Nestor Paiva

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 shows from the 1930s to the 1960s such 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. In 1943, he played the Italian Major in the 20th Century Fox wartime movie Chetniks! The Fighting Guerrillas. He played the part of Lucas (the boat captain) in the 1954 horror film The Creature from the Black Lagoon starring Ben Chapman as the title monster; Paiva would reprise this role in that film's sequel Revenge of the Creature the following year, thus becoming the only actor to appear in more than one film in the series. 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 (1964-1965).

Paiva died of cancer in 1966.

Selected television appearances