Duncan Renaldo

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: Acting

Born: Oancea, Galați, Romania, 1904-04-23

Died: 1980-09-03

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1928	Clothes Make the Woman		0
2	1929	The Bridge of San Luis Rey	Esteban	73
3	1929	Pals of the Prairie	Francisco Valencia	0
4	1931	Trader Horn	Peru	53
5	1932	Trapped in Tia Juana	Lt. Kenneth Holbert / El Zorro	40
6	1934	Public Stenographer	Henchman Orsini	45
7	1934	The Moth	Don Pedro	0
8	1936	Moonlight Murder	Pedro	50
9	1936	Special Agent K-7	Tony Blank	38
10	1936	Lady Luck	Tony Morelli	50
11	1936	Rebellion	Ricardo Castillo	60
12	1936	Two Minutes to Play	Lew Ashley	50
13	1936	Ten Laps to Go	Eddie DeSylva	40
14	1937	Mile a Minute Love	Count Ribalto	60
15	1937	The Painted Stallion	Zamorro	45
16	1937	Jungle Menace	Armand Roget	50
17	1937	Sky Racket	Count Barksi	28
18	1937	Zorro Rides Again	Renaldo	70
19	1938	Rose of the Rio Grande	Sebastian	0
20	1938	Tropic Holiday	Young Blood (uncredited)	58
21	1938	Spawn of the North	Ivan	56
22	1939	The Lone Ranger Rides Again	Juan Vasquez	60
23	1939	Rough Riders' Round-up	Alcalde Don Enriguez	40
24	1939	The Kansas Terrors	Renaldo	0
25	1939	Cowboys from Texas	Rico Rinaldo	20
26	1939	South of the Border	Andreo Mendoza	50
27	1939	The Mad Empress	Col. Miguel López	56
28	1940	Pioneers of the West	Rico	0
29	1940	Covered Wagon Days	Rico Rinaldo	0
30	1940	Gaucho Serenade	Gaucho Don José	60
31	1940	Rocky Mountain Rangers	Rico	0
32	1940	Oklahoma Renegades	Rico Rinaldo	0
33	1940	Heroes of the Saddle	Rico	0
34	1941	South of Panama	Captain of Police	60
35	1941	Bad Men of Missouri	Dan	56
36	1941	King of the Texas Rangers	Lt. Pedro Garcia	60
37	1941	Down Mexico Way	Juan	0
38	1941	Gauchos of El Dorado	Gaucho / José Ojara	0
39	1941	Outlaws of the Desert	Sheik Suleiman	0
40	1942	A Yank in Libya	Sheik David	35
41	1942	King of the Mounties	Pierre (Ch. 1, 11-12)	0
42	1943	Border Patrol	Commandante	60
43	1943	Mission to Moscow	Italian Reporter (uncredited)	53
44	1943	For Whom the Bell Tolls	Lt. Berrendo	65
45	1943	Secret Service In Darkest Africa	Capt. Pierre LaSalle	50
46	1943	Tiger Fangs	Peter Jeremy	40
47	1943	Around the World	Dragoman	50
48	1944	Hands Across the Border	Juan Morales	55
49	1944	The Fighting Seabees	Construction Worker at Party	62
50	1944	Call of the South Seas	Commissioner Charcot	50
51	1944	The Tiger Woman	José Delgado	60
52	1944	San Antonio Kid	Johnny Bennett aka San Antonio Kid	0
53	1944	Sheriff of Sundown	Chihuahua Ramírez	0
54	1945	The Cisco Kid Returns	The Cisco Kid	70
55	1945	In Old New Mexico	The Cisco Kid	50
56	1945	South of the Rio Grande	The Cisco Kid	0
57	1946	Jungle Terror	Armand Roget	0
58	1947	Jungle Flight	Police Captain Costa	59
59	1948	Sword of the Avenger	Fernando	80
60	1948	The Valiant Hombre	The Cisco Kid	0
61	1949	The Gay Amigo	The Cisco Kid	65
62	1949	The Daring Caballero	The Cisco Kid	55
63	1949	Satan's Cradle	The Cisco Kid	42
64	1950	The Girl from San Lorenzo	The Cisco Kid	0
65	1950	The Capture	Carlos	61
66	1972	Hollywood: The Dream Factory	Self (archive footage)	60

No.

Year

Title

Role

Vote Average

1928