View source for Carmen Nigro

{{Short description|American chef}}
{{Distinguish|Carmine Nigro}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Carmen Nigro
| image         = Carmen Nigro publicity photo 1976.jpg
| alt           =
| caption       = Nigro in 1976
| birth_name    =
| birth_date    =   {{Birth date|1905|10|10}}
| birth_place   = [[Chicago]], Illinois, USA
| death_date    =  {{Death date and age|1990|09|24|1905|10|10}}
| death_place   = [[Speedway, Indiana]], USA
| other_names   = Ken Roady
| occupation    =
| years_active  =
| known_for     = Disputed claims of career as a Hollywood stuntman
| notable_works =
}}
'''Carmen Nigro''' (October 10, 1905 – September 24, 1990)<ref name=ct>{{cite news|last1=Greene|first1=Bob|authorlink1=Bob Greene|title=Saying so long to Mr. Kong|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21200328/|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=November 27, 1990|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name=ssn>{{cite web|title=United States Social Security Death Index|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V39Q-NM3|website=FamilySearch|accessdate=December 19, 2016|quote=Carmen Nigro, 24 Sep 1990; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File}}</ref> was an American [[chef]] who professed to have worked for three decades as a [[Hollywood (film industry)|Hollywood]] [[stuntman]] under the [[professional name]] '''Ken Roady'''. From 1969 he gained notability through media interviews in which he announced he had acted in a  [[gorilla suit]] in many Hollywood films, most famously as the title role in the 1933 classic ''[[King Kong (1933 film)|King Kong]]''.<ref name=prescott>{{cite news|title='King Kong' reminisces about life on sky scraper|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=S7paAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SVADAAAAIBAJ&pg=4248%2C4322362|work=[[The Prescott Courier]]|date=March 22, 1976|quote=A barrel-chested 5-foot-6, Nigro  was the hairy beast in Mighty Joe Young, The Unholy Three, Tarzan and His Mate, Night of Horror and Ape Man Nabonga ''[sic]''. His last gorilla movie was Gorilla at Large in 1954.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Greene|first1=Bob|authorlink1=Bob Greene|title=Original King Kong Unhappy|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=F3AQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BIwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6747%2C311727|work=[[The Free Lance Star]]|date=January 5, 1977|location=Fredericksburg, Virginia|page=2}}</ref>
While Nigro's claims were accepted as fact by some journalists and authors during his lifetime,<ref name=barris>{{cite web|last1=Barris|first1=Ted|authorlink1=Ted Barris|title=Not online, but on the line|url=http://tedbarris.com/2011/10/14/not-online-but-on-the-line/|website=Ted Barris|accessdate=December 19, 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111216023409/http://tedbarris.com/2011/10/14/not-online-but-on-the-line|archivedate=December 16, 2011|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Graubart|first1=Judah L.|last2=Graubart|first2=Alice V.|title=Decade of Destiny|date=1978|publisher=Contemporary Books|location=Chicago|isbn=9780809277292|pages=[https://archive.org/details/decadeofdestiny00grau/page/254 254]–255|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/decadeofdestiny00grau}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Robertson|first1=Patrick|title=The Guinness Book of Movie Facts & Feats|date=1991|publisher=Abbeville Press|location=New York|isbn=9781558592360|page=106|edition=4th|url=https://archive.org/details/guinnessmoviefac00robe/page/106/mode/1up?q=%22carmen+nigro%22}}</ref>  film historians generally have disputed his account,<ref name=woods>{{cite book|last1=Glut|first1=Donald F.|authorlink1=Donald F. Glut|editor1-last=Woods|editor1-first=Paul A.|title=King Kong Cometh!|date=2005|publisher=Plexus|location=London|isbn=9780859653626|page=64|chapter=His Majesty, King Kong - IV|quote=Nigro's claims are unable to be substantiated.}}</ref><ref name=berry>{{cite book|last1=Berry|first1=Mark F.|title=The Dinosaur Filmography|date=2005|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=9780786424535|pages=194–195|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KoeACgAAQBAJ&dq=%22carmen+nigro%22&pg=PA194}}</ref><ref name=hankin>{{cite book|last1=Hankin|first1=Mike|title=Ray Harryhausen - Master of the Majicks Vol. 2: The American Films|date=2008|location=Los Angeles|publisher=Archive Editions|isbn=9780981782904|page=66|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1voGbBwpB9sC&dq=ken+roady&pg=PA67|language=en}}</ref><ref name=goldner>{{cite book|last1=Goldner|first1=Orville|last2=Turner|first2=George E.