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Chris-Pin Martin

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Actor

The Resume

    (November 19, 1893-June 27, 1953)
    Born in Tucson, Arizona
    Birth name was Ysabel Ponciana Chris-Pin Martin Piaz
    Acted in 'The Gold Rush,' 'Bordertown,' 'Stagecoach,' 'Return of the Cisco Kid,' 'Down Argentine Way,' 'The Mark of Zorro,' 'Robin Hood of Monterey,' 'The Fugitive,' 'The Gay Caballero' and 'The Ox-Bow Incident'
    Best known for his role as Cisco's comical sidekick, Pancho/Gordito in the 'Cisco Kid' films

Why he might be annoying:

    He was morbidly obese.
    He usually went un-credited in the films he appeared in.
    He frequently played characters named 'Pancho,' even if he wasn't playing Cisco's sidekick.
    Its not enough to say he was typecast - he specialized in gross, over-the-top caricatures of fat, lazy and stupid Mexican men.
    He played a buffoonish bandleader in the 1934 hit movie musical 'In Caliente,' which attracted the scorn of the Mexican press for perpetuating negative images of their country.
    He is frequently confused with Leo Carrillo, who was also criticized for perpetuating demeaning stereotypes of Mexicans (they both played the role of Pancho).
    He had multiple aliases; going by the names, Chris-Pin Martin, Chris King Martin, Chris Martin, Cris-Pin Martin and Ethier Crispin Martini.
    He was forced by the studio to overeat in large portions to maintain work playing 'fat Mexicans.'
    Unsurprisingly, years spent on this eating regiment took its toll on his health. He died of a heart attack while addressing a Moose Lodge meeting in Montebello (1953).

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was frequently used in Westerns by the legendary John Ford.
    He had ambitions to be a director/producer early in his career, and was one of the early pioneers of Cine Mexicano.
    He is buried at the Odd Fellows Cemetery in East LA (generally reserved for overweight + 400 Ibs individuals).
    He had small roles in some of the greatest films ever made, and his characters were widely likable.
    He was part-Yaqui Indian and got into movies by joining an Indian group bound for Hollywood.
    He is praised as 'the arch-sidekick of all time' by Nash Candelaria in 'The Day the Cisco Kid Shot John Wayne' ('better any day than Fuzzy Knight, Smiley Burnette, or Gabby Hayes').
    He acted in the anti-lynching Western, 'The Ox-Bow Incident' (arguably one of the first socially conscious movie Westerns).
    He produced the silent films, 'Tepee Love' and 'Un Feliz Vagabundo' with all-Mexican casts in 1922, but Mexican film had not yet gained traction and he was relegated to 'character actor' for the rest of his life.
    His first job in Hollywood was as a runner who recruited Mexicans and Native Americans as movie extras (he soon became an extra himself).

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 6 Votes: 16.67% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 15 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying