Actor Brings Story of Aztec Emperor to Life
Montezuma is telling the story of the Spanish conqueror Cortes’ slaughter of the Aztec people of Mexico.
It is brutal: “They cut off their heads, their arms, their legs,” says Montezuma.
It is tragic: “Aztec warriors were being killed by the thousands. They fought bravely, but on Aug. 13, 1521, the Aztecs surrendered to the Spaniards.”
The gathered schoolchildren are rapt. Montezuma wears a headdress of red, black and yellow feathers. “When you leave here today, go in peace,” he concludes. And with that, Montezuma, emperor of Mexico from 1502 to 1520, fans out his gold lame cape and slowly walks off in the blistering sun of the landscaped outdoor plaza.
A voice over a loudspeaker invites audience members to chat with Montezuma. The voice adds cheerfully: “Enjoy your stay at Forest Lawn.”
This is not your usual Cinco de Mayo celebration.
It’s weird enough taking schoolkids on a field trip to a cemetery. But imagine how actor Fabian Gregory Cordova felt when he was told he was up for an audition at Forest Lawn.
“I said, ‘Where? What?’ ” recalls Cordova, 40. “When you’re an actor, you’re going to try out for just about anything. When I came up here, I thought, ‘How cool.’ ”
Now in his 11th year as the star of “A Visit With Montezuma” at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills’ lushly appointed Plaza of Mexican Heritage, Cordova dons headdress, loincloth and rings of chalchayote shells around his ankles to play Montezuma for three shows a day every cuatro and cinco de mayo. Then he does it all over again for Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 16.
“The part that I love most about this is that it gives me a chance to teach about Aztec culture and Mexican history to a large group of different people,” says Cordova, whose career highlights include playing an orphan on the TV show “The Flying Nun” when he was 8 and appearances on the soap opera “General Hospital” in the early 1990s.
He gets rave reviews for his Montezuma. “You’re so regal,” says Gloria Kam of Fullerton, who has brought a group of youngsters she’s helping to home-school.
Forest Lawn loves him too.
“He can do this as long as he wants to,” says Paula Boger, director of community relations (although the real Montezuma only lived to age 41).
Though Cordova is tall--6 feet 1--and handsome, he says it’s gotten more difficult to stay in shape, which the emperor’s skimpy costume makes a key consideration.
Cordova gets a yearly reminder from Boger. “I call three months before,” she says. “I say, ‘Montezuma’s coming--no fats, no ice cream.’ ”
Forest Lawn uses the English spelling of the emperor’s name, even though Cordova pronounces it correctly as “Moctezuma.”
Boger runs the “History Comes Alive at Forest Lawn” program, which puts on eight free historical shows throughout the year, including on Presidents Day and Easter.
“We call it entertaining with a touch of Hollywood,” says Boger. Once schoolchildren arrive at the Hollywood Hills cemetery “and see what we have to offer,” she says, “they’re not afraid to be here.”
In fact, “dead” is just not in the Forest Lawn vocabulary. “Forest Lawn is a place for the living--as well as for memorialization,” says Boger.
Cordova may not be the whittled Aztec warrior king depicted on restaurant calendars, but he has closely studied Montezuma since taking the role.
“I was ignorant of much of my own culture,” says Cordova, a Mexican American who was born in Corcoran, Calif., but moved to Los Angeles when he was 5.
His father helped him with his Montezuma script until his death in 1997. “He died right after one of the shows,” says Cordova.
“He’s interred here at Forest Lawn,” says Boger.
“I’m going down the hill and visit him in a bit,” says Cordova.
The show is a lesson in basic Mexican history. Cinco de Mayo, of course, has nothing to do with Cortes. Cordova tells how it commemorates the victory of a small band of Mexicans over the French in 1862.
Cordova lives in Canoga Park with his wife and three children, working as the human resources director of California Beach Restaurants. He is content to have Montezuma be his biggest role so far.
