Born Lincoln Peralta on July 27, 1939, in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, James Victor was a Dominican-born American actor. He died on June 20, 2016, in Hollywood, California, at the age of 76, and is interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Background and Early Life Victor was the youngest of six children. He emigrated from the Dominican Republic to New York City with his family at age four. He graduated from Haaren High School in Manhattan in 1958. He chose the stage name "James Victor" in honor of his older brother. After high school, he worked in the mailroom of the Walt Disney Company's New York offices and joined El Nuevo Círculo Dramatico, a bilingual theater company.
Career Victor became a longtime protégé of filmmaker John Cassavetes after a chance meeting. He studied at an acting workshop established by Cassavetes and Burt Lane, and appeared in several Cassavetes films: Shadows (1959), Too Late Blues (1961), and Faces (1968), also serving as an assistant director on the latter.
He is best known for his starring role as Sgt. Jaime Mendoza on The Family Channel television series Zorro, which aired from 1990 to 1993 for four seasons.
His television credits across the 1960s–1980s include guest spots on The Lloyd Bridges Show, My Three Sons, I Spy, Family Affair, Adam-12, Kung Fu, Police Story, The Amazing Spider-Man, The White Shadow, Lou Grant, Falcon Crest, Hunter, The A-Team, Remington Steele, and Murder, She Wrote. He was a full cast member on three ABC series: Viva Valdez (1976), Condo (1983), and I Married Dora (1987–1988).
Notable film appearances include Rolling Thunder (1977), Borderline (1980), Losin' It (1983), and Stand and Deliver (1988), in which he played Hector Delgado, the father of a student. His later film roles include Casa de mi padre (2012) and Bless Me, Ultima (2012), his final film role.
On stage, he starred in Luis Valdez's play I Don't Have to Show You No Stinking Badges! at the Los Angeles Theatre Center in 1986.
