Iron Eyes Italiano

Iron Eyes Cody, the crying American Indian seen in those old "Keep America Beautiful" public service announcements and hundreds of old western movies, was born Espera Oscar de Corti in Kaplan, Louisiana to Sicilian immigrants. He was honored by the Hollywood American Indian community for his contributions to Indian life in 1995 before the news of his Italian heritage became commonly known -- a fact that he continued to deny until is death in 1999.