RIP Gustavo Rojo

Actor Gustavo Rojo died in Mexico City on April 22. He was 93. Rojo was born on September 5, 1923 in Montevideo, Uruguay. His mother was the prominent Spanish author Mercedes Pinto, who immigrated to Uruguay for political reasons. His two older siblings, Pituka de Foronda and Ruben Rojo, also became actors. In the late 1920s, Mercedes wrote a play and Gustavo made his theater debut. Gustavo's screen debut came as a child actor in the 1938 Cuban movie Ahora seremos felices, in which his older sister Pituka had a starring role. In the 1940s, the family moved to Mexico, where Rojo worked steadily throughout the 1940s.

In 1947, he made his Hollywood debut in the movie Tarzan and the Mermaids, which starred Johnny Weissmuller and Brenda Joyce. Rojo appeared in 13 Euro-westerns such as: “Apaches Last Battle” (1964) as Corporal Bush, “Pyramid of the Sun Gods” and “Treasure of the Aztecs” as Lieutenant Potoca in 1965 “The Christmas Kid” as Mayor Louis Carillo (1966), “The Tall Women” as Gus Macintosh (1966), “A Bullet for Sandoval” as Guadalupano in 1969 and “The Valley of Gwangi” as Carlos in 1969. He also appeared in several American western TV series such as ‘Wagon Train’, ‘Lawman’ and ‘Bronco’.