Nestor Paiva


Nestor Paiva was an American actor of Portuguese descent. He is most famous for his recurring role of Teo Gonzales the innkeeper in Walt Disney's Spanish Western series Zorro and its feature film The Sign of Zorro, as well as Lucas the boat captain in Creature from the Black Lagoon and its sequel Revenge of the Creature.

Early years

Paiva attended the University of California. During his senior year, he directed a production, The Youngest, after the previous director resigned because of sickness.

Career

In the early 1930s, Paiva was director of the Eight o'Clock Players troupe at KLX radio in Oakland, California.
Nestor appeared in motion pictures and television from the 1930s to the 1960s including such TV programs as The Lone Ranger , Zorro, Get Smart, Bonanza, I Spy, Family Affair, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, The Andy Griffith Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Daniel Boone, and The Addams Family. He appeared in more than 250 movies. Paiva married in 1941 and had two children, Joseph and Caetana, who appeared with him in the 1956 movie Comanche with Dana Andrews. As a voice actor, Paiva also contributed his voice to many characters on Hanna-Barbera's Jonny Quest.
Paiva died of cancer in 1966.

Selected filmography