|title=The Making of King Kong: the Story behind a Film Classic|date=1975|publisher=A.S. Barnes & Co.|location=New Jersey|isbn=0498015106|page=87|quote="The fact is that no gigantic motorised robots or men in ape-suits were used at any time in the making of the film."}}</ref> and  regard him as an [[impostor]].<ref name=hise>{{cite book|last1=Hise|first1=James Van|title=Hot Blooded Dinosaur Movies|date=1993|pages=73–74|publisher=Pioneer Books|location=Las Vegas, NV|isbn=9781556983658|url=https://archive.org/details/hotbloodeddinosa0000vanh/page/73/mode/1up?q=%22carmen+nigro%22}}</ref><ref name=glut>{{cite book|last1=Glut|first1=Donald F.|authorlink1=Donald F. Glut|title=Jurassic Classics: A Collection of Saurian Essays and Mesozoic Musings|date=2001|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, NC|isbn=9780786462469|page=[https://archive.org/details/jurassicclassics00dona/page/192 192]|url=https://archive.org/details/jurassicclassics00dona|url-access=registration|language=en|quote=In Nigro's case, the claim seems to have been simply fraudulent.}}</ref>
== Alleged Hollywood career==
In 1969, Nigro came forward with his account of having acted in a gorilla suit in ''King Kong'' (1933). He was quoted in the ''Chicago Sun Times'' under an alias, Ken Roady, as saying that he "got paid $150 a week and never could get along with either [[Fay Wray]] or [[Robert Armstrong (actor)|Robert Armstrong]], who were the stars of the picture."<ref name=goldner /><ref name=Fitzpatrick>{{cite news |last1=Fitzpatrick |first1=Tom |title=King Kong Alive and Well -- Just Ask That Bartender |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36288602/ |work=Akron Beacon Journal |date=December 28, 1969 |page=B12}}</ref> In 1976, when the [[King Kong (1976 film)|remake of ''King Kong'']] was in production, Nigro attracted much media attention as "the man who was known for 25 years as the Hollywood Apeman."<ref name=prescott /> His alleged participation in the original ''King Kong'' and other films was reported on by journalist [[Bob Greene]]:
:{| class="wikitable"
|-
|<blockquote>"They used an animated doll for most of the sequences of the gorilla," Nigro said ... "But for all of the scenes where they needed someone to act like a real gorilla – that was me. It was me on top of the Empire State Building, for example." ...
Nigro said that King Kong wasn't the only gorilla he played in the movies... "I spent all that money to have my suit made. It took six bear skins to make it and it cost me $3500. I only made $7000 for King Kong. I was also in ''[[Mighty Joe Young (1949 film)|Mighty Joe Young]], [[Tarzan of the Apes (1918 film)|Tarzan of the Apes]], [[Tarzan and His Mate]], [[The Ape Man|Ape Man]]'' – I played gorillas in about 25 or 30 movies.  But I made about 133 movies in all, as a stunt man.
There was a fellow in Hollywood named [[Charles Gemora|Charles Gearmer]] ''[sic]'' who wanted the part, but he wasn't very good at being a [[gorilla]]. He was more like a [[chimpanzee]] or an [[orangutan]]. Then there was another fellow, name of [[Emil Van Horn|Van Horn]], who wanted the part. But I got it because I had a better costume to begin with and I knew how to act like a gorilla better. I had been to Africa with [[Frank Buck (animal collector)|Frank Buck]], the great animal hunter, and I knew how an ape walked."<ref name=ccct>{{cite news|last1=Greene|first1=Bob|title=King Kong is alive and well and living in Chicago|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7922897/king_kong/|authorlink1=Bob Greene|work=[[Corpus Christi Caller Times]]|date=12 March 1976|location=Texas|page=26}}</ref></blockquote>
|}
==Controversy==
Nigro's claims were widely accepted at face value by the lay media during his lifetime, notably by journalist  [[Bob Greene]], who interviewed Nigro on at least three occasions, and reported on his death in 1990. However, professional film critics have remarked that no evidence exists of Nigro's Hollywood career other than his own assertions, and have generally rejected his claims as spurious or unverifiable.<ref name=berry /><ref>{{cite web|last1=Jackson|first1=Jackie|title=Was Carmen Nigro King Kong?|url=http://jaquo.com/king-kong-carmen-nigro/|website=JAQUO Lifestyle Magazine|accessdate=December 19, 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803081045/http://www.jaquo.com/king-kong-carmen-nigro|archivedate=August 3, 2016|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Glut|first1=Donald F.|title=Classic Movie Monsters|date=1978|publisher=Scarecrow Press|authorlink1=Donald F. Glut|isbn=9780810810495|page=312}}</ref>
