an actor of Italian origin?
> 
> Actually, you're thinking of the guy who played the Chief in F Troop. 
> The guy in that ad really was a (as the politically correct say) Native
> American.
> 
> Stu