Nestor Paiva (June 30, 1905 – September 9, 1966) was an American stage, radio, film and television actor of Portuguese descent. He performed in over 400 motion pictures either as an extra, a bit player, or as a significant supporting character.[2] He also appears in such roles in a variety of television series produced during the 1950s and early 1960s. Among his notable screen appearances is his recurring role as the innkeeper Teo Gonzales in Walt Disney's late 1950s televised Spanish Western series Zorro, as well as in its adapted theatrical release The Sign of Zorro (1958). Paiva also appears as the boat captain Lucas in the Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) and in that horror film's sequel Revenge of the Creature (1955).
Born in California in 1905, Nestor was the tenth of twelve children of Mariana Luísa (née Freitas) and Francisco "Frank" Caetano Paiva.[3] Both of his parents were natives of Portugal, who immigrated to the United States from the Azores, a cluster of islands situated in the Atlantic about 1,400 km (870 mi) west of Lisbon. His father arrived in the United States in 1880, at age seven. His mother immigrated much later, in 1896, at the age of 17. That same year she married Frank, who in the coming years supported Nestor and the rest of the growing Paiva family working as the proprietor of a grocery store in Fresno and then, by the late 1920s, as a gardener and laborer of "odd jobs".[3][4][5]
Frank and Mariana Paiva moved their entire family to Northern California prior to the summer of 1929, resettling in Alameda County, where Nestor attended the University of California, Berkeley.[5] During his studies there he performed in stage productions both on and off campus. In July 1929, as examples, he was cast in the Berkeley Playhouse's presentations of Robert E. Sherwood's comedy The Queen's Husband and in another comedy, Meet the WifebyLynn Starling.[6][7] Paiva also gained experience directing plays at the university. In February 1931, he directed a production of Philip Barry's comedy The Youngest after the previous director resigned due to "ill health".[8] Following graduation, Paiva was soon hired to be director of the Eight o'Clock Players troupe at KLX radio in Oakland, California.[9] He also performed later in CBS's early radio version of Gunsmoke, including in that series' first-season episode "Wild West", which originally aired on July 18, 1953.[10]
Paiva married Maxine Yvette Kurtzman in Clark, Nevada in January 1941.[1] The couple had two children, Joseph and Caetana, both of whom performed with their father in the 1956 film Comanche starring Dana Andrews. In 1966, Paiva died of cancer at age 61 in Sherman Oaks, California.[2]
^ ab"Nevada County Marriages, 1862-1993," database with images, Nestor Caetano Paiva and Maxine Yvette Kurtzman, January 28, 1941, Clark, Nevada; archives of the Nevada State Museum and Historical Society, Las Vegas. Image of official marriage certificate accessed via FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, April 8, 2023.
^ abc"Veteran Actor Nestor Paiva Succumbs at 61", obituary, Los Angeles Times, September 11, 1966, p. B4. Retrieved via ProQuest Historical Newspapers (Ann Arbor, Michigan); subscription access through The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, April 10, 2023.
^ ab"Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910—Population", image of original enumeration page, April 22, 1910, Fresno, California, "Nestra" Paiva, son in household of Frank C. Paiva; Enumeration District (ED) 43, sheet 12B, United States Census Bureau, Department of Commerce and Labor, Washington, D.C. Copy of original census page in National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) accessed via FamilySearch, April 9, 2023.
^"Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920—Population", January 5-6, 1920, Fresno, California, "Nesto", son in household of Frank C. Paiva; ED 39, sheet 7A, U.S. Census Bureau. Copy of original census page in NARA accessed via FamilySearch, April 10, 2023.
^ ab"Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930—Population", April 3, 1930, Berkeley, Alameda County, California, "Nesto", son in household of Frank C. Paiva; ED 1-327, sheet 4A, U.S. Census Bureau. Copy of original census page in NARA accessed via FamilySearch, April 10, 2023.
^"Comedy Will Continue Run At Playhouse", The Daily Californian, July 31, 1929, p. 3, col. 1. Cited edition accessed via HathiTrust Digital Library, April 11, 2023.
^Barabas, SuzAnne; Barabas, Gabor. "Wild West" (S1E65), radio episode originally broadcast July 18, 1953, Gunsmoke: A Complete History. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1990. ISBN0-89950-418-3.
^Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 452–456. ISBN978-1476665993.
^ abcdScott, Keith (3 October 2022). Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2. BearManor Media.
