Iron Eyes Cody was an American actor of Sicilian descent who portrayed Native Americans in Hollywood films, including the role of Chief Iron Eyes in Bob Hope's The Paleface (1948). He also played a Native American shedding a tear about pollution in one of the country's most well-known television public service announcements from the group Keep America Beautiful. Living in Hollywood, he began to insist, even in his private life, that he was Native American, over time claiming membership in several different tribes. In 1996, Cody's half-sister said that he was of Italian ancestry, but he denied it. After his death, it was revealed that he was of Sicilian parentage and not Native American at all.

The Paleface is a 1948 American Comedy Western film directed by Norman Z. McLeod and starring Bob Hope as "Painless Potter" and Jane Russell as Calamity Jane. In the movie, Hope sings the song "Buttons and Bows". The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song that year.