Pedro de Cordoba

Gaunt, deep-voiced American actor Pedro De Cordoba was often cast as a Spanish don or a kindly Mexican padre on the basis of his last name and aristocratic bearing. Actually he was born in New York City of French and Cuban parents. His priestlike manners came naturally; when not acting, he was a highly regarded Catholic layman, and at one point president of the Catholic Actors Guild of America. He made his film debut in a 1913 version of Carmen, but preferred the stage to silent films, co-starring with such Broadway legends as Jane Cowl and Katharine Cornell. De Cordoba's mellifluous stage-trained voice was perfect for talking pictures, and from 1930 through 1950 he was one of the busiest of character actors. On occasion he would be seen as a villain, but most of De Cordoba's roles were as gentle and courtly as the actor himself. Alfred Hitchcock cast De Cordoba in perhaps his most memorable part, as the fair-minded sideshow "living skeleton" who allows fugitive Robert Cummings to hide out in his carnival wagon in Saboteur (1942). The actor's last film was the posthumously released Crisis (1950), a political drama set in an unnamed South American dictatorship. - Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide