George Lewis

Black and white photograph of a man's head over black text on a white background

Actor George J. Lewis was born in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1903. He attended high school in California, where he was allegedly discovered in a school play by a Hollywood screenwriter. Lewis relocated to Hollywood after he graduated, making his screen debut in the 1923 feature, The Spanish Dancer. After an acclaimed performance as a prizefighter in the 1925 film, His People, Lewis's professional success became less consistent. Personally, however, Lewis experienced a success that is especially rare in Hollywood: his 1928 marriage to Mary Louise Lohman endured until the actor's death in 1995.

Years of career ups and downs led Lewis to leave Hollywood in 1936 for stage acting in New York. When he returned to Hollywood in 1939, Lewis started getting casted in mid-sized character acting roles in television and film westerns. The actor most notably appeared as Zorro's father in the Disney television series, Zorro. Though Lewis reportedly enjoyed these parts, he had trouble attracting different types of roles. He eventually left Hollywood in 1972 to open a real estate business.