Character page for the 1957-1961 Zorro series.
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De la Vega household
Don Diego de la Vega / Zorro
Played By: Guy Williams
The son of ranchero (or baron) Don Alejandro de la Vega, Diego in this version is a former university student who returned from Spain to California to be with his father. When he learned on arriving back at the family home in Los Angeles that it had fallen under the tyrannical grip of Captain Monastario, Diego took up the alter ego of Zorro in a pledge to protect the innocent from those who would harm and oppress them. To help hide his alter ego, Diego pretends to be little more than a man of books and guitars, who is seemingly totally inept in combat.
- Big Good: Particularly later in the show, as even without knowing him to be Zorro, many of the people of Los Angeles tend to see him and his father as sharing this trope.
- Blue Oni, Red Oni: Blue to his father Alejandro's Red.
- Cool Horse: Rides into action upon Tornado.
- The Dandy: Dresses and behaves like one in public as part of his Obfuscating Stupidity act.
- Dashing Hispanic: Easily the most badass and well known of them on television.
- Deadpan SnarkerZorro: Beautiful! Coupe to the wall! You must show me that again, Commandante, now will you please get inside the cell.
- Cool Mask: Paired with a hat.
- The Hero: A heroic figure who's determined to protect the pueblo of Los Angeles against villainy.
- Guile Hero: While he enjoys a good swordfight, Zorro also recognizes that he's badly outnumbered by outlaws and lancers alike. Consequently, he favors stealth and trickery over direct confrontation. And when he does resort to facing his enemies head-on, expect him to have a few surprises prepared to even the odds.
- Master Swordsman: No one can best him at fencing.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: His adopted tactic for dealing with the Commandante.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: His main reason for using the Zorro persona.
- Zorro Mark: His Calling Card
Bernardo
Played By: Gene Sheldon
Don Diego's loyal manservant, confidant and co-conspirator, the only person at first to know Diego's secret. Unable to speak, Bernardo uses gestures to communicate. Bernardo pretends to be deaf as well as mute, the better to overhear the plans of Zorro's enemies. He also plays the fool, adopting clownish behavior so as to seem harmless. Although Bernardo is sometimes portrayed as a little silly even when no pretense is required, he is also a capable and invaluable disciple for Zorro and Diego, even wearing the mask himself occasionally when the need arises.
- Abled in the Adaptation: Bernardo had appeared in the original stories as both deaf and mute; giving him hearing in this iteration helped to make him more integral to the series as Zorro's spy. It also helped to advance the plot by giving Diego a partner to whom he could confide feelings, plans, and intended actions, while also communicating these things to the viewers.
- Badass in Distress: Almost every time he has to be rescued, he proceeds to kick butt immediately afterward.
- Crazy-Prepared: At the start of the Monterey story arc, Bernardo brought the Zorro costume for Diego to use in case there was a problem that needed solving. Needless to say, he was right.
- Guile Hero: Bernardo is arguably just as clever as Diego, though he's not quite as skilled.
- Obfuscating Disability: He has everyone convinced that he's "deaf and dumb" in addition to mute and thus they ignore him.
- Older Sidekick: Gene Sheldon was 16 years older than Guy Williams.
- The Speechless: He is mute.
- Undying Loyalty: To Diego.
Don Alejandro de la Vega
Played By: George J. Lewis
Don Diego's father, greatly disappointed by his son's seeming foppishness and unaware of the secret life he leads or so we are led to believe.
- Blue Oni, Red Oni: Red to Diego's Blue
- Bully Hunter: Is furious at Monastario's oppression of the peasantry and Indians.
- Cool Old Guy: Even at grumpiest, he's a well-respected baron whose foremost concerns are always his son's welfare as well as the good people of Los Angeles.
- Disappointed in You: His reaction to Diego's adopted personality as a popinjay untill he learns that this is just an act Diego puts up to hide the fact that he is Zorro
- Hypocrite: He becomes this in one episode after joining a "committee of vigilance" concerned about recent unrest among the poor peasants of Los Angeles. After unjustly arresting the leader of a protest, he and his fellow committee members announce that the man will be executed the following morning. When Diego rightly calls What the Hell, Hero?, he justifies his actions by claiming that the planned execution is just a ruse to lure Zorro into a trap. Luckily, by the end of the episode Alejandro has a Heel Realization and swears to never take part in a similar plan again.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: During the Monterey arc, we find out that he has secretly been aware of his son being Zorro for quite some time now, but choose not to confront him with this knowledge. He finally admits it when he stops Diego from unmasking himself in public in order to be with his loved one. From that moment on, he becomes a regular Secret-Keeper
Los Angeles garrison
Capitán Enrique Sanchez Monastario
Played By: Britt Lomond
A ruthless tyrant, the appointment of the megalomanical Monastario as commandante of Los Angeles resulted in Don Alejandro calling his son home from Spain, and set off Zorro's career.
- Ambition Is Evil: His tyranny is the result of his desire to become the richest man in California.
- Arc Villain: Serves as the main antagonist of the first thirteen episodes.
- Big Bad: For the first thirteen episodes, at least.
- Composite Character: Monastario is quite similar to multiple gobernadors, commandantes and alcades featured in the stories and adaptations up to that point — particularly Capitain Ramon and Governor Alvarado from the original Curse of Capistrano serial, and Don Luis Quintero from the 1940 Mark of Zorro film (himself a Ramon Expy).
- Even Evil Has Standards: While downplayed, Monastario is at least somewhat religious as he respects the custom of sanctuary and has a healthy respect for the church in general.
- Faux Affably Evil: He may be a ruthless tyrant, but Monastario knows how to put on a smile and pretend he really does have the pueblo's best interests at heart.
