Appeared in Comanche (1956) with both his children in their only acting roles (uncredited, young boy and young girl killed by Indians).
Father of Caetana Paiva and Joseph Paiva.
His wife Maxine was once Howard Hughes' secretary. They married in 1941 and had two children: Joseph Caetano (born 1944) and Caetana Yvette (born 1947).
In 1965 he was diagnosed with stomach cancer and, despite extensive surgery that led to the removal most of his stomach, his condition deteriorated and he died the following year.
Initially planned on becoming a teacher and enrolled at the University of San Francisco, a Jesuit institution.
Parents Francisco Caetano Paiva and Marianna Luiza Freitas were Portuguese immigrants. Nestor was the tenth of twelve children -- half of them dying in infancy. His parents owned a grocery store in Fresno.
Took a job at Lockheed Aircraft in Burbank during the WWII effort.