Duncan Renaldo Biography

Fast Facts

• Before his first starring role, he got involved in producing and writing
• At 13, he became a merchant sailor, but was stranded in the United States in 1922 after his ship burned at dockside in Baltimore
• Started working as a janitor in New York's old Tec Art movie studio, and worked his way up to being a scenery designer
• Was tried for entering the U․S․ illegally and convicted of perjury, but President Franklin D․ Roosevelt granted him an unconditional pardon, which arrived the day before he was to complete his 18 month prison term
• Though his show business career was interrupted by a sensational immigration trial, he starred in one of the greatest hits of the 1930s, "Trader Horn․"
• Known for his television role as early California hero Cisco Kid, starring in 159 episodes of the show alongside his co-star Leo Carrillo, who played Pancho
• Was proud that his television character Cisco and Cisco's sidekick Pancho outwitted their enemies instead of relying on violence
• Appeared on the album cover of War's "Ware Live," which included the band's song "The Cisco Kid․"
• As he was orphaned at an early age, he never knew his parents and claimed that he was unsure where he was born, though evidence points to Oancea, Romania
• After serving a prison term, he returned to janitorial work at Republic Studios briefly before being rediscovered