Nestor Paiva
Nestor Caetano Paiva was an American stage, radio, film and television actor of Portuguese descent. He performed in over 400 motion pictures either as an extra, a bit player, or as a significant supporting character. He also appears in such roles in a variety of television series produced during the 1950s and early 1960s. Among his notable screen appearances is his recurring role as the innkeeper Teo Gonzales in Walt Disney's late 1950s televised Spanish Western series Zorro, as well as in its adapted theatrical release The Sign of Zorro. Paiva also appears as the boat captain Lucas in the Creature from the Black Lagoon and in that horror film's sequel Revenge of the Creature.
Early years and stage and radio work
Born in California in 1905, Nestor was the tenth of twelve children of Mariana Luísa and Francisco "Frank" Caetano Paiva. Both of his parents were natives of Portugal, who immigrated to the United States from the Azores, a cluster of islands situated in the Atlantic about west of Lisbon. His father arrived in the United States in 1880, at age seven. His mother immigrated much later, in 1896, at the age of 17. That same year she married Frank, who in the coming years supported Nestor and the rest of the growing Paiva family working as the proprietor of a grocery store in Fresno and then, by the late 1920s, as a gardener and laborer of "odd jobs".
Frank and Mariana Paiva moved their entire family to Northern California prior to the summer of 1929, resettling in Alameda County, where Nestor attended the University of California, Berkeley. During his studies there he performed in stage productions both on and off campus. In July 1929, as examples, he was cast in the Berkeley Playhouse's presentations of Robert E. Sherwood's comedy The Queen's Husband and in another comedy, Meet the Wife by Lynn Starling. Paiva also gained experience directing plays at the university. In February 1931, he directed a production of Philip Barry's comedy The Youngest after the previous director resigned due to "ill health". Following graduation, Paiva was soon hired to be director of the Eight o'Clock Players troupe at KLX radio in Oakland, California. He also performed later in CBS's early radio version of Gunsmoke, including in that series' first-season episode "Wild West", which originally aired on July 18, 1953.
Film and television
From the 1930s into the 1960s, Paiva was cast in more than 400 feature films and shorts that spanned virtually every genre, including Westerns, comedies, crime and historical drams, adventure stories, horror, and science-fiction films. He also began to work increasingly on television by the 1950s, appearing in such TV series as The Lone Ranger , Zorro, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, Bonanza, Get Smart, I Spy, Family Affair, The Andy Griffith Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Daniel Boone, and The Addams Family. Later, as a voice actor on television, he provided the voices for a variety of characters in the 26 episodes of Jonny Quest, an animated adventure series produced by Hanna-Barbera from 1964 to 1965.
Paiva married Maxine Yvette Kurtzman in Clark, Nevada in January 1941. The couple had two children, Joseph and Caetana, both of whom performed with their father in the 1956 film Comanche starring Dana Andrews. In 1966, Paiva died of cancer at age 61 in Sherman Oaks, California.
Selected filmography
Film
Island Captives as Taro – Carsons' Servant Blazing Barriers as CCC Captain The Spider's Web as Red Prison Train as MoroseRide a Crooked Mile as LeroydFlying G-Men as Emmett Midnight as Woman's Escort Union Pacific as Canadian Pacific Conductor The Girl and the Gambler as Bad-Tempered Gambler Another Thin Man as West Indies Club Headwaiter Bachelor Mother as Store Detective The Magnificent Fraud as Latin Businessman Beau Geste as Corporal Golas The Hunchback of Notre Dame as Man in Street When Gypsies Arrive The Marines Fly High as Pedro FernandezPrimrose Path as Bluebell Manager Phantom Raiders as Policeman at Morris' Office & at Finale The Sea Hawk as First Slavemaster Boom Town as Venezuelan Officer He Stayed for Breakfast as Gendarme They Knew What They Wanted as Tony's Pal at Table Arise, My Love as Uniformed Clerk North West Mounted Police as Half-breed The Devil's Pipeline as Grunyan – Guard Dark Streets of Cairo as AhmendSanta Fe Trail as Abolitionist Noticing Army Horse Brand The Green Hornet Strikes Again! as Rufus – Henchman in Hawaii Tall, Dark and Handsome as Gold Coast Headwaiter Meet Boston Blackie as Martin Vestrick Pot o' Gold as Canadian Guide Hold That Ghost as Glum Dressed to Kill as Jack – the Theatre Manager Wild Geese Calling as Waiter Hold Back the Dawn as FloresThe Kid from Kansas as Jamaica Rise and Shine as Captain Johnny Eager as Tony Luce Fly-by-Night as Grube The Lady Has Plans as Portuguese Porter Jail House Blues as Guard The Adventures of Martin Eden as Doctor Reap the Wild Wind as Man with Suspenders Broadway as RinaltiThe Girl from Alaska as GerouxShip Ahoy as Felix – Henchman Timber as Jules FabianFlying Tigers as Missionary King of the Mounties as Count BaroniFor Me and My Gal as Nick Road to Morocco as Sausage Vendor American Empire as Defense Attorney Pittsburgh as BarneyChetniks! The Fighting Guerrillas as Italian Major The Hard Way as Max Wade The Crystal Ball as Stukov The Flying Jalopy as Ben Buzzard Don Winslow of the Coast Guard as The ScorpionRhythm of the Islands as Chief NataroBackground to Danger as Koylan The Fallen Sparrow as Jake Tornado as Big Joe VlochekThe Dancing Masters as Silvio – Ringleader Tarzan's Desert Mystery as Prison Guard The Desert Song as BenoitThe Song of Bernadette as Maisongrosse True to Life as Kapopolis Shine On, Harvest Moon as Romero Tampico as Naval Commander The Purple Heart The Falcon in Mexico as Manuel RomeroKismet as Captain of the Police Music for Millions as Willie – Bartender A Medal for Benny as Frank Alviso Salome, Where She Danced as PanatelaNob Hill as Luigi a Bar Owner A Thousand and One Nights as KahimThe Southerner as BartenderAlong the Navajo Trail as JanzaSensation Hunters as Lew DavisCornered as Police Official Road to Utopia as McGurkFear as Detective ShaeferBadman's Territory as Sam BassThe Well Groomed Bride as Fernandez Suspense as Man with Blonde The Last Crooked Mile as FerraraHumoresque as Orchestra LeaderThe Lone Wolf in Mexico as Police Capt. Carlos RodriguezRamrod as CurleyShoot to Kill as Gus MillerCarnival in Costa Rica as Padre RafaelA Likely Story as TinyThe Trouble with Women as 2nd Tony – the Waiter Robin Hood of Monterey as The AlcaldeRoad to Rio as CardosoAdventures of Casanova as Prefecture of PoliceAngels' Alley as Tony 'Piggy' LocarnoMr. Blandings Builds His Dream House as Joe ApollonioMr. Reckless as GusJoan of Arc as Henri le Royer, Catherine's husbandThe Paleface as Patient #2Alias Nick Beal as KarlBride of Vengeance as MayorSeñor Droopy as Bullfight Announcer Follow Me Quietly as BennyMighty Joe Young as BrownRope of Sand as Ship's Captain Oh, You Beautiful Doll as Lucca The Inspector General as Gregor Young Man with a Horn as Louis GalbaGuilty of Treason as Mátyás RákosiI Was a Shoplifter as Deputy Sheriff GomezLarápios as Deputy Sheriff GomezFortunes of Captain Blood as Spanish Ship Captain The Desert Hawk as Abdul Flame of Stamboul as Joe OctavianThe Great Caruso as Egisto BarrettoJim Thorpe – All-American as Hiram Thorpe A Millionaire for Christy as Mr. RapelloThe Lady Pays Off as ManuelOn Dangerous Ground as Bagganierri My Favorite Spy as Fire ChiefDouble Dynamite as 'Hot Horse' Harris, the BookiePhone Call from a Stranger as Carl – Headwaiter Viva Zapata! as New General 5 Fingers as Turkish Ambassador The Fabulous Senorita as José RodriguezWith a Song in My Heart as Lisbon Surgeon Mara Maru as Capt. Van Hoten Diplomatic Courier as Train Conductor South Pacific Trail as Carlos AlvarezApril in Paris as Ship Captain What's Sweepin' as Wally Walrus / Strongman The Bandits of Corsica as LorenzoCall Me Madam as Miccoli Split Second as Pete I, the Jury as ManuelPrisoners of the Casbah as MaroufKiller Ape as AndrewsJivaro as JacquesCreature from the Black Lagoon as Captain LucasCasanova's Big Night as GnocchiAlley to Bali as Volcano Idol Voice The Desperado as Captain Jake ThorntonThunder Pass as Daniel SlaughterFour Guns to the Border as GreasyNew York Confidential as MartinelliRevenge of the Creature as LucasAll That Heaven Allows as ManuelTarantula as Sheriff Jack AndrewsHell on Frisco Bay as Louis FiaschettiComanche as PufferThe First Texan as Priest Scandal Incorporated as Leland MillerThe Mole People as Prof. Etienne LafargeThe Wild Party as BransonRide the High Iron as Yard BossThe Guns of Fort Petticoat as TortillaTen Thousand Bedrooms as Alfredo, the Jeweler Les Girls as Spanish Peasant Outcasts of the City as Pastor SkiraThe Deep Six as Pappa TatosThe Lady Takes a Flyer as ChildrethThe Left Handed Gun as Pete MaxwellThe Case Against Brooklyn as FinelliAlias Jesse James as Grigsby Pier 5, Havana as LopezThe Purple Gang as Laurence OrlofskyVice Raid as Frank BurkeThe Bramble Bush as Pete Madruga Can-Can as BailiffGo Naked in the World as Greek Friend of Pete's Gold of the Seven Saints as Gondora HenchmanFrontier Uprising as Don Carlos MontalvoAtlantis, the Lost Continent as Megalos The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as MiguelThe Wild Westerners as Governor John BullardThe Three Stooges in Orbit as Martian ChairmanGirls! Girls! Girls! as Arthur Morgan California as Gen. MicheltorenaThe Madmen of Mandoras as Police Chief AlanizThe Ballad of a Gunfighter as PadreJesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter as Saloon OwnerLet's Kill Uncle as StewardThe Spirit Is Willing as Felicity's Father
Television
The Lone Ranger as Juan Pedro Cardoza / Juan BrancoZorro as Teo Gonzales – Innkeeper / Teo Gonzales / Señor Pacheco – InnkeeperSea Hunt as Tio Ramon DelgadoThe Andy Griffith Show as Big Jack AndersonGunsmoke as Barman DallerBurke's Law as Dr. Gonzales / Padre EmilianoDaniel Boone as MenewaGet Smart as DoormanI Spy as Del GadoThe Addams Family as Captain Grimby