DUNCAN RENALDO
April 23rd, 1904 (unverified) -- September 3rd, 1980

Above: Duncan Renaldo is in the act of bodyslamming thug Al Taylor in this action shot from KING OF THE TEXAS RANGER (Republic, 1941).

There were two kinds of "sidekicks" in serials. One, the comic type (best exemplified by Smiley Burnette) was there as a contrast to the hero and to provide laughs in an otherwise serious film. The other type, the serious type, was there to back up the hero, and, if need be, to take part in a little heroic action on their own. Many of these "co-hero" actors were a bit bland and forgettable, since they had to be sure not to upstage the hero, but there was at least one exception to this rule: Duncan Renaldo. With his confident, friendly smile, slight, musical accent, and athletic presence, Renaldo always conveyed an air of competence and quick-thinking to complement the equally quick-thinking hero, and at the same time always created an interesting, distinctive character to be remembered long after the serial's conclusion.

There's a bit of a mystery surrounding Duncan Renaldo's birth; even Renaldo (whose real name was Renault Renaldo Duncan) himself didn't know where he was born. I've heard New Jersey, Spain, and Romania variously credited as Renaldo's birthplace. He was most certainly European, so one of the two latter is the most likely; possibly Spain, as he certainly played a lot of Latin characters in his movies, as well as the Cisco Kid on television. Anyway, he came to America as a stoker on board a Brazilian ship in the early 1920's, and was stranded in the US when the ship burned. Although he had entered the country on a 90-day seaman's permit, he stayed on for years, first producing his own short films and then appearing in movies himself. In 1931, he made an appearance in one of the most famous early talkie films, TRADER HORN, as the second lead behind Harry Carey Sr. In 1934, Renaldo was arrested for illegal entry and spent a year in prison. He got a presidential pardon from F.D. Roosevelt, and in 1937 made his serial debut in Republic's THE PAINTED STALLION. In this first cliffhanger, however, he was not a co-hero but a villain, Zamorro, the "cold-blooded lieutenant," of Mexican despot Alfredo Dupray (LeRoy Mason) who spearheaded his boss's attempts to keep American settlers led by Clark Stewart (LeRoy Mason) out of his territory. Renaldo and Mason, however, encountered opposition not only from Stewart but also from a mysterious Indian girl (Julia Thayer) who perpetually rode to warn the wagon train of danger, mounted on the stallion of the title. The valiant Americans, by the final chapter, had blazed their trail, and Renaldo became the recipient of one of the girl's arrows.

Above: Duncan Renaldo, about to signal his men to attack a wagon train, is startled when one of the arrows of the rider of THE PAINTED STALLION (Republic, 1937), hits his saddle. Maston Williams looks in the direction the arrow came from.

Duncan again teamed with LeRoy Mason for more villainy the same year in the Columbia serial JUNGLE MENACE, starring the famous Frank Buck. This time Renaldo was ostensibly Mason's boss, a slick nightclub owner named Armand Rogers who was after a rubber plantation owned by William Bakewell. However, Mason, as a vicious thug named Murphy, took the reins of villainy out of Duncan's hands before the end, killing him in the process. From these two serials, Duncan clearly learned that crime does not pay, for, except for one relapse, all his subsequent serial roles were as good guys.

ZORRO RIDES AGAIN (Republic, 1937), gave Renaldo his first serial sidekick role. It was also his first serial under his new Term Player contract for Republic, as well as the first cliffhanger directed by the team of William Witney and John English, who are reckoned by virtually everyone the greatest serial directors ever. The serial dealt with the modern day great-grandson of Zorro, James Vega (John Carroll) who assumed his ancestor's identity to combat a gang of outlaws bent on destroying the California-Yucatan railroad, which was under the joint ownership of Vega's uncle (Nigel DeBrulier) and American Phillip Andrews. Duncan was cast as Renaldo, Vega's faithful old servant, who shared the secret of his identity. With his hair grayed and with a moustache, Duncan played more of a passive role than he would in his later serials, mainly helping Zorro to mount his horse and don his costume; although he did man a gatling gun while aiding Zorro in conducting a daring rescue at one point. ZORRO RIDES AGAIN was a great debut to Witney and English's career, and the start of Renaldo's long association with the dynamic directorial duo.

Above, from left to right: Duncan Renaldo, two unidentified players, Reed Howes, Helen Christian, and another unidentified player in ZORRO RIDES AGAIN (Republic, 1937).

Renaldo came into his own as a serial cohero with THE LONE RANGER RIDES AGAIN (Republic, 1939). A sequel to Republic's LONE RANGER (1938), the serial was more of a vehicle for Republic's B-western star Bob Livingston than a Lone Ranger adventure, but it was still a well-done Western cliffhanger. The serial dealt with a struggle between cattle baron Craig Dolan (J. Farrell MacDonald) and the farmers, led by Jed Scott (Will Gould), who the old rancher felt were encroaching on his territory. The struggle was aggravated when Dolan's ruthless nephew, Bart (Ralph Dunn) engaged a gang of outlaw raiders to drive off the nesters, who naturally believed it was old Dolan's work. Duncan was Juan Vasquez, a farmer whose brother was murdered by a fake Lone Ranger (Carleton Young) in the employ of Bart's raiders. Renaldo went on a manhunt for the phony Lone Ranger, and, with the help of Bill Andrews (Bob Livingston) he tracked down his quarry and shot him. Andrews then revealed to Vasquez that he was really the Lone Ranger, and enlisted him to help him settle the bloody range war and find out who was really behind the outlaw raids.

Above: The Lone Ranger (Bob Livingston), Tonto (Chief Thundercloud), and Juan Vasquez (Duncan Renaldo) in THE LONE RANGER RIDES AGAIN (Republic, 1939).

To capitalize on the success of LONE RANGER RIDES AGAIN, Republic teamed Livingston and Renaldo in their series of Three Mesquiteers B-westerns. This kept Duncan busy all through 1940, but in 1941, wrapping up the 3M series, he returned to cliffhangers in KING OF THE TEXAS RANGERS (Republic, 1941). Possibly Duncan's best role--and probably his best serial as well--KING was an action-packed, lightning-paced modern day Western starring football great Slingin' Sammy Baugh as a Texas Ranger tracking down Nazi saboteurs in Texas and Mexico. Renaldo was Lieutenant Pedro Garcia of the Mexican Rurales, who formed an alliance with Baugh to track down the villains, who were secretly led by respectable citizen Neil Hamilton. Baugh, who was an inexperienced actor, still carried his role well in the serial and came off as a perfect hero. Baugh always attributed his success in KING to Duncan. As he said in an interview: "Duncan Renaldo I'll never forget. He helped me more than anybody. He was just great...Duncan would give me tips and advice about how to do something. He'd tell me to come through a door and push my hat back, or what to do with my hands, where to stop, how to turn...things like that. Really, the way things were, Witney and English directed TEXAS RANGERS but Duncan Renaldo directed Sammy Baugh. I don't mean to take anything away from them, but no telling how much misery Duncan saved them." Thanks to the performances of both men, as well as the impeccable supporting cast and the endless action, KING OF THE TEXAS RANGERS enjoyed a wide success and is still regarded as one of Republic's greatest serials.

Above, from left to right: Pauline Moore, Duncan Renaldo, and Slingin’ Sammy Baugh in KING OF THE TEXAS RANGERS (Republic, 1941).

Renaldo's next serial was a return to the villainous roles he had played on his entry into cliffhangers: Pierre, the sneaky French-Canadian trading post clerk of spy Douglas Dumbrille in KING OF THE MOUNTIES (Republic, 1942), which starred Allan Lane. After this brief relapse into skullduggery, he returned to his real persona as Pierre LaSalle, French Intelligence officer and able assistant to American agent Rex Bennett (Rod Cameron) in SECRET SERVICE IN DARKEST AFRICA (Republic, 1943). The two dedicated agents were involved in battling a band of Nazi spies in French North Africa; complicating things for Cameron and Renaldo was the fact that Nazi spychief Baron Von Rommler was posing as the trusted Arab leader Abou Ben Ali (both roles were played by Lionel Royce). SECRET SERVICE, director Spencer Gordon Bennett's first serial for Republic, had possibly more action sequences (at least three per episode) than any other cliffhanger, and Duncan got right in on a lot of it along with Cameron.

Above: Duncan Renaldo (right) and Rod Cameron (center) question a suspicious antique dealer in a lobby card for the reissue version of SECRET SERVICE IN DARKEST AFRICA (Republic, 1943).

Renaldo's final serial was released the same year his Republic contract expired. Once again, he was cast as a Latin cohero, this time a South American. As Jose Delgado in THE TIGER WOMAN (Republic, 1944), he helped American oil driller Allan Lane protect the jungle domain of the mysterious white goddess the Tiger Woman (Linda Stirling, Republic's most popular serial heroine in her first cliffhanger) from unscrupulous profiteers headed by LeRoy Mason and Crane Whitley. Renaldo also helped Stirling off camera, as he had Sammy Baugh in KING OF THE TEXAS RANGERS. Linda, a former model, was unsure of herself as an actress, and Duncan supplied her with friendly coaching as well as instruction on horseback riding. Renaldo reteamed with Lane and Stirling to play Lane's sidekick in the B-western SHERIFF OF SUNDOWN the same year. SHERIFF was Duncan's last Republic film.

Above: Allan Lane comes to the rescue of Duncan Renaldo and Linda Stirling in THE TIGER WOMAN (Republic, 1944).

Renaldo, upon leaving serials, landed a role that would keep him going for the rest of his career. He played the Cisco Kid, the roguish Mexican bandit-hero, for the first time in THE CISCO KID RETURNS for Monogram Pictures, and, except for a brief period where Gilbert Roland took over the role, continued as Cisco for the rest of his career. Duncan really took an interest in his character and was influential in altering Cisco's somewhat unsavory personality to better fit the heroic mold. Renaldo moved with Cisco from Monogram to United Artists, and then to TV, where he played the Kid (with Leo Carillo as his sidekick Pancho) for six years, following which he retired to Goleta, California, where he passed away in 1980.

An exemplary gentleman, liked by all he worked with, including not only his co-stars like Linda Stirling and Sammy Baugh but his most frequent director, William Witney, Duncan Renaldo was the one "straight" sidekick in serials who gave you the impression that he was fully qualified to be the hero himself. But, since he was such a gentleman, he never for a moment attempted to upstage the heroes of his serials, but instead worked with them and helped to make each cliffhanger he appeared in as enjoyable as possible. The handsome young fellow had little idea of what he would come to mean to serial fans--and B-western fans--and TV fans--when he found himself stranded in America back in the 20's.

Viva Duncan Renaldo!