Saddle up for a trip through entertainment history with a weekly highlight from Santa Clarita’s Walk of Western Stars! This week, actor Rodolfo Acosta. 

Rodolfo Perez Acosta was an Mexican-American character actor who became known for his roles as Mexican outlaws or American Indians in Hollywood western films. 

The actor was born on July 29, 1920 to Jose Acosta, a carpenter, and Alexandrina Perez de Acosta in El Paso, Texas. 

Acosta’s father was a carpenter and moved the family to Los Angeles where Acosta was raised and graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School. 

The actor studied drama at Los Angeles City College and UCLA and he appeared at the Pasadena Playhouse. 

At the age of 19, Acosta received a scholarship at ht Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City where he studied three years. 

In 1943, during World War II, Acosta enlisted in the United States Navy, serving as a Yeoman in Naval Intelligence. 

After the war, the entertainer worked on stage and in films which eventually led to a bit part in John Ford’s 1947 film “The Fugitive,” directed by Emilio Fernandez. 

Fernandez wrote the role of the pimp Paco for Acosta in 1949 film “Salon Mexico,” for which Acosta earned a nomination as Best Supporting Actor at the 1950 Ariel Awards. 

The actor was then placed on contract by Universal Studios, beginning with a small role in “One Way Street” (1950). 

Although Acosta was considered a romantic screen idol in Mexico and South America, his burly body and strong features led to a long succession of roles as bandits, Native American warriors and outlaws in American films. 

In “The Tijuana Story” (1957), he had a sympathetic leading role, but in general he spent his career as a familiar western antagonist.

Acosta was a regular as vaquero on NBC’s “The High Chaparral” from 1967 to 1969, according to officials. 

Other television appearances included “Cheyenne,” “Maverick,” “Zorro,” “Rawhide,” an Indian Medicine man in “The Incident at Superstition Prairie” in 1960, “Bonanza” and “Daniel Boone.” 

In 1959, Acosta played the Kiowa Chief Santanta in the third episode “Yellow Hair” of the ABC western series “The Rebel.” 

On the 1964 episode “A Book of Spanish Grammar” of Death Valley Days Acosta played Valdez, the travelling companion of Stephen F. Austin. 

Acosta married Jeanine Cohen in 1945 in Casablanca while he was in the military, according to officials. 

In 1956, Cohen accused Acosta of adultery for sharing an apartment in Mexico City since 1953 with actress Ann Sheridan. 

Acosta subsequently filed for divorce in 1959 and later married Vera Martínez in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 18, 1971 and they divorced in October 1974. 

Acosta was the father of five children and his son, Dante Acosta was a politician in Santa Clarita. 

On November 7, 1974, Acosta died of liver cancer at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California and was buried in Hollywood Hills at Forest Lawn Cemetery. 

Where is Rodolfo Acosta’s Plaque on the Walk of Western Stars?

In 2013, Acosta –  along with Lee Marvin and Stuart Hamblen –  was inducted into Old Town Newhall’s  Walk of Western Stars during the annual Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival.  

The plaque is on the east side of Main Street, near 6th Street.

To view last week’s feature, click here. 

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