- Genre Savvy: During his arc he's suspicious of Diego's Obfuscating Stupidity and Bernardo's Obfuscating Disability. In the latter's case he fires a gun to see if Bernardo is really deaf. Fortunately Bernardo doesn't react. Later he realizes that Diego is Zorro, but Bernardo uses Diego's costume to discredit him.
- Master Swordsman: He can hold his own pretty well against Zorro. Being played by a fencing athlete didn't hurt.
- Smug Snake: Tellingly, all of his schemes to bring down Zorro, which he clearly believes to be clever and foolproof, end in failure, one after another.
Licenciado Pina
Played By: Than Wyenn
A talented bureaucrat and lawyer, Pina acted as Capitan Monastario's right-hand man, while constantly worrying that the Capitan's plans were on the verge of going awry.
- Amoral Attorney: His main job is finding ways to twist the truth and make Monastario's tyranny appear to be within the letter of the law.
- Nervous Wreck: Much of his dialogue involves him worrying that this time Monastario has finally gone too far and there will be an uprising or other consequences. Justified, at least following Zorro's appearance, as the outlaw's interference begins to send even the comandante's best-laid schemes awry.
- The Dragon: to Monastario
Sergeant Demetrio Lopez García
Played By: Henry Calvin
One of Captain Monastario's underlings, Sergeant García is often seen leading other soldiers on various missions to oppress the peasants and/or hunt down Zorro. In spite of this, he is a friendly fellow (although not free of his vices) who respects Zorro and is hardly happy with the orders he is given.
- Acrofatic: Lampshaded by Mountain Man Joe Crane, who points out that García "moves right fast" for a man of his build.
- Bad Liar: And how. More than once, his inability to keep a secret has resulted in him leaking vital information to Zorro... or to Zorro's enemies.
- Beware the Nice Ones: While not very intelligent, fond of food and drink and polite to a fault, count on that going right out the window if you actively try to hurt somebody.
- Big Eater: To the point that he keeps a stash of food under his pillow.García: Sometimes I get very hungry during the night...
- Big Fun: He's usually friendly, good-natured and jovial.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He might never be able to capture Zorro (unless you count Don Diego's rare moments of captivity), but if you're a far less benevolent outlaw, he could drag you into a jail cell with surprising ease.
- Dumbass Has a Point: He may be easy to fool and obedient to a fault, but García has a habit of unintentionally pointing out obvious holes in his superiors' logic, especially when they're up to no good.Magistrado: Go after him! Send the men after him!
García: Who? Me, Your Excellency?
Magistrado: Yes, you idiot!
García: But I am under arrest, Your Excellency.
Magistrado: That's all over now! You're not under arrest!
García: I'm not? Well, why didn't you say so before, Your Excellency? - Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Despite having to serve Monastario and later the Magistrado, García is always honest and kind. Even the Magistrado referred to García as a "incorruptible sergeant", much to his personal annoyance.
- Large Ham: Almost everything García does is exaggerated for comedic effect, from his facial expressions to his gestures. But if he stops acting comedic, you'd better start running...
- Let's Get Dangerous!: While usually an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain played for comic relief, when the chips are down he proves to be a competent sabreur with Stout Strength and surprising agility.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: When Monastario is defeated, Sergeant García is appointed acting commandante of Los Angeles, and keeps the position throughout most of the show. And while he's still a buffoon, he shows far more competence in this role than under Monstario's or the Magistrado's command.
- Super Gullible: García just cannot seem to grasp that some people will inevitably lie to him for their own gain. For example, in one episode, García is given a note claiming that Zorro will surrender to him at a certain time and place. Not once does it occur to him that the note might be a forgery (which it is) and that by showing up he will walk into a trap (which he does).
Corporal Reyes
Played By: Don Diamond
Added to the cast following the departure of Monastario, Corporal Reyes acts as Sergeant García's second-in-command, loyal friend, and occasional morality check. He proves to have a sharp, sly wit, often getting the better of his portly superior.
- Butt-Monkey: Being a notch down the pecking order from fellow Butt-Monkey Sergeant García.
- Dragged into Drag: He's strong-armed into disguising himself as woman as part of a plan to capture Zorro. Though he grudgingly goes along with it, he outright refuses to shave off his mustache.
- Servile Snarker: And how. The Corporal always seems ready to deliver a good zinger at García's expense.
- The Lancer: To García's "hero" when the Sergeant is acting commandante. In fact, he and the other soldiers are literally "Lancers" by way of their duty title.
Other characters
Don Ignacio "Nacho" Torres
Played By: Jan Arvan
Neighbor to the de la Vega estate, Don Nacho's arrest by Monastario is one of the first signs Don Diego has of the Commandante's true evil.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He decides to surrender himself rather than watch Monastario continue to inflict hard labor and whipping on the Indians at the San Gabriel Mission, and he would have done so earlier if not for Diego and Padre Felipe's efforts to the contrary. Fortunately, just as he leaves the sanctuary of the church, Zorro arrives.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: He genuinely seems to feel he isn't worth all the effort people go through for his sake. On multiple occasions, he tells others that they've done enough for him and urges them not to get into any more trouble on his account.
- I Owe You My Life: Don Nacho voices this trope almost word-for-word the first time Zorro rescues him and continues to profess that he feels indebted to Zorro in subsequent episodes. He ultimately repays the favor when he returns to Los Angeles by leveraging the protection the Governor gave him to help Zorro escape a difficult situation.
- Wrongly Accused: Of high treason. Much of the first story arc revolves around Zorro's efforts to protect him from Monastario and help him clear his name.
