where was iron eyes cody born
His asserted ancestry was just as artificial as the tear that rolled down his cheek in that television spot â the tear was glycerine, and the Indian a second-generation Italian-American. Iron Eyes Cody was born Espera DeCorti on April 3, 1904 in the small town of Kaplan, Louisiana. The son of Italian immigrants, he and his brothers moved to Hollywood in 1924, changed their last name from the already shortened Corti to Cody, and began working in the motion picture industry. It was about this time Iron Eyes began presenting himself to the world as a Native American.