Rafael Leonidas Campos Navarro Diaz, more commonly known as Rafael Campos was a Dominican actor, who appeared in Disney features, such as The Light in the Forest, Tonka, Savage Sam, and television serials for Walt Disney Presents.
Born in the Dominican Republic, he moved to the United States in 1949 and began work as a character actor in the early 1950s in Spanish-language stage productions. He was later spotted by director Richard Brooks while performing in a production of Heavenly Express and cast in Blackboard Jungle alongside Glenn Ford and Sidney Poitier. Later that year, he scored another dramatic role in Trial as a Mexican boy accused of murdering a white girl.
He also appeared in Dino, This Could Be the Night, Lady in a Cage, Oklahoma Crude, The Astro-Zombies, Slumber Party '57, Centennial, Where the Buffalo Roam, Fever Pitch, and The Return of Josey Wales. He television credits included Shirley Temple's Storybook, Wagon Train, The Restless Gun, Have Gun – Will Travel, Death Valley Days, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Laramie, Gunsmoke, All in the Family, The Streets of San Francisco, Adam-12, Insight, Ironside, Police Story, Days of Our Lives, T.J. Hooker, St. Elsewhere, and as Ramon Diaz Jr. on Rhoda.
From 1961 to 1962, he was married to blues singer Dinah Washington, who was 12 years his senior. Later, he married model Sally Boyd, with whom he had two daughters. In 1984, Campos was diagnosed with stomach cancer and enter the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills for treatment December of that year. On July 9, 1985, he passed away and was survived by his two daughters, five brothers and three sisters. At the time of his illness, he was writing a book about Latinos in film and had recently directed a play in New York. He was also posthumously honored with an award from Nosotros, a group promoting Latino participation in movies, television and theater, for his contributions to Latino culture.
Filmography[]
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1958 | The Light in the Forest | Half Arrow |
| 1958 | Tonka | Strong Bear |
| 1963 | Savage Sam | Young Warrior |
| 1964 | The Tenderfoot | Juarez |
| 1967 | A Boy Called Nuthin' | Peewee |
