Nestor Paiva (June 30, 1905 - September 9, 1966) was an American actor of Portuguese descent who portrayed Theo Gonzales the innkeeper onWalt Disney's live-action television series Zorro by ABC and its feature film The Sign of Zorro which was shot in Burbank's Walt Disney Studios.
Career
Nestor appeared in motion pictures and television shows from the 1930s to the 1960s such as 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 Creaturethe following year. 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.
Paiva died of cancer in 1966.
Source: Wikipedia