American character actor specializing in tough guys and heavies. A native of Yonkers, New York, he worked on the Broadway stage and then became an increasingly familiar figure in Westerns and crime dramas after World War II. Although almost as familiar a presence in films as his contemporaries Warren Oates, Robert J. Wilke, and Leo Gordon, for some reason Lambert never became as well-known as these, even by film buffs, despite having appeared in a great number of similar roles and films. His credits are often confused with those of the Scots actor of the same name, Jack Lambert.
Iron Eyes Cody was born Espera or "Oscar" DeCorti, the son of two first-generation immigrants from Italy. In 1924 he moved to California, changed his name from "DeCorti" to "Corti" to Cody, and started working as an actor, presenting himself as a Native American. He married an Indian woman, Bertha Parker, and together they adopted two Indian sons, Robert and Arthur. Iron Eyes Cody lived and worked as an Indian for all his adult life; he labored for decades to promote Native American causes, and was honored by Hollywood's Native American community in 1995 as a "non-Native" for his contribution to film.
