I’ve always loved the
character Zorro ever since my first introduction by Walt Disney in the
television series of the same name. While
I had a huge crush on handsome Guy Williams, it was the casting for that show that
made it so memorable. Being a lover of character
actors, I felt that these auxiliary performers provided some necessary humor, and
allowed Zorro to have some fun while tormenting his adversaries. The
next few articles for the blog will spotlight the unforgettable
people, who in conjunction with Guy Williams, made that show work so well.
By far, one of the most
memorable would be none other than Sgt. Demetrio Lopez García.
García had dreams of
being well off, and he often enjoyed the comforts of food and drink – much like
Friar Tuck of the Robin Hood saga. While
the Sergeant took advantage of an opportunity to exploit a glass of wine
from whomever, it was handled most delicately in this Disney show. Aimed at families with children, García could not be portrayed as a
lush. Instead, the Sergeant’s weakness
for wine was used on numerous occasions as a means for Diego de la Vega to obtain important
information . I
really feel that Diego did consider García
a friend, despite the latter’s mandatory allegiance to the Commandante. In
truth, the young caballero, Diego, had a great deal of sympathy for García whose plump frame, clumsiness,
unshaven appearance, and inability to catch “The Fox” were an embarrassment to
his Commandante. Henry Calvin manifested
this stereotypical portrait of García
with his 6'2",
340 pound frame. In order to give his
character that unkempt look, he used a special razor to maintain that bristly
beard. If Sgt. García seemed so realistic, it was
because Henry Calvin made his character come alive.
What was the man behind
García really like? Henry Calvin was actually born Wimberly
Calvin Goodman, Jr. on May 25, 1918 in Dallas, Texas. His parents were Wimberly Calvin Sr. and Alma
Goodman. As a child, Henry sang in the
Baptist church choir, where his vocals earned him many opportunities as a
soloist. He attended Winnetka grade
school and Sunset High School, also in Dallas.
Henry had intended to major in journalism at Southern Methodist
University, and even worked for the Dallas
Star as a sports writer. On the
side, he found prospects to sing in several Dallas churches on Sunday. This led to Calvin landing parts in several theater
stock companies in the Dallas area: “I
guess that’s where it all started...All of a sudden I discovered that I really
wanted to go into show business and give up newspaper reporting, so that’s
exactly what I did.”
Bitten by the show
business bug, he went to New York City in 1939 where he became a soloist for
Radio City Music Hall. Calvin had to defer
his dream when the U.S. entered World War II.
Henry joined the Army, starting as a private; he worked his way up to
the rank of First Lieutenant as a unit commander of Field Artillery. He was part of the Pacific Campaign up
through 1945. Upon his return, Calvin
resumed his theatrical career, winning prominent Broadway roles. He appeared in The Chocolate Soldier
(1947), Sally (1948), and Happy as Larry (1950), before hosting
an NBC radio show, also in 1950. In
1952, he portrayed Big Ben, the traveling circus ringmaster for the
children's TV series Howdy Doody. Perhaps his greatest achievement on Broadway
was landing the role of the Wazir of police in Kismet (1953-55). Here is an excerpt from his solo and I apologize
for the commercial: http://www.last.fm/listen/artist/Henry%2BCalvin/similarartists. In between his Broadway stints, he kept busy
with radio, television, and motion picture projects.
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| Flint, Michigan - 1958 |
From 1948-1953, Henry
worked in character roles as a comic or the “heavy”. This led to a contract with United Artists
and relocation to the West Coast. In
1956 he appeared in Crime Against Joe.
His other film that year, The Broken
Star, was a western with Howard Duff.
It wasn’t long before he would capture the role that would endear him to
many - that of Sergeant Demetrio Lopez García. As many fans of the
show can verify, Henry treated all of us to his fine baritone vocals. One in particular was the song “Tamales” duet with Barbara Luna and Henry Calvin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16_eNQ2xi_4). One of the best examples of his voice was “I
Am Because I Think So” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu8X0qi4Pck). One of my personal favorites where Henry
really became animated was in “The Commandante Song”, vaguely reminiscent of
his Kismet performance: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK4sm0QqHzw&feature=related).
