Leo Carrillo

Leopoldo Antonio Carrillo, born on August 6, 1880, in Los Angeles, California, was an American actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, and conservationist who died on September 10, 1961, at the age of 81. He is buried at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery in Santa Monica. Carrillo belonged to one of California's most prominent Californio families, tracing his lineage through California, Mexico, and Spain to 1260. His great-great-grandfather, José Raimundo Carrillo (1749–1809), participated in the Spanish Portolá expedition and arrived in San Diego on July 1, 1769, with Franciscan Friar Junípero Serra presiding over his marriage to Tomasa Ignacia Lugo in 1781. His great-grandfather Carlos Antonio Carrillo (1783–1852) served as governor of Alta California from 1837 to 1838, and his great-uncle José Antonio Carrillo was a three-time mayor of Los Angeles. His paternal grandfather, Pedro Carrillo, was educated in Boston and worked as a writer.

The family relocated from San Diego to Los Angeles and eventually to Santa Monica, where Carrillo's father, Juan José Carrillo (1842–1916), served as police chief and later became the city's first mayor. His cousin was Broadway star William Gaxton, born Arturo Antonio Gaxiola. A university graduate, Carrillo began his professional life as a newspaper cartoonist for the San Francisco Examiner before transitioning to a career in acting.

Carrillo appeared on Broadway between 1915 and 1927, with credits that included the plays Mike Angelo, The Saint, The Padre, and Gypsy Jim, as well as the revue Fads and Fancies, among other productions. After establishing himself in the theater, he moved into film work in Hollywood, where he appeared in more than 90 pictures. He was known as a dialect specialist on screen, though in private life he spoke with a baritone voice entirely free of accent, employing the dialect deliberately for comic effect. In 1951 he took the title role in Pancho Villa Returns, which was produced in both English- and Spanish-dialogue versions.

Carrillo is perhaps best remembered for his role as Pancho, the good-natured sidekick to Duncan Renaldo's Cisco Kid, in the television series The Cisco Kid, which ran from 1950 to 1956 and was notable as the first TV series filmed in color. Renaldo and Carrillo had first been paired in a series of feature films beginning in 1949 before moving to the syndicated television format. Following the conclusion of The Cisco Kid, Carrillo appeared in the episode "Rescue at Sea" of the syndicated military drama Men of Annapolis.

In 1905, Carrillo married Edith Shakespeare Haeselbarth of Nyack, New York, whom he had met backstage at a New York City theater following one of his performances. They remained married until her death in 1953 and together had one daughter, Marie Antoinette. The family resided in Los Alisos on Channel Road in Santa Monica Canyon and spent time at their 4,500-acre ranch in Carlsbad, California, where Carrillo regularly allowed Boy Scout groups to camp. Proud of his California heritage, he authored the book The California I Love, published shortly before his death in 1961.

Beyond his entertainment career, Carrillo was a committed conservationist and preservationist. He served on the California Beach and Parks Commission for 18 years and contributed to the state's acquisition of Hearst Castle at San Simeon, the Los Angeles Arboretum, and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, after which the California governor named him a goodwill ambassador. During a film shoot in Hilo, Hawaii in 1933, the city honored him by naming a banyan tree after him. A 1.5-mile stretch of beach west of Malibu on the Pacific Coast Highway bears his name as Leo Carrillo State Park. Additional honors include an elementary school named for him in Westminster, California, and Leo Carrillo Ranch Historic Park in Carlsbad, originally known as Rancho de los Kiotes, which is a registered California Historical Site. Rancho Carrillo Trail, also in Carlsbad, likewise carries his name.

Carrillo held Republican political views. In 1944 he performed a Wild West act at a rally organized by David O. Selznick at the Los Angeles Coliseum in support of the Dewey-Bricker ticket and Governor Earl Warren of California, an event that drew 93,000 attendees with Cecil B. DeMille serving as master of ceremonies. For his contributions to the film industry, Carrillo received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — one at 1635 Vine Street for motion pictures and a second at 1517 Vine Street for television.