Auburn hair, pale skin, and green eyes are the weird roll of the genetic dice. Many Mexicans still have a strong European genetic makeup. They’re not all brown.
I suspect they didn’t either. MIchael Ansara was TV’s “all-purpose ethnic” He played a lot of American INdiansd and general MIddle Eastern types. He also pl;ayed King Kamehameha (on I Dream of Jeannie, of all things), the KLingon Kang on various Star Trek shows, and Quarlo Gobridny, the Soldier from the Future (who knows what ethnicity he was supposed to be) in “Soldier” on the original Outer Limits (and episode written by Harlan Ellison). He’s also played a Sikh and several Spaniards.
I think of him as the TV counterpart to Yul Brynner, who was the “go-to ethnic” in the movies. He famously played King Mongkut in The KIng and I (and in the TV series Anna and the KIng), but was also Rameses II, several Russians, a Slav, various American Indians, King Solomon, a couple of FRenchmen. And he played an unidentified gunslinger character dressed in black inat least four movies.
Don’t forget his contemporary colleague Anthony Quinn, a Mexican-American who played as many different ethnicities as Brunner. (Mexican, Native American, Arab, Inuit, Greek, Italian, etc.) They both were the leading men when it came to anything “ethnic” in a lead or supporting role in Hollywood at their times.
Kam Fong Chun played Chin Ho Kelly. Gilbert Francis Lani Damian Kauhi played Kono Kalakaua. “Moe” Keale played Moe “Truck” Kealoha.
We happened to watch a Sherlock Holmes film The Sign of Four from 1983 yesterday - it features an actor in blackface with prosthetic fangs, playing the role of Tonga, the villain’s sidekick.
The interesting thing was that neither of her parents or sibling didn’t have auburn hair or green eyes.
That’s actually a bit more understandable, believe it or not. Michael Ansara was married to Barbara Eden during the run of the show.
Ansara was on one episode of Babylon 5. Love what the characted inflicted on Londo at the end of the episode.