Leo Carrillo

A descendant of some of the first Spaniards to settle what would become known as California, Leo Carrillo worked as a cartoonist at the "San Francisco Examiner," and amused his colleagues as much with his funny accents as with his artwork. He decided to attempt a second career in vaudeville, and succeeded well enough that he eventually appeared in several Broadway shows. As Hollywood was making the transition to sound, Carrillo returned to his native Los Angeles, where his verbal agility was suddenly in great demand. He starred in several Vitaphone shorts for Warner Brothers. before making his feature debut in the Tiffany-Stahl production "Mr. Antonio." As a supporting player, Carrillo was most often called upon to portray Mexicans and other Spanish speakers, often in the most broadly stereotypical way. But he was also cast as Greeks, as in "Moonlight and Pretzels" (notable as one of Karl Freund's few directorial efforts) and Italians, as in James Cruze's "Racetrack." In 1948, he assumed the role for which he would become best known, when he took over the part of Pancho, the sidekick to Duncan Renaldo's Cisco Kid. The pair made a few feature films together and in 1950 moved to television. Their series, "The Cisco Kid," was the first program to be shot entirely in color, and enjoyed six seasons on the air. Carrillo, upholding his family's devotion to California, served for years on the state's park commission, and a popular state park in Malibu is named in his honor.