Don Zelaya

Biography

Named after the King of Spain, pianist Carlos Alfonso Zelaya was the son of José Santos Zelaya, President of Nicaragua from 1893-1909. He was educated in Europe before his father sent him to America to be a general. He was a graduate of West Point, 1910, and served four years in the U.S. Army during World War I. In 1911 he married his first wife, American-born Marguerite Lee, grandniece of General Robert E. Lee. They had a son they named José Santos. As pianist he played with the San Francisco and Minneapolis symphony orchestras. With a repertoire of 300 classical pieces, his performances were not limited to the concert stage, for he also enjoyed bringing classical music to the vaudeville (Keith-Orpheum Circuit) stage. According to the Spokane (Washington) Spokesman-Review (Mar. 4, 1932), "...what is unique about this most affable and rotund Castilian is that he plays classical music and makes vaudeville audiences like it. He has a certain humor, a philosophical way of presenting his music that makes his audiences clamor for more and more." Beginning in 1933 he made sporadic film appearances playing bit parts. His last role was as "Gimpy," the piano player in Macao (1952). He died in North Hollywood on December 14, 1951, the day before the death of celebrated Mexican composer María Grever. He was survived by his second wife, Olga Desmondae ("Des") Rieman (1899-1966), a singer who had been in vaudeville with her first husband, Otis Mitchell. (Zelaya's widow subsequently married famous comic Bert Wheeler.) He was buried at Forest Lawn (Glendale) Cemetery.