Duncan Renaldo
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To most audiences, Duncan Renaldo will always be identified as film and TV's "The Cisco Kid." However, this role occurred late in his career, which consisted of much more than just this western character. Not much is known about Renaldo's early life. In fact, his date and place of birth is still questioned. The usual given birth date is April 23, 1904. His birthplace has been generally stated as Spain--he has said that his first memories as a child were in Spain--although Romania and even New Jersey have been mentioned as well. An orphan, he never knew his actual parents and was never able to ascertain the exact date and place of his birth. He was raised and educated in various European countries and arrived in the US in the early 1920s as a stoker on a Brazilian coal ship. Entering the country on a 90-day seaman's permit, he stayed when his ship caught fire at the dock and burned to the waterline. A paltry existence as a portrait painter forced him to seek other work, and he somehow found his way into films as a producer of short features, which in turn led to on-camera work as an actor with MGM in 1928. The studio capitalized on his dashing Hispanic looks and initially typed him as a "Latin lover", but it didn't last long. In the early 1930s his career was interrupted when he was arrested and faced deportation due to his illegal immigrant status. The actor was eventually pardoned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt--his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, had bought one of Renaldo's paintings, looked into his case and persuaded her husband to pardon him. He returned to minor films for both Republic and Monogram, alternating as heroic sidekick and villain. He co-starred as one of the Three Mesquiteers in the revamped film series, and showed up regularly in 1930s and 1940s cliffhangers, including The Painted Stallion (1937), Jungle Menace (1937), Zorro Rides Again (1937), King of the Mounties (1942), Secret Service in Darkest Africa (1943) The Tiger Woman (1944). In 1945 he began the Cisco Kid film series and transferred the character successfully to TV in the early 1950s, with Leo Carrillo as faithful sidekick Pancho. Renaldo made the character clean-shaven and more of a do-gooder than the roguish bandit who actually was in the books. Renaldo retired soon after the series' demise and died years later at Goleta Valley Community Hospital in California of lung cancer in 1980.
Known for
Credits
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
as Lt. Berrendo
Trader Horn (1931)
as Peru
Mission to Moscow (1943)
as Italian Reporter (uncredited)
The Fighting Seabees (1944)
as Construction Worker at Party
Zorro Rides Again (1937)
as Renaldo
Hollywood: The Dream Factory (1972)
as Self (archive footage)
Sky Racket (1937)
as Count Barksi
The Capture (1950)
as Carlos
Spawn of the North (1938)
as Ivan
The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1929)
as Esteban
Rocky Mountain Rangers (1940)
as Rico
The Lone Ranger Rides Again (1939)
as Juan Vasquez
Moonlight Murder (1936)
as Pedro
Tropic Holiday (1938)
as Young Blood (uncredited)
Rebellion (1936)
as Ricardo Castillo
Jungle Menace (1937)
as Armand Roget
King of the Texas Rangers (1941)
as Lt. Pedro Garcia
Satan's Cradle (1949)
as The Cisco Kid
Gauchos of El Dorado (1941)
as Gaucho / José Ojara
The Girl from San Lorenzo (1950)
as The Cisco Kid
King of the Mounties (1942)
as Pierre (Ch. 1, 11-12)
Rough Riders' Round-up (1939)
as Alcalde Don Enriguez
Bad Men of Missouri (1941)
as Dan
The Cisco Kid Returns (1945)
as The Cisco Kid
Covered Wagon Days (1940)
as Rico Rinaldo
Gaucho Serenade (1940)
as Gaucho Don José
Special Agent K-7 (1936)
as Tony Blank
Pioneers of the West (1940)
as Rico
Hands Across the Border (1944)
as Juan Morales
Down Mexico Way (1941)
as Juan
Heroes of the Saddle (1940)
as Rico
In Old New Mexico (1945)
as The Cisco Kid
Call of the South Seas (1944)
as Commissioner Charcot
Outlaws of the Desert (1941)
as Sheik Suleiman
Around the World (1943)
as Dragoman
Cowboys from Texas (1939)
as Rico Rinaldo
South of the Border (1939)
as Andreo Mendoza
South of the Rio Grande (1945)
as The Cisco Kid
A Yank in Libya (1942)
as Sheik David
Jungle Terror (1946)
as Armand Roget
Lady Luck (1936)
as Tony Morelli
The Mad Empress (1939)
as Col. Miguel López
The Gay Amigo (1949)
as The Cisco Kid
Border Patrol (1943)
as Commandante
Jungle Flight (1947)
as Police Captain Costa
Clothes Make the Woman (1928)
Actor
The Tiger Woman (1944)
as José Delgado
Sword of the Avenger (1948)
as Fernando
Two Minutes to Play (1936)
as Lew Ashley
Rose of the Rio Grande (1938)
as Sebastian
The Valiant Hombre (1948)
as The Cisco Kid
The Kansas Terrors (1939)
as Renaldo
Secret Service In Darkest Africa (1943)
as Capt. Pierre LaSalle
Mile a Minute Love (1937)
as Count Ribalto
San Antonio Kid (1944)
as Johnny Bennett
The Painted Stallion (1937)
as Zamorro
South of Panama (1941)
as Captain of Police
Pals of the Prairie (1929)
as Francisco Valencia
Trapped in Tia Juana (1932)
as Lt. Kenneth Holbert / El Zorro
Sheriff of Sundown (1944)
as Chihuahua Ramírez
The Daring Caballero (1949)
as The Cisco Kid
Oklahoma Renegades (1940)
as Rico Rinaldo
Ten Laps to Go (1936)
as Eddie DeSylva
Tiger Fangs (1943)
as Peter Jeremy
Public Stenographer (1934)
as Henchman Orsini
The Moth (1934)
as Don Pedro