Pedro de Cordoba

Pedro de Cordoba (September 28, 1881 – September 16, 1950) was an American actor.

Early life

De Cordoba was born in New York City to Cuban and French parents.

Career

De Cordoba was a classically trained theatre actor who confessed he did not enjoy appearing in silent films nearly as much as he liked working on stage, but his career during the silent film era was extensive.

In 1913 he was a member of the resident summer stock cast at Elitch Theatre in Denver, Colorado.^[1][2] In 1921 he starred as Mr. Jovaine in Augustus Thomas's Nemesis at the Garrick Theatre in Philadelphia^[3] and on Broadway at the Hudson Theatre.^[4]

Hollywood

His first film was Cecil B. DeMille's version of Carmen (1915), and he soon became a regular leading man in Hollywood. His Broadway career cast him with such stage actresses as Jane Cowl and Katharine Cornell.

In the sound era, his deeply resonant speaking voice made him perfectly suited to talking pictures and was active as a character actor in Hollywood, from the mid-1930s through to the end of his life. He was most often cast as aristocratic, or clerical characters of Hispanic origin, as in The Keys of the Kingdom (1944), because of his last name as well as his royal bearing. On rare occasions, he would be cast in the role of a villain. His "living skeleton" sideshow character hides fugitive Robert Cummings (and Priscilla Lane) in his carnival wagon overnight in the Alfred Hitchcock film Saboteur (1942).

In 1932 he portrayed Collatine in the Broadway production of Lucrece.

Personal life

Cordoba was married Antoinette Glover in 1917, until her death in 1921. He married Eleanor M. Nolan in 1928, and they had six children together.

He was a devout Catholic and served for a time as president of the Catholic Actors Guild of America.

Death

Cordoba died in his home in the Sunland neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1950, aged 68.^[5] His remains are interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City.

Selected filmography

Silent film

Sound film

Radio