"Iron Eyes Cody"

Saw this guy's story on the show American Pickers and thought it was funny considering the current news story out there about the black lives matter guy.

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Cody was widely seen in his "crying chief" role in the "Keep America Beautiful" Public Service Announcement (PSA) in the early 1970s.[3] The environmental commercial showed Cody dressed as a Native American, shedding a tear after trash is thrown from the window of a car and it lands at his feet. The announcer, William Conrad, says: "People start pollution; people can stop it."

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Cody was born Espera Oscar de Corti on April 3, 1904, in Kaplan in Vermilion Parish, in southwestern Louisiana, a second son of Antonio de Corti and his wife, Francesca Salpietra, immigrants from Sicily.

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Long before his fame in the 1970s, Iron Eyes Cody had carved out a niche for himself in Hollywood’s Western film community as “the noble Indian.” With his striking, “indigenous” looks, he perfectly fit the bill for what producers were looking for -- and his story correlated. Until the late 1990s, Iron Eyes’ personal history (provided solely by himself) was that he’d descended from a Cherokee father and a Cree mother, and had been born under the name “Little Eagle.” An old archived article filed in the Glendale Special Collections library elaborates on his account:

“Iron Eyes learned much of his Indian lore in the days when, as a youth, he toured the country with his father, Thomas Long Plume, in a wild west show. During his travels, he taught himself the sign language of other tribes of Indians.”

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In 1996, a journalist with The New Orleans Times-Picayune ventured to Gueydan, Louisiana, the small town Iron Eyes had allegedly grown up in, and sought out his heritage. Here, it was revealed that “America’s favorite Indian” was actually a second-generation Italian.

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Even after his history was revealed, Iron Eyes Cody refused to admit the truth behind it. He continued to wear his braided wig, headdress, and moccasins, and was unrelenting in supporting the Native American community.

He toured on a lecture circuit, reminding Indians of their traditions, and admonishing them against gambling and the use of alcohol. “Nearly all my life, it has been my policy to help those less fortunate than myself,” he later told the press. “My foremost endeavors have been with the help of the Great Spirit to dignify my People's image through humility and love of my country. If I have done that, then I have done all I need to do."

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Cody began acting in the early 1930s. He worked in film and television until his death. Like many other Native impersonators, Cody claimed Cherokee-Cree ancestry, also naming several other tribes and frequently changed his place of birth. He appeared to live as if he were of indigenous Native American descent, on and off the screen, and was said to have supported Native American causes.

He appeared in more than 200 films, including The Big Trail (1930), with John Wayne; The Scarlet Letter (1934), with Colleen Moore; Sitting Bull (1954), as Crazy Horse; The Light in the Forest (1958) as Cuyloga; The Great Sioux Massacre (1965), with Joseph Cotten; Nevada Smith (1966), with Steve McQueen; A Man Called Horse (1970), with Richard Harris; and Ernest Goes to Camp (1987), as Chief St. Cloud.

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In 1936, Cody married the archaeologist and ethnologist Bertha Parker. They adopted two children of Native American descent, said to be of Dakota-Maricopa origin. One son, Robert "Tree" Cody, was interviewed about his father in the 2009 documentary Reel Injun.

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In 1995, the Hollywood Native community honored Cody for his contributions to the representation of Native American life, yet they tactfully pointed out his non-Native heritage.

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https://priceonomics.com/the-true-story-of-the-crying-indian/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Eyes_Cody