Natividad Vácio: First in a series

Mexican-American character actors....who were they?

Remember Father Knows Best? Seen re-runs?  Aware of it's iconic status?  Whatever way you know it, you may have come across a character who appeared in 5 episodes.  His name is Frank, but they called him "Fronk", which we suppose was a bit of humor-- pronouncing an Anglo name as a native Spanish speaker might, if he spoke English with a heavy accent.  Perhaps it was an anglicized derivative of "Francisco", but we'll never know!  We know this actor was born in Texas.  Perhaps he spoke English without a Spanish accent at all.

He played the Anderson family gardener.

"Fronk" is Natividad Vácio (September 8, 1912--May 30, 1996)

His career spanned 41 years and 65 TV and movie appearances.  Yet, the vast majority of his roles were stereotypical Hispanics, especially in the early years. A large percentage of his roles contain only a first name or a descriptor such as "bartender", "waiter" and "vagrant".

Paco.  Chico.  Manuel.  Pedro.  Bricklayer.  Bootmaker.

He was never a president, a CEO, or even a riverboat scoundrel.

One of the more interesting facts we discovered was Vácio's close friendship with Superman actor and director George Reeves (then known as George Bessolo).  They were high school pals in Pasadena, California.

From a Sarasota, FL Superman conference

From imdb

"Born in El Paso, Texas, Natividad Vacio grew up in Pasadena, California. In high school he became friends with future actor George Reeves, who encouraged Vacio to join him at the Pasadena Community Playhouse. Vacio appeared in several plays there as an actor and musician. After military service in World War II he worked as a teacher, but with the encouragement of his best friend Reeves, appeared frequently in films and television." 

In turn, "Nati" taught George how to play the guitar. The two formed a vaudeville-style musical duo, but unfortunately-- no records of their performances seem to exist.

As was mentioned, Mr. Vácio was a World War Two veteran.  It is the only thing mentioned on his headstone at Forest Lawn.

We wanted to write a more complete profile of this prolific, talented man, but information is limited.

At Pasadena Playhouse

For example, we know his creativity on the stage abounded, and that he started Commedia del Artistes stage company of Padua Hills, California. (present-day Claremont)

The page linked below might refer to that effort, but we can't say for sure.  Although it is now a banquet hall, until the 1980s it was the home of "The Mexican Players".  It seems likely that Natividad Vácio would involve himself in something like that.

Padua Hills Theatre Home Page

It is true that many character actors live and die largely unnoticed, while being the backbone of every TV show, movie and stage play, it is far more true of those who play a select group of Hispanic stereotypes.  Our plan is to write more of these profiles interspersed with posts on other topics.