Introduction
Benito Alfonso Bedoya y Díaz de Guzmán (April 16, 1904 – December 15, 1957) was a Mexican actor who frequently appeared in U.S. films.
Early life
Bedoya was born in the small town of Vicam, Sonora, Mexico, of Yaqui Indian heritage, to Norberto Bedoya Perea and Ignacia Díaz de Guzmán. He had a nomadic childhood upbringing in Mexico, traveling throughout the country with his parents and 19 siblings. At 14, he immigrated to the United States and was educated in Houston, Texas. He ran away from school and worked as a railroad section worker, dishwasher, waiter, and cotton picker.
Film career
Bedoya found work as a character actor in the US and Mexican film industries in the 1930s to 1940s. During that time, he worked in over 175 Mexican films. His last movie, The Big Country, was released in 1958 after his death.
Memorable role
Bedoya is best remembered as "Gold Hat", the bandit leader who declares "I don't have to show you any stinking badges" in John Huston's 1948 adventure film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. This movie is number 30 on AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies and Bedoya's line is number 36 on AFI's 100 Greatest Movie Quotes list. Bedoya's line has become widely imitated by entertainers.
Personal life
Bedoya married Gertrude Elizabeth Larky Karas on March 8, 1950, in Mexico City.
Bedoya completed filming The Big Country in November, 1957, in California, and returned to Mexico City on December 8. Eight days later, after a night of partying with manicurist Maria Lucia Solana Martinez, Bedoya died of a heart attack in a Mexico City motel room.
Partial filmography
- While Mexico Sleeps (1938)
- The Unknown Policeman (1941)
- María Eugenia (1943)
- Doña Bárbara (1943)
- The Headless Woman (1944)
- Rosalinda (1945)
- The Tiger of Jalisco (1947)
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
- Angel on the Amazon (1948)
- Streets of Laredo (1949)
- Border Incident (1949)
- The Black Rose (1950)
- California Conquest (1952)
- The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953)
- Ten Wanted Men (1955)
- The Big Country (1958)