To most audiences Duncan Renaldo will always be identified as film and TVs 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 Renaldos 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 Spainhe has said that his first memories as a child were in Spainalthough 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 90day seamans 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 oncamera 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 didnt 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 Roosevelthis wife Eleanor Roosevelt had bought one of Renaldos 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 costarred 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 cleanshaven and more of a dogooder 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
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