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.
Initially planned on becoming a teacher and enrolled at the University
of San Francisco, a Jesuit institution.
Appeared in Comanche (1956) with both his children in their only acting roles (uncredited, young boy and young girl killed by Indians).
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.
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).