Nestor Paiva

Over the course of his long and varied career, Nestor Paiva used his ethnic features and his ability to handle various accents to portray villains and shady characters of every background imaginable. After developing an interest in theater while studying at the University of California at Berkeley, Paiva embarked on a decade-long successful stage career, appearing in many Los Angeles-area productions. Although he broke into film in the late '30s, often portraying devious villains and foreign authority figures in films like the crime caper "Angels' Alley" and the assassination drama "Bride of Vengeance," it was his memorable role as a crusty boat captain in the 1954 low-budget horror movie "Creature from the Black Lagoon" that garnered the stocky actor his biggest accolades yet. After reprising his role in the sequel, "Revenge of the Creature," Paiva landed guest roles on such series as the western adventures "Sugarfoot" and "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin," which is about an orphaned boy and his loyal dog who are adopted by the troops of a small army outpost. In 1957, he was memorably cast as the beleagured Spanish innkeeper Theo Gonzales in the popular Disney TV series "Zorro," later appearing as a French bailiff in the Frank Sinatra musical romance "Can-Can" and as an Italian criminal in "The Case Against Brooklyn," based on the true story of police corruption in 1950s New York.