Joseph Patrick Carrol Naish was a versatile character actor born in New York City of Irish descent. His ancestors hailed from county Limerick and were listed in Burke's Peerage. Naish had a Catholic education at St. Cecilia's Academy but left school at the age of 14 to become a song plugger.
He briefly joined a children's vaudeville company run by Gus Edwards and at 16, he enlisted in the Navy, but was thrown out. Naish then re-enlisted in the U.S. Army Signals Corps in France and spent years sailing the world's seas with the Merchant Marine, acquiring up to eight languages and becoming skilled at dialects.
Naish spent time in Paris singing and dancing with a stage troupe run by Gaby Deslys, then returned to New York for further theatrical work. He traveled to California by tramp steamer to China, but the ship suffered mechanical breakdowns and departure was delayed. Naish was spotted by a Fox studio talent scout while ashore and wound up in Hollywood.
He played bit roles and then joined a road company production of 'The Shanghai Gesture'. Naish married Irish stage actress Gladys Heaney in 1929, and the couple had a long and enduring show business union.
Back in Hollywood from 1930, Naish's gift for dialects landed him plum character parts as Arabs, Italians, Pacific Islanders, Hindus, Mexicans, African-Americans, and Orientals. He was particularly skilled at playing villains, earning him the nickname 'Hollywood's one-man United Nations' from Time Magazine.
Naish's black hair, moustache, and swarthy complexion often denied him roles as an Irishman, with the exception of General Phil Sheridan in Rio Grande (1950).
On radio, Naish had a successful series as the voice of Italian immigrant Luigi Basco, 'Life with Luigi', which aired from 1948 to 1954 and helped shape American consciousness about Italian values and the Italian way of life.
Naish was a consummate scene-stealer, making even bad movies look good. His best work includes his Oscar-nominated roles as Giuseppe in Sahara (1943) and a Mexican peasant in A Medal for Benny (1945),as well as his roles in Captain Blood (1935),Humoresque (1946),and Sitting Bull (1954).
Naish played Lakota medicine man and warrior Sitting Bull twice and was the archetypal evil genius Dr. Daka in the Batman (1943) serial. He also brought his talents to the small screen as Charlie Chan in The New Adventures of Charlie Chan (1957).
Naish accumulated 224 screen credits before his death from emphyema in January 1973 at the age of 77. Despite never winning an Oscar, Naish won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for A Medal for Benny and has a star on the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard.