The consensus of film historians is that the giant ape in ''King Kong'' was an animated model created by special-effects expert [[Willis O'Brien]].<ref name=goldner /><ref name="Topinka">{{cite news |last1=Topinka |first1=Judy |title=Kong lives tranquil life of a suburban 'gorilla' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/41371351/ |work=Cicero Life |date=August 25, 1976 |location=Illinois |pages=18|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> {{nowrap|[[Donald F. Glut]]}} wrote that "there was no human actor inside a gorilla costume playing the colossal simian... in Nigro's case the claim seems to have been simply fraudulent."<ref name=glut /> Author [[James Van Hise]] referred to Nigro as "the Counterfeit Kong," and quoted surviving cast and crew members of ''King&nbsp;Kong'' who repudiated Nigro's claims, including [[Fay Wray]] and production assistant Zoe Porter.<ref name=hise />
Critics have also commented that the other cinematic ape roles allegedly played by Nigro  are  documented to have been animated models ''([[Mighty Joe Young (1949 film)|Mighty Joe Young]])'', or were performed by known stuntmen such as [[Charles Gemora]] ''([[The Unholy Three (1930 film)|The Unholy Three]])'', [[Ray Corrigan]] ''([[Tarzan and His Mate]], [[Nabonga]])'', [[Emil Van Horn]] ''([[The Ape Man]])'', and [[George Barrows]] ''([[Gorilla at Large]])''.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Turner|first1=George|title=Flashbacks|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/muzilon-w-celebrity-clipping-mar-04-1976-963123|work=[[Amarillo Globe Times]]|date=March 4, 1976|location=Amarillo, Texas|page=30|via=[[Newspaperarchive.com]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Turner|first1=George|title=Flashbacks|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/charles-fulton-entertainment-clipping-jan-14-1977-239178/|work=[[Amarillo Globe Times]]|date=January 14, 1977|location=Amarillo, Texas|page=10|via=[[Newspaperarchive.com]]}}</ref>
==Personal life==
In newspaper interviews Nigro said he had worked as a [[rodeo]] cowboy in his youth.<ref>{{cite news|title=King Kong Lives - in Suburban Chicago|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/fort-walton-beach-playground-daily-news-mar-11-1976-p-33/|work=[[Playground Daily News]]|date=March 11, 1976|location=Fort Walton Beach|page=33|via=[[Newspaperarchive.com]]}}</ref> Sources indicate that he worked as a dining-car chef on the [[Santa Fe Railway]] for 32 years, retiring from that role in 1970. He then worked as a security guard for a Chicago insurance company.<ref>{{cite news|title=King Kong's alive and well in Chicago|url=http://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/viewer/?file=http%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspapers%252023%2FRome%2520NY%2520Daily%2520Sentinel%2FRome%2520NY%2520Daily%2520Sentinel%25201976%2FRome%2520NY%2520Daily%2520Sentinel%25201976%2520-%25201921.pdf&highlightsFile=http%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2Fhighlighter%2Fhits%2F64b6690d537160129d4c153dee1e4963#page=1|work=Rome Daily Sentinel|date=March 22, 1976|location=[[Rome, New York]]|page=10|via=[[fultonhistory.com]]}}</ref> In 1983 it was reported that had disposed of his [[gorilla suit]] because it had developed [[mildew]] and his wife Evelyn was allergic to it. (However, a 1990 obituary reported that Nigro had bequeathed the head of the costume to a nephew.) During his retirement he also addressed schools and [[Boy Scout]] meetings about his alleged participation in ''King Kong''.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Greene|first1=Bob|authorlink1=Bob Greene|title='Kong' has big memories|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=puZLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GYwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6746%2C3064264|work=[[The Free Lance-Star]]|date=April 20, 1983|page=27}}</ref><ref name=ct />
===Death===
Nigro died in [[Speedway, Indiana]], on September 24, 1990, aged 84.<ref name=ct /><ref name=ssn />
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* ''[http://www.starnigro.com/p/kong-and-i King Kong and I]'' (page maintained by a surviving relative of Carmen Nigro)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nigro, Carmen}}
<!--- Categories --->
[[Category:American chefs]]
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1990 deaths]]