What is Iron Eyes Cody's Net Worth?
Iron Eyes Cody was an actor of Italian descent who had a net worth of $400 thousand at the time of his death. Iron Eyes Cody was known for playing Native Americans in Hollywood films and television shows. He appeared in over 200 films across a career spanning eight decades, with credits including "Texas Pioneers," "Bowery Buckaroos," "The Paleface," "Train to Alcatraz," "Sitting Bull," "Grayeagle," and "Ernest Goes to Camp." Cody also appeared as a crying Native American in the famous 1971 Earth Day PSA by the nonprofit Keep America Beautiful.
Iron Eyes Cody was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1983 at 6655 Hollywood Blvd. He also won a Golden Boot Award in 1984. Iron Eyes Cody passed away on January 4, 1999 at 94 years old.
Early Life
Iron Eyes Cody, whose real name was Espera Oscar de Corti, was born on April 3, 1904 in Kaplan, Louisiana as the second son of Italian immigrants Francesca and Antonio. He had two brothers named Joseph and Frank and a sister named Victoria. Cody grew up in Gueydan, Louisiana, where his parents ran a grocery store. His father later left the family and moved to Texas; meanwhile, his mother remarried to Alton Abshire, with whom she had five more children. As teenagers, Cody and his brothers joined their father in Texas. Following their father's passing in 1924, they moved to California, where they began acting in movies.
Film Career
Cody started acting in Hollywood films in the late 1920s, taking roles as Native American characters. Despite his exclusively Italian ancestry, he claimed that his father was Cherokee and his mother was Cree, and frequently changed his place of birth. After appearing in uncredited roles in such films as "Back to God's Country" (1927), "The Viking" (1928), "The Big Trail" (1930), and "Oklahoma Jim" (1931), Cody had one of his first substantial roles in the 1932 Western "Texas Pioneers," in which he played Little Eagle. In 1934, he had an uncredited part in "The Scarlet Letter." Cody had relatively bigger roles in the 1940s, including in the historical adventure film "Unconquered," the comedy "Bowery Buckaroos," and the Western "Massacre River." He also had notable roles in the Bob Hope comedy Western "The Paleface" and in the prison film "Train to Alcatraz," in which he portrayed Geronimo.
In the early 1950s, Cody had uncredited parts in such films as "Broken Arrow," "Ace in the Hole," "Lost in Alaska," and "Montana Belle." In 1954, he portrayed legendary Lakota war leader Crazy Horse in the Western "Sitting Bull." Cody's credits in the latter half of the decade included the Westerns "White Feather" and "Gun Fever." In the 1960s, he reprised his role as Crazy Horse in the Western "The Great Sioux Massacre." The next decade, Cody appeared in such Westerns as "El Condor," "The Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County," "A Man Called Horse," and "Grayeagle." In the lattermost film, he starred as Standing Bear opposite Ben Johnson. Cody had his final major film role in 1987, playing Chief St. Cloud in the comedy "Ernest Goes to Camp." Overall, he appeared in more than 200 films across a career that lasted over half a century.
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Television Career
Cody was also prolific on television, appearing in over 100 programs. In the 1950s, he had guest roles on such shows as "The Cisco Kid," "Cheyenne," "The Restless Gun," and "Rawhide." Early the next decade, Cody played the titular role in the episode of "The Rebel" entitled "The Death of Sammy Hart." He went on to have guest roles on "Mister Ed," "The Virginian," "Wagon Train," and "Then Came Bronson," among many other shows.
Cody reached an even greater level of recognition in the early 1970s when he appeared as a crying Native American in a PSA by the nonprofit Keep America Beautiful. In the environmental commercial, first aired for Earth Day in 1971, he was shown in a stereotypical Hollywood "Indian" costume shedding a tear as litter landed at his feet. The ad reportedly helped to reduce litter by 88% across 38 states in the US. Later in his career, Cody had guest roles on such 1980s shows as "Fantasy Island," "Newhart," and "The A-Team."
Personal Life and Death
Cody married his first wife, archaeologist Bertha Parker, in 1936. Together, they adopted two children, Robert and Arthur, who were allegedly of Dakota-Maricopa origin. The couple remained married until Parker's passing in 1978. Cody wed his second wife, Wendy Foote, in 1992; they divorced the next year.
On January 4, 1999, Cody passed away from mesothelioma at his home in Los Angeles. He was 94 years of age.
