Iron Eyes Cody, dubbed the "Crying Indian" for those ubiquitous "Keep America Beautiful" anti-pollution spots in the 1970s, didn't have a trace of Native American blood in him, according to a report in Indian Country Today.
Instead, the actor, who claimed to be part Cherokee and part Cree and appeared in upwards of 80 films in American Indian roles--often playing characters identified only as "Indian," "Indian Chief" or "Indian Joe"--was really an Italian-American from Louisiana. His real name: Oscar DeCorti.
The allegations, surfacing just four days after Cody died, date back three years, when the New Orleans Times-Picayune originally detailed the actor's hidden history.
Cody claimed to have been born in Oklahoma around the turn of the century (dates vary from 1905 to 1915). He said he got the show biz bug from his Cherokee Indian dad, Thomas Long Plume, and later joined his pop as a performer in circuses and Wild West shows.
But, according to the newspaper reports, Cody's mom really hailed from Sicily and his father was an Italian immigrant.
Cody's film career included parts in Sitting Bull, The Great Sioux Massacre, A Man Called Horse and Ernest Goes to Camp, and he frequently served as an on-set technical advisor for American Indian scenes. He also turned up on such TV shows as Bonanza, Gunsmoke and Rawhide.