Even after the weekly series had been
canceled, Mr. Calvin appeared in four Zorro
stories for Disney's Wonderful World of Color (1960–61). Despite the fact that Zorro was no longer
broadcast, many of the cast, including Henry Calvin, reunited in films such as Toby
Tyler, or Ten Weeks with a Circus (1960), and Babes in Toyland
(1961).
In his personal life, Mr.
Calvin had been married twice. The first
was to Jeannette Galloway Franklin, which ended prior to 1946, when she married
her second husband. In her obituary
published in the Dallas Morning News on
July 6, 2012 it stated:
“She was a fine horsewoman and showed horses in local shows. Studied
voice at the School of Music SMU through 1940. Her operatic voice was called by
many a "Puccini" soprano. 1st marriage Wimberley Calvin Goodman, Jr.
Dallas, Texas, at Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration 24 September 1940,
New York City where she lived 2 years and studied voice. Mr. Goodman's stage
name Henry Calvin; 1st Wazir of Police in "Kismet" Broadway; Sgt.
Garcia on the Disney television program, "Zorro."
Jeanette’s daughter, Dr. Honor Franklin, by her second husband, had
written to a member of the Winnetka Heights Neighborhood Association in
December, 2008 stating: “My mother
was married to Henry Calvin… My mother will celebrate her 90th birthday in
March and has such sweet memories of him. They knew each other from SMU, both
had beautiful voices and they lived in NYC and were married in NY. They divorced and my mother married my father
but they remained friends.” In 1947, Calvin married
New Yorker Edna Frances Black, whom he courted after he “shared an umbrella
with her in the rain.” They remained
married until her death in 1962.
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| Dick Van Dyke |
Calvin also made guest appearances on popular 1960s shows: The
Dick Van Dyke Show, Petticoat Junction, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,
and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. For the segment with Dick Van Dyke, both
Henry’s impressive imitation of Oliver Hardy and Van Dyke’s Stan Laurel were
applauded.
 |
| Petticoat Junction |
 |
| Man from U.N.C.L.E. |
He returned to the silver screen once again
as The Fat Man in Stanley Kramer's smash hit Ship of Fools (1965). His last two TV appearances were The World: Color It Happy (1967) and Mannix (1971).
Calvin liked to read
newly published books and his interest in music ranged from jazz to classical,
to opera. In the early 1970s Calvin was
diagnosed with throat cancer. At the
urging of his friend, Guy Williams, he traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina for
a charity event honoring Argentina’s First Lady (1973), where they both assumed
their famous Zorro characters once
more. It was obvious, however, from his
physical appearance that Calvin’s health was failing. That was to be his last public
appearance. Henry and his wife moved
back to Texas, where he died on October 6, 1975, at the age of fifty-seven. Despite the fact that he died at the early
age of 57, we are blessed to have Sgt. Garcia preserved on the Zorro DVDs for years to come.
Sources:
"Texas, Birth
Certificates, 1903-1935," index and images, FamilySearch
(https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X22L-7M4: accessed 16 Oct 2012),
Wimberly Calvin Goodman, 1918].
http://www.billcotter.com/zorro/press-releases/14385.pdf
(From Dick McKay, of Disney Studios)
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=5497&PIpi=92964
Next Actor: Gene Sheldon
2 comments:
Are you aware of Henry Calvin having had any relatives in the Cleveland area? I used to work with a a teenager in the 70's, and he claimed Calvin was a relative, perhaps his father (recollection is foggy.)
Actually, Henry was my mothers uncle. I was born in '55, and he and Edna became my God parents. I remember him when i was 4 or 5 years old. My mother has quite a bit of memorabilia in Wisconsin where we live. I was given an 8×10 black and white with his signature "to bob, from your unc". My mom had quite a few of these pics as well as letters written to her by him